USA > Virginia > Some prominent Virginia families, Volume II > Part 22
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Powhatan County. The third son, Sidney Smith, entered the United States Navy at an early age and served with marked dis- tietion in that service for thirty-four years. When Virginia with- drew from the Union of States he accepted service in the Southern Navy.
A daughter of General Robert E. Lee writes of him: "No man who ever saw him can forget his beautiful face, charming per- sonality and grace of manner, which joined to a nobility of char- acter and goodness of heart attracted all who came in contact with him, and made him the most generally beloved and popular of men." This was especially so with regard to women, to whom his eonduct was that of a preux chevalier, the most ehivalric and courteous, and having no daughters of his own he turned with the tenderest affection to the daughters of his brother Robert. His public service of more than thirty years in the navy of the United States is well known. He entered it as a boy of fifteen and faith- fully served his country by land and sea in many climes and in many oceans. He was in Japan with Commodore Perry, command- ing his flagship, when that inaccessible country was practically opened to the commerce of the world. He was Commandant of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and afterward in command of the navy yard at Philadelphia. When the war of secession began he was stationed in Washington, but when Virginia seeeded he did not hesitate to abandon the comforts and security of the pres- ent and ambitions of the future and cast his lot with his native State in a war, which from the very nature of things, there could be but little hope of a naval offieer.
Uninflueneed then by hope of either fame or fortune, he sadly parted with the friends and comrades of a lifetime, ineluding General Scott, who had been likewise devoted to him as he was to his brother, and for four years served the Southern Confederacy with the same ardor and energy and unselfishness that he had previously given to the whole country. When the end came lie accepted the situation with characteristic resignation and fortitude.
The eldest daughter married Mr. William Marshall, and lived in Baltimore. When the war cloud overshadowed the land, Judge Marshall was ardently devoted to the cause of the Union. Their only son was educated at West Point and remained in the army of the United States during the war which followed. It was
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natural, therefore, that the wife's sympathies in the pending strug- gle should be with her husband and child. For many years she was a great invalid and rarely left her couch. Sick and tortured with conflicting emotions, her days were days of trial. It is said she would smilingly agree with her husband in the hope that the armies of the United States would gain victories over the troops of the South, and then into a thousand pieces dash all former arguments by shaking her head and saying: "But after all they can't whip Robert." It was the triumph of ties of consanguinity over all other bonds. Mildred, the youngest daughter, married Mr. Edward Vernon Childe, of Massachusetts, who removed to Paris and lived there, where she died and where her children were brought up and educated. The eldest son, Edward Lee Childe, possessing an excellent education, fine literary ability and a love for the memory of his great uncle, wrote a life of him in French, which has been well received by the people of that country, and was translated into English in 1875 by Mr. George Litting, of London.
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CHAPTER IX
WILLIS FAMILY.
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DEFEND
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Millis
WILLIS COAT-OF-ARMS
The Knights are dust. Their good swords rust, Their souls are with The saints, we trust.
On the records of the great University of Oxford, in England, for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, may be seen the names of seven members of the Willis family, who matriculated during the period from 1557 to 1681. All appear to have distinguished themselves in the university, no one of them having taken less than two degrees, and they seem to have been equally prominent. in subsequent life, especially in the church. Five of them received
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the degree of bachelor of arts, and later that of master of arts. One became a doctor of divinity; one a bachelor of civil law; one a bachelor of medicine; one a doctor of medicine, and threc of them held fellowships. Besides this as church dignitaries, thrce of them became vicars; two became rectors; one was a dean, and one was a canon.
The oldest of these, Francis Willis, is believed to be the pro- genitor of the Willises of Virginia. He is recorded as a scholar of St. John's College, Oxford, in 1557, the fifth year of the reign of Queen Mary, and subsequently he took his bachelor's and mas- ter's degrees with the Bagley prize ; became president of St. John's College and vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. He also held for different periods in his life five prominent offices in the Church of England, and after a life of constant activity and use- fulness he died 1596. Of the second generation of these Willises there seems to be no record found as yet.
THIRD GENERATION.
III. John Willis3 (-2, Francis1), gentleman, of Oxford, England, b. 1587, the thirtieth year of the reign of Queen Eliza- beth, and in January, 1607, the year in which Virginia was sct- tled, he matriculated at New College, Oxford. Here he took his bachelor's degree and held a fellowship, and a few years later he took his master's degree, probably from St. John's College, Oxford, and became rector of Orington, in Hampshire. He had a son, Hugh, and two daughters, Frances and Elizabeth.
FOURTH GENERATION.
IV. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume XLI, p. 257, contains the will of Francis Willis, made in 1689, proved in 1691. In this he makes bequests to various rela- tives and refers to his cousin, Hugh Willis4 (John3, -2, Fran- cis1), deceased. The term cousin at that time was applied also to nephews and nieces, and his cousin Mary Herren is mentioned as "the daughter of my brother, Henry Willis, deceased." His cousin Hugh Willis is not described as a son of a brother or sister, and hence we may infer he was a first cousin, and that the fathers of Hugh and Francis were brothers. Now, Hugh Willis,
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according to Foster's Oxford Matriculations, b. 1625, was the son of John Willis, gentleman, of Oxford, b. 1587.
John Willis, therefore, was uncle of the Francis who made the will in 1689. This was the well known Col. Francis Willis, who came from England to York County, Va., early in the seventeenth century. This Francis Willis, as far as known, is the first of the family who emigrated to Virginia, or who became prominent in the affairs of the colony. We find him in 1642, the eighteenth year of the reign of Charles I, holding a patent for the land in York County, and in 1640 he held the important office of clerk of Charles River (York) County. It is said he was a friend of Sir John Harvey, who about that time (1640) was removed from the government of the colony. The new administration, headed by Sir Francis Wiot, was unfriendly to Harvey, and Willis, who was a high-spirited man, espoused warmly Harvey's cause. Indeed, he did not hesitate to denounce publicly the new governor, his council and the House of Burgesses.
For this audacious act Willis was deprived of his office of clerk, and prohibited from appearing as attorney in any court. He was also compelled to pay a fine of twenty pounds sterling and eight pounds more for charges, and had to stand before the courthouse door with a paper in his hat, which probably stated his offences and his punishment in detail.
The triumph of his enemies, however, was short lived, for in two years Wiot was removed from office and Sir William Berkeley, who represented the Willis party, was appointed Governor of Vir- ginia.
Francis Willis now had his disabilities removed and filled in succession a number of high and honored positions in the colony. In 1648 he was the justice of York County, and when Gloucester was cut off from York he and Walter Gwin, in 1652, were the first delegates from Gloucester to the House of Burgesses.
He was chairman of the committee that revised the laws of the colony in 1657-'58; member of the House of Burgesses in 1658-'60, and then was a member of the governor's council continuously until 1675, the year before Bacon's Rebellion.
That year he returned to England in company with his wife, Jane. Why he left Virginia is not now known, but it is evident that they intended to reside permanently in England, for they
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0
carried with them the family plate and a large quantity of house- hold goods. They resided thereafter in East Greenwich Parish, in the county of Kent, where he died in 1691.
The date of his birth is not known, but his will shows that he was born in the parish of St. Foules, alias St. Algato, in Oxford, England. A family tradition says that he inherited his name, Francis, from his father and grandfather.
He left no issue, but mentions in his will his brothers, Henry and William, and his sister, Graee, who married Mr. Fielder, and had a son, Charles. This Col. Francis Willis, after giving legacies to his numerous kinsfolk, bequeathed the most of his property ineluding his large estates in Ware River Parish, Gloucester Co., Va., to his nephew, Francis Willis, son of his brother, Henry, cleccascd.
Henry Willis+, nephew of. Jolin, of the third generation above, and brother of Francis, just deseribed, d. before 1689, and left five children :
I. Francis Williso.
Il. William Williso.
III. Susanna Willis5.
IV. Mary Willis5. Married Mr. Herren.
V. Alice Willis3.
FIFTH GENERATION.
V. Francis Willis", the son of Henry4, inherited from his Uncle Franeis, who made his will in 1689, large estates in Ware River Parish, Gloucester Co., Va., and also one thousand pounds sterling, together with the cattle, ehattels, etc., etc., on the Gloucester lands, and all other property of his unele that was not bequeathed to others. He had a brother, William, who was sole executor of his unele's will, and three sisters, Aliee, Mary (married Mr. Herren) and Susanna. He left two sons, Col. Franeis Willis, Gloucester Co., Va., who married Lady Anne Rich, and Col. Henry Willis, who founded Fredericksburg, Va.
SIXTH GENERATION.
VI. Francis Willis® (Francis5, Henry4, -3, 2, Francis1), the son of Francis of the fifth generation; b. Ware River Parish, Gloucester Co., Va., 1690, the third year of the reign of William
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and Mary. Married (1715) Lady Anne Rich, daughter of Edward Rich, and niece of Elias Rich, Esq., of Saint Paul, Covent Garden, Middlesex, whose will, dated January 29, 1719, was served in Lon- don, February 11, 1719. (See New England Historical and Gen- ealogical Magazine, Vol. XLIX, p. 506.) This Francis Willis was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1748 (Burke's His- tory), and was living in 1749, the date of a deed recorded in York Co., Va.
Anne Rich Willis, b. 1695; d. 1727. One of her ancestors was Rich, high sheriff of London and Middlesex about 1440. His grandson was Lord High Chancellor of England, whose son, Richard, b. 1498, was made Lord Rich in 1547, and was the first of the family to be ennobled. His descendants were afterwards Earls of Warwick and Holland, but about 1758 the titles became extinct for want of male heirs. When Oliver Cromwell was in- stalled as Lord High Protector of England, Lord Rich led the procession, and his grandson, Robert Rich. Married (1557) Fran- ces Cromwell, the youngest daughter of the Protector. She had been at one time affianced to Charles II, but Oliver forbade the bans, saying that Charles could never forgive him for the death of his father, King Charles I. It is said that Lord Robert Rich visited Virginia in company with his brother, Sir Nathaniel Rich.
The Rich coat-of-arms is described as follows :
Gules, a chevron between three crosses, bottonnée or. Crest on a mount vert a wyvern argent. Motto: Guarde la Foy.
Anne Rich Willis is buried in the chancel of Ware Church, Gloucester Co., Va., and the gravestone could be seen in 1897, upon which is inscribed the Willis and Rich arms empaled. Mrs. A. Willis d. June 10, 1727, 32 years old.
The descendants of Col. Francis Willis and Anne (Rich) Willis will henceforth be styled the Gloucester branch of the Willis family, and the descendants of Col. Henry Willis, of Fredericksburg, will be styled the Fredericksburg branch.
The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. V, p. 172, gives the children of Col. Francis Willis and Anne (Rich) Willis, as follows :
I. Francis Willis7.
II. John Willis7.
III. Mary Willis7. Married Lewis Burwell, President of the Virginia Council in 1736. They had issue :
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I. Lewis Burwell, of Gloucester, member of the House of Burgesses, and of the Convention of 1775-'76. Married Judith, daughter of Mann Page.
II. A daughter. Married Peter Whiting.
III. A daughter. Married Armistead Lightfoot.
IV. Rebeeea Burwell, b. May 29, 1746. Married (1764) Jaquelin Ambler, the Treasurer. She was the "Belinda" of Thomas Jefferson's college days.
MAJOR LEWIS BURWELL, THE EMIGRANT.
A discovery which probably interested the largest number of Mr. Keith's Virginia readers was that of the aneestry of Major Lewis Burwell, the emigrant, who now has almost innumerable de- seendants throughout the United States. It was not the intention of Mr. Keith to present a full genealogy of the family, which has been already quite fully and with a few exceptions accurately done in the Richmond Standard. A careful examination of the evidenees in the ease leads us to believe that Mr. Keith is right in his belief that Lewis Burwell, of "King's Mill," was a son of the seeond marriage of Lewis Burwell2 (with Martha Lear). One point in which there is some confusion in the various published aeeounts of the family is as to the deseendants of President Lewis Burwell. He was appointed to the eouneil, during the session of 1743-'4 (when a Burgess) ; beeame acting governor in 1750, and died in a short time. He certainly married, in 1736, Mary, daugh- ter of Col. Franeis Willis, and had, says Burke, the historian, three daughters as stated above. President Lewis Burwell' had certainly one son, Lewis Burwell?, who studied law in the Inner Temple, where his name appears matriculated as son of Lewis Burwell, Esquire, of Gloucester, Va., and who was, as Lewis Bur- well, Jr., sheriff of Gloucester in 1767; Burgess in 1769-'74, and member of the Conventions of 1775-'76. His name appears fre- quently in the Gazette as having horses in raees, and he was proba- bly the Lewis Burwell, of Gloucester, who is announced by that paper in the spring of 1779 to have died. Nathaniel Burwell and Elizabeth Carter were certainly the parents of Lewis Burwell (President), but the latter married, as has been stated, Mary Willis, and certainly had ehildren, as has been stated.
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Rebecca Burwell was left an orphan at the age of ten years. President Nelson and his wife, Elizabeth Burwell, took charge of her. They had no daughter.
Major Nathaniel Burwell was eldest son of Major Lewis Burwell, who by well regulated conduct and firm integrity justly established a good reputation. He died in the forty-first year of his age, lcav- ing behind him three sons and one daughter by Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Robert Carter, Esq., in the year of our Lord Christ 1721.
Of these the daughter, Elizabeth Burwell, married President William Nelson and was the mother of General Thomas Nelson.
One son, Lewis Burwell, was the grandfather of the late Lewis Burwell, of Richmond, etc., etc., and father of Mrs. P. B. Whiting.
The second son was Carter Burwell, of "The Grove." Married Lucy Grymes, the sister of Alice Grymes, wife of Mann Page, and daughter of the Hon. John Grymes. He was the father of Col. Nathaniel Burwell, of Carter Hall, in Frederick Co., Va.
The third son was Robert Carter Burwell, of the Isle of Wight, the father of Nathaniel Burwell, of the same county, whose child- ren were Robert C. Burwell, of Long Branch; Frederick Burwell, and his four sisters.
Fanny Burwell was the first wife of Col. John Page of Rose- well, since Governor of Virginia.
Bishop Meade visited the old seat of the Burwells, about two miles from Rosewell, on Carter's Creek, and in full view of York River. It was formerly called Fairfield, and is so marked on Bishop Madison's map of Virginia. It has for some time past been called Carter's Creek only. The house, as appears by figures on one of the walls, was built either in 1684 or 1694. A portion of it has been taken down; the rest is still strong and likely to endure for no little time to come. The graveyard is in a pasture lot not far from the house. Being unenclosed, it is free to all the animals which belong to a Virginia farm. There is a grove of a few old trees overshadowing it. The place is a favorite resort in summer. The tombs are very massive. The slabs on which the inscriptions are engraved are the same heavy ironstone or black marble with those at Rosewell, Timberneck and Bellfield. The frame work beneath them has generally given way and they lic in various positions about the ground. A large honcy-locust, around which
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several of them were placed, having attained its maturity, was either blown down by the wind or struck by lightning, and fell across them, breaking one of the largest into pieces. The young shoots of the tree springing up have now themselves become trees of considerable size, and afford shade for inanimate tombs and living beasts. None of the family has for a long time owned this ancient seat.
(The first part of this sketch was taken from "The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography," Vol. II. Second part from Bishop Meade's Book, p. 352.)
BURWELL ARMS.
The Burwell tombs of Carter's Creek bear the arms here given : A cross saltire between four cagles' heads-erased.
SEVENTH GENERATION.
VII. Francis Willis7 (Francis®, Francis5, Henry4, 3
2 , , Francis1), son of Col. Francis Willis and Anne (Rich) Willis, according to the Abingdon Parish Register. Married (1742) Elizabeth Carter. She was a granddaughter of Robert (known as King) Carter, by his second wife, Betty Landon, and daughter of their son, Robert Carter.
Francis Willis™ and Elizabeth Carter Willis had issue :
I. Francis Willis8. Married Elizabeth, daughter of John Perrin.
II. Robert Carter Willis8 (probably the one who in 1772 laid off Frederick Co., and cut off Berkeley Co. from it, and whose will was proved in Berkeley, Oct. 21, 1783). Married Martha -, and had two sons :
I. Lewis Burwell Willis".
II. Robert Carter Willis".
III. Priscilla Willis8. Married, first, Colonel William Kennon, and married, second, David Flower, of Wilmington, N. C.
IV. Henry Willis8, b. 1760.
V. Elizabeth Willis8. Married Mr. McKain and had issue : I. John McKain".
VI. Rich Williss, d. Berkeley Co., Va .; will proved June 2-4, 1789.
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EIGHTH GENERATION.
VIII. Francis Willis8 (Francis7, Francis®, Francis5, Henry+, _3, -- 2, Francis1), of White Hall, Gloucester Co., Va .; b. October, 1744; d. July, 1791, and his wife Elizabeth (Perrin) Willis, b. August, 1751; d. December, 1791; had, according to William and Mary Quarterly (Vol. V, p. 176), nine children :
I. Francis Willisº.
II. Elizabeth Carter Willis", b. 1771. Married Henry Hiot, attorney at law ; d. 1802, and was buried in St. Paul's churchyard, Norfolk.
III. Dr. John Willis ?.
IV. Anne Rich (Nancy) Willis ?. Married (1798), as second wife, Nathaniel Burwell, of Gloucester, and had issue :
I. Claudia Burwell19. Married James K. Marshall, of Fau- quier Co., Va., son of Chief Justice Marshall. (Sce Volume I.)
II. Mary Burwell19. Married John Jennings.
V. Perrin Willisº.
VI. Maria Willisº.
VII. Molly Willisº.
VIII. Nelson Willisº.
IX. Elias Willisº.
Of these nine children only two left children : Anne Rich Madi- sonº and Dr. John Willis", who married Nelly Conway Madison, daughter of Captain Ambrose Madison (a brother of President Madison), and Mary Willis Lee, a descendant of Hancock Lee.
NINTHI GENERATION.
IX. Dr. John Willis? (Francis8, Francis™, Francis?, Francis5, Henry4, -- 3, -2, Francis1), lived at "Woodley," Orange Co., Va .; d. 1812 of yellow fever. Married Nelly Conway Madison; she survived him till 1865. They had issue :
I. Col. John Willis19. Married (1838) Lucy Taliaferro Madison, daughter of Ambrose Madison and Janc Bankhead (Willis) Madison. He lived in Orange Co., Va., successively at "Rockwood," "Howard Place" and "Oakburn." His wife died 1868, and he about January or February, 1885. They are buried at "Montpelier," in the Madison graveyard.
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Some time after 1840 Montpelier was bought by Mr. Henry Wood Moncure, of Richmond. His family spent the summers there; hence the friendship between Miss Catherine Ambler Moncure and Miss Letitia R. Lee. Louise Pecquet du Bellet met Col. John Willis at Col.
Charles P. Moncure's, Orange Courthouse, Jan., 1885. II. Mary Lee Willis10. Married Col. John Hancock Lee; d. leaving three daughters :
I. Nelly Lee11, d. single.
II. Lucy Lee11, d. single.
III. Letitia Ramolina Lee11. Married her cousin, Dr. Robert Madison, of the Virginia Institute. She died, leaving two daughters, who d. in the bloom of womanhood:
I. Mary Madison12.
II. Letitia Madison12.
These Lees are all buried at "Montpelier."
My mother, Catherine Ambler Moncure, who married Pierre Francois Nemours Pecquet du Bellet, was an intimate friend of Letitia R. Lee, who married Dr. Robert Madison. I will give the letter, written by Miss Lee before her marriage, to my mother, also some thoughts written by her in my mother's autograph album, when she (my mother) visited "Woodley."
The following letter is not dated, but it was evidently written before Miss Letitia R. Lee was married :
MY OWN DEAR KATE, VERY MUCH LOVED FRIEND:
Your precious letter came to my hands the 6th of December. I was spending the night at Spring Garden, after having attended Mr. Williams' marriage to one of the Misses Blair (from courtesy, dearest, I have occasionally to don a party dress). I did not even wait to take the flowers from my hair, but went on to devour the contents of your letter. Fortunately none of the family were at home, save Lucie and Mrs. Taylor, and they were asleep, so I enjoyed my midnight communing with the past and absent free of interruptions. The summer I spent at Old Point, until the terminus of the scason; the remainder of it at home. I did so with a view of passing the fall in New York, but a change came o'er the spirit of my dream. My Cherie Amie there was married the same month that you were, to an Englishman, so one day I shall have two attractions across the water. She was a near relative of Lord John Metcalf.
It was with deep mortification that I saw your marriage in the papers (because, Josephine, a friend of later years, had told me every thought), and you, dear Kate, I had loved and trusted so deeply, but "n'importe,"
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I forgive it all now. I sincerely congratulate you, and pray for your hap- piness. It had been so short a time since I received your first letter, from Paris, and not to breathe a word of your engagement to me was (I felt at the time) unkind, but to prove how entirely the past is forgiven, I will tell you of my engagement, the first of all my friends except Josephine. You ask , of my conquests, Kate, dear; I believe they have been more numerous this year than ever. To tell of them (the whole truth) would occupy more space than I can allow them from a subject to me more important; then, these are not many you know:
Wm. Williams laid his hand and heart at my feet. He is a young lawyer in Williamsburg. Now, you remember him, do you not? I think dear Willie [Willie Moncure, Kate's brother] used to like him. You told me to tell you candidly of myself-I shall do so. I shall tell you little things, that trifles may strengthen memory's chain.
I am engaged to Robert Madison, and expect to plight my holy troth sometime in May next. I cannot write you, Kate, of the past. Should we ever meet again I will tell you all, but of him I must now speak.
Long before I knew you, dearest, when I was "a wee girl," and he but a few years my senior, he saw and loved me. Since then his love has increased and strengthened with advancing manhood, enabling him to sur- mount all obstacles that came in his path. At the University he took first honors; at Williamsburg he graduated in less time than any student that ever matriculated there; in Philadelphia the professors told him his diploma was ready for him without examining him; in Petersburg, unaided, he has placed himself at the head of his profession there, making hoary heads bow to his genius. He has declined an assistant professorship at the University twice, and is eagerly looking forward to place his name first on the list of fame. Should he not accept any professorship in this country in two years, he will then go to Paris for the medical lectures, and take me with him. Then, Kate, darling, I will see you again; but it is looking far into the future, is it not? I have written you briefly and truly of my choice, now what do you think of it? You letters will bc, as mine must be, sacred to friendship and thee. Write me your thoughts, even if they be in disapproval; no other eye shall sce them, Kate, even if you do love memoirs; and I sing "con expressione," "Robert, c'est toi que jaime."
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