USA > Virginia > Some prominent Virginia families, Volume IV > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
Meanwhile his wife had charge of his plantation, all but 55 acres of which was sold November 2, 1776, to the University of Pennsylvania. The British, under Lord Howe. September 23, 1777, on their way to Philadelphia. made a raid on the place, burned
104
SOME PROMINENT
several outbuildings and blew up his powder mill. Col. Bull was afterwards reimbursed by the government, two thousand and eighty pounds, English, about ten thousand and four hundred dollars. (State and County Records.)
Tradition is rife with incidents of Mrs. Bull's bravery on this occasion. She was interview by Gen'l Howe, who offered pro- tection of life and property then, and large rewards in the future of both money and position, if she would influence her husband to desert the American cause and join the British. She scornfully rejected the proposition, and he ordered her dwelling house burned.
About two hours before their arrival a scout had given Mrs. Bull notice that the British, with a detachment of Indians, would be there about sunset. Gen'l Bull was on duty in Philadelphia, but all his children were at home, excepting the eldest daughter, Mrs. Rittenhouse, who was with her husband at Rummelstown, but Mrs. Bull quickly decided what she would do: she with the younger children, would stay and face the foe, but her second daughter, Animus (Anna), then seventeen, she mounted on her fleetest horse, with her younger sister behind her, and a box of valuable papers before her, and sent her away to the nearest place of safety, which was the town of Philadelphia, about twenty miles distant. When the girls were gone, Mrs. Bull proceeded to hide her valuables : some silver plate was buried and a roll of money (two hundred English pounds) was put in the bottom of a grand- father's clock, which stood in the dining room, where she inter- viewed Gen'l Howe. A staff officer, who was present, was about to open the lower apartment of the clock, when Gen'l Howe ordered him to "leave it alone." The raid was a hurried one, so the money was saved, although in obedience to orders the soldiers did set fire to the house (but Mrs. Bull and her servants put it out), blew up the powder mill, and destroyed much other property, for which Gen'l Bull was afterward reimbursed by the government to the amount of two thousand and eighty pounds, or ten thousand four hundred dollars.
Gen'l John Bull was a son of John Bull, Sr., who died in Phila- delphia, in 1752, leaving three sons, John, William, and Thomas (all of whom married and left descendants), and one daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Betson. Mrs. John Bull. Sr., lived to be ninety- six; her maiden name is unknown.
105
VIRGINIA FAMILIES
Gen'l John Bull married Mary Philipps, August 13, 1752. She was of Welsh extraction. Her mother was an orphan, an heiress and a minor, when she eloped with Mr. Philipps, who brought her to America, and settled in Philadelphia. At that time (carly in 1700) to elope with an heiress, who was a minor, was under the Welsh law punishable by many years of imprisonment. This made it impossible for him to return to Wales, or even to ask financial aid from his friends. Soon the young couple found themselves in serious financial troubles; young, inexperienced. accustomed to lives of ease, they were unable to cope with the hardships entailed by poverty in a new land. Mrs. Philipps soon died, leaving a daughter, named Mary; her husband did not long survive her and Mrs. John Bull took the little girl into her home, and cared for her as her own. When grown she married the eldest son of her benefactors.
Copy of the marriage certificate is:
These are to certify, whom it may concern, that John Bull and Mary Philipps, were lawfully married according to the constitution of the Church of England, on the 13th day of August, 1752. WILLIAM CUNN.
Family record of John Bull and Mary, nee Philipps :
John Bull, b. in Northumberland Co., Pa., June 1, 1728: d. August 9, 1824.
Mary Philipps, b. 1231. Married August 13, 1752; d. February 23, 1811. Issue :
I. Elizabeth Bull, b. 1753. Married Benjamin Ritten- house, brother of David Rittenhouse, the great mathe- matician.
II. Rebecca Bull, b. 1755. Married Capt. John Boyd : d. Oct., 1790.
III. Animus (Anna) Bull, b. 1760. Married Gen'l John Smith. of Hackwood.
IV. Maria Louise Bull, b. 1165. Married Mr. Joseph Nourse. Sarah Harriet Bull, b. 1711. Married, first, JJosiah Haines ; second. Benjamin Flower Young: third, William Floyd.
VI. Ezekiel William Bull. b. 1115, was surgeon in the United States Army; d. unmarried, at his country home, Bullskine, in Jefferson County, W. Va., 1820.
106
SOME PROMINENT
II. Elizabeth Bull (John1), eldest daughter of Gen'l John Bull and Mary Philipps, his wife. Married Benjamin Ritten- house. Their daughter, Mary Rittenhouse", married (in 1800) Michael Nourse, youngest son of James Nourse and Sarah, née Fonace, emigrants from Hereford Co., England. Issue :
Anna Josepha Nourse+, married Charles Augustine Hassler.
-
MR. JOSEPH NOURSE, OF MT. ALBANS, NOW GEORGETOWN, D. C. First Registrar of the U. S. Treasury, 1781
Mary Caroline Hassler5, b. 1840; married (1863) Dr. Simon Newcomb, in charge of the National Observatory, Washington, D. C .. and Professor at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
Rosalie Anita Newcomb6 married (1881) Dr. T. W. McGee, in charge of the Bureau of Etymology. She studied at Cambridge University, England, also at the University of Genoa; her medical degree she obtained at Columbia University, and also took a post graduate course at the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, August 25, 1895. She received an appointment as army surgeon and was placed at the head of the corps of women nurses furnished
.
107
VIRGINIA FAMILIES
for the soldiers in the Spanish-American War, and was appointed assistant to Gen'l Stemburg. She held the rank of First Lieut. and was entitled to wear shoulder straps, indicative of her rank, if she wished. At this date (1906) she is the only woman who has ever held a commission in the U. S. Army or Navy. After successfully completing the work of organizing the army nurses corps, she sent in her resignation, which took effect January 1, 1901. Mrs. Rittenhouse has other descendants settled in Mary- land and Virginia.
II. Maria Louise Bull2 (John1), b. 1765, daughter of Gen'l John Bull and Mary Philipps, his wife. Married Joseph Nourse, eldest son of James Nourse and Sarah, née Fonace, emigrants. Joseph Nourse, b. 1754, was appointed Registrar of the Treasury, 1781, by Gen'l Washington and held the office until 1829, just forty-eight years. Then Gen'l Jackson came into the presidential office, and acting on his favorite motto, "To the victor belongs the spoils," he removed Mr. Nourse to make room for one of his own adherents.
Mr. Nourse built his home on Georgetown Heights, at a very high point, giving a magnificent view of the capitol. He called it "Mount Alban's," and for many years before his death he was in the habit of praying, "That some day a church should be built on that spot, a witness for Christ, in the lap of the young republic." Years later his granddaughter, Phœby Nourse, who was an invalid some months before her death, died leaving forty dollars in gold, "marked for a free church on 'Mount Alban's.'" This sum was the proceeds of her embroidery and painting on china, during her sickness, and it was made the beginning of the work so much desired by her grandfather, which through the energy and generosity of her family, resulted in the building of St. Alban's Church. It was consecrated, in 1855, by Bishop Whittingham, of Maryland, and, under its efficient rectors, has become the center of a large and prosperous church work in St. Alban's Parish.
The idea of a National Cathedral was conceived by Maj. L'Enfant, who was commissioned by Gen'l Washington to draw a plan for the city. In this plan L'Enfant included a church and selected a site not far from the city hall. The erection of such a church under a government where church and state were so absolutely separated was, of course impossible, yet it was a matter
108
SOME PROMINENT
of thought well worthy of fulfillment. In 1893, Miss Elizabeth Mann made the first donation towards a "National Cathedral" of property estimated to be worth $100,000, and at the feast of Epiphany, the same year, the charter of the "Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul" was given by act of Congress. Two years later, 1895, the "Diocese of Washington" was made, and the Rev. Henry Y. Satterlee consecrated and installed as bishop.
The selection of a site for the cathedral was a grave question. Historically and sentimentally Mount Alban's was most desirable. but it could not then be bought, so the trustees made a second choice. This choice was, however, found to be unsuitable, and while the matter was still being debated, the death of Mrs. Dulaney, granddaughter of Mr. Joseph Nourse, caused Mount Alban's to be thrown into market, and it was at once purchased by the cathedral trustees.
In 1898, the General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church met in Washington City, and the Peace Cross, commemo- rating the close of the Spanish-American War, was unveiled by Mr. James Nourse, of the Highlands, in the Cathedral Close. It is a very beautiful Celtic cross and stands on the brow of the hill, overlooking the greater part of Washington City. An immense crowd of distinguished people were present. The President of the United States, a member of his cabinet, many foreign ambassadors, and a large concourse of bishops, clergy and laity, who were attending their General Convention from every state in the Union.
On Ascension Day, 1902, a little sanctuary, which was erected at the "All Hollows Gate" of the future Cathedral Close, was consecrated. In it has been placed some notable gifts from devoted American and English churchmen.
The ancient "Abbey Church of St. Peter and St. Paul," in England, dates back to the days when Christianity in Britain was in its infancy, so twenty carved stones from the Glastonburg Cathedral ruins were sent as a gift from the mother church of old Britain to the Cathedral at Washington in the new land. They have been shaped into a bishop's chair, and form a link between the American Cathedral and the cradle of British Christianity. Another gift has come of equal interest, from loyal American churchmen. It consists of twelve blocks of marble from the quarries of Solomon, at Jerusalem, whence the stones of
109
VIRGINIA FAMILIES
the temple were hewn. These quarries abound with traditions of the Messiah. Perhaps He dragged the cross over these very stones, which to-day bring unbidden tears as we think of all the sacred memories and associations inseparably connected with them. The twelve blocks of marble have been formed into a Jerusalem Altar, and placed with the bishop's chair and other gifts in the little sanctuary, there to await the completion of the Cathedral.
For several summers every Sunday afternoon the "people's open- air evensong" has been held in the Cathedral Close with wonderful success. The service is simple, and the music attractive, rendered by a vested male choir, led by the military band from Fort Meyer, which is also vested. If the weather permits the attendance is always good, being much larger than St. Alban's church could accommodate.
In the autumn of 1904 a notable service was held, when thirty thousand people listened to Dr. Davidson, "Primate of all Eng- land," and joined earnestly and reverently in the responses, chants and hymns of the beautiful ritual of the Episcopal Church. Two or three policemen were on the ground, but their services were not needed: all were as quiet and orderly as though worshipping in the church. Thus a cathedral congregation has been gathered before the cathedral is built and the devout prayers of a holy, God-fearing man answered.
A number of buildings for the accommodation of various Church purposes are to be in the Cathedral Close. A beautiful baptistry and a building for a large boarding school for girls are completed, and a boys' choir school and a deaconess' training house are projected. This last mentioned is a memorial to Miss Rosa Nourse, a sister of the lady who made the first donation of forty dollars, who devoted her life to the work of St. Alban's Parish.
Mr. Joseph Nourse and his wife, Maria Louise, née Bull, had two children :
I. Josepha Nourse, died at sixteen.
'II. Charles Josephus Nourse.
Between Josepha Nourse and the children of Mrs. William Davison there existed a very warm attachment. In her last illness she requested her parents to present in her name, to the two eldest boys, John Smith Bull Davison and Edward Jaquelin Davison,
110
SOME PROMINENT
each a silver cup, as a memento of their friendship. Mr. and Mrs. Nourse did so, and these cups are still treasured heirlooms in the Davison family.
Charles Josephus Nourse entered the U. S. Army and rose to the rank of Adjutant General. He was on Gen'l Scott's staff many years, and was one of Gen'l LaFayette's escorts, when he visited this country in 1824. In 1808, he was sent by President Madison, to England, as bearer of private dispatches from this government ; in 1809, he was commissioned Second Lieutenant ; in 1812, he was First Lieutenant ; August 15, 1813, he was brevetted Captain, and in 1814 brevetted Major and assistant Adjutant General of the army. Major Nourse took an active part in the War of 1812, but when the British burned Washington, in 1814, he was on duty with Maj. Gen'l Wilkinson, on the Great Lakes. After the war he was stationed at Bristol, Bucks Co., Pa. His regiment was Second Artillery. In 1827, he resigned from the army to become chief clerk in the War Department. In 1829, Gen'l Jackson turned him out and he retired to his plantation near Washington, called "The Highlands," which was part of St. Albans tract. In 1842, he was elected a resident member of the "National Institution for the Promotion of Science." He was Justice of the Peace from 1839 to his death in 1851.
Major Charles J. Nourse, b. 1786, married (in Philadelphia, May 9, 1816) Rebecca Morris, daughter of Anthony Morris and Mary, née Pemberton. Issue :
I. Mary Josepha Nourse, b. Oct. 16, 1817.
II. Caroline Rebecca Nourse, b. June 13, 1819.
III. Louisa Nourse, b. Sept. 29, 1820.
IV. John Nourse, b. Oct. 25, 1821; d. Aug. 11, 1822.
V. Rosa Morris Nourse, b. Oct. 10, 1823.
VI. Charles Joseph Nourse, b. June 23, 1825.
VII. Phoby Pemberton Nourse, b. Dec. 8, 1826.
VIII. James Burn Nourse, b. Sept. 18, 1828. IX. Elizabeth Nourse, b. Jan. 13, 1831.
X. Henrietta Nourse, b. Nov. 21, 1833; d. 1870.
XI. Israel Pemberton Nourse, b. Aug. 7, 1836; d. July 28, 1861, from a wound received at the battle of Bull Run.
111
VIRGINIA FAMILIES
Caroline Rebecca Nourse, second daughter of Maj. Charles J. Nourse and Rebecca Morris, his wife, married (1843) Capt. Bladen Dulaney. They made their home at Mount Albans, the residence of her grandfather, Mr. Joseph Nourse, which she in- herited from her father. Issue :
I. Rosa Morris Dulaney, b. 1852. Married Thomas John Chew. Mrs. Chew d. 1829, leaving issue :
I. Rosa Dulaney Chew.
II. Jeanette Chew.
Four years later Mr. Chew married his wife's only sister. Phoby Pemberton Dulaney, who d. two months after her marriage. Mr. Chew married a third wife.
Louise Morris Nourse, b. 1820, third daughter of Maj. Charles .J. Nourse and Rebecca, née Morris, married (1847) Charles Wayman Forrest, b. 1802 in Fairfax Co., Va. He was appointed Clerk in the Treasury by President Andrew Jackson and was retained in office till his death. Issue :
I. Rebecca Forrest, b. 1848; d. 1850.
II. Elizabeth Forrest, b. 1849; d. 1849.
III. Louise Rebecca Forrest, b. 1851, Married Col. Irwin.
Charles Joseph Nourse, b. 1825, sixth child of Maj. Charles .J. Nourse and Rebecca Morris, his wife, lives on his estate called "Weston," in Fauquier Co., Va. Married (1849) Margaret Kemble of New York City, who died 1883, without issue. Mr. Nourse married, second. Ann Carroll Simpson, of Smithfield, Isle of Wight Co., Va. Issue :
I. Charles Joseph Nourse. b. 1886.
II. Ann Constance Nourse, b. 1888.
III. Mary Pemberton Nourse, b. 1891.
IV. Walter Burton Nourse, b. 1893.
V. Charlotte St. George Nourse, b. 1894.
James Burn Nourse, eighth child of Maj. Charles J. Nourse and Rebecca Morris, his wife, lives in the old homestead, "The Highlands," with his sister Mary. Both are loved and honored by all who know them. From 1852 to 1858 Mr. Nourse was Clerk in the Quartermaster General Office. He has been vestryman. treasurer and lay reader at St. Alban's Church for many years.
Elizabeth Nourse. b. 1831, ninth child of Maj. Charles J. Nourse and Rebecca Morris, his wife, married (at "The Highlands," 1852)
112
SOME PROMINENT
Charles Carroll Simmes. b. Stafford Co., Va .; d. in Georgetown, 1884. He was appointed midshipman U. S. N., October 9, 1839 ; promoted to post midshipman, 1845; to Master, January, 1854, and to Lieutenant, August, 1854. His various voyages took him to Brazil, the Mediterranean, the coast of Africa, the Pacific, the polar regions (in command of the propeller Artic in 1855), the Spanish main, the East Indies, and to various ports on the Coast Survey duty. On April 22, 1861, Lieutenant Simmes resigned from the U. S. N. and joined the Confederate Navy, in which he was appointed First Lieutenant. He fired the first gun (shot) in the famous Monitor-Merrimac engagement. After the close of the war he ran a boat on the Mississippi River for two years. Afterwards he was engaged in various pursuits until 1878, when he became clerk in the health office of the District of Columbia, where he remained until his death, 1884.
Lieutenant Simmes and Elizabeth Nourse, his wife, had issue : I. Charles Nourse Simmes, b. May 1, 1854, at "The High- lands"; is a merchant at Ronceverte, W. Va. Married (June 5, 1888) Catherine Ella Burroughs, daughter of John William Burroughs. Issue :
I. Charles Carroll Simmes, b. June 2, 1880.
II. Richard Douglas Simmes, b. March 29, 1888, at "Mt. Alban's"; is clerk in the office of the engineer com- missioner of the District of Columbia.
113
VIRGINIA FAMILIES
CHAPTER VII
MILLS . FAMILY.
SEMP
DIDELIS
SMITH
De treareth Sable a Fefo Cottised latnten thu
Martes Higent by the Game of Smith
THE COAT-OF-ARMS OF SMITH OF EXETER, ENGLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, NEW ENGLAND, AND OF SOUTH CAROLINA
He beareth Sable, a Fess, cotised between three martlets argent. By the name "Smith."
From Ramsay's History of South Carolina, Volume I, pages 45 and 46, we quote as follows :
To find an equally qualified person (as Ludwell), for the trust, was a matter of no small difficulty. Thomas Smith, being in high estimation
114
SOME PROMINENT
for his wisdom and probity, was deemed to be the most proper person to succeed Ludwell. Accordingly a patent was sent him creating him a Landgrave, and, together with it a commission investing him with the government of the Colony. Mr. Ludwell returned to Virginia happily re- lieved from a troublesome office.
Governor Smith, after repeated efforts, being himself a high churchman, found it impossible to reconcile the religious and secular differences of the Colonists, and he therefore advised the Lords Proprietors, as a last resort, to send one of their own number, and, if possible, one whose religion would be one of peace, not antagonized by violent opposition from any source, to rule the Colony as Governor. The Lords Proprietors, deeming bis advice prudent and wise, sent John Archdale, a Quaker and one of the Proprietors, who was a man of considerable knowledge and discretion.
NOTE .- The patent of Thomas Smith was dated May 15, 1691. After reciting the authority of the Lords Proprietors to constitute titles and honors in the province, and to prefer (advance) men of merit, and to adorn such with titles and honors, and also stating the fundamental constitu- tions, by which it was established, that there should be "landgraves" and "caciques" who should be perpetual and hereditary nobles and peers of the province, and that Thomas Smith, a person of singular merit, would be very serviceable by his great produce and industry, proceed to constitute him a landgrave, together with four Baronies of 12,000 acres of land each, and it further declares that the said title and four Baronies should forever descend to his heirs on paying an annual rent of a penny an acre, lawful money of England.
Such have been the changes which in the course of two hundred years have taken place, that this is the only known instance in which any one of Mr. Locke's "Carolina Nobility" can trace back his pedigree to the original founder.
The coat-of-arms given above was brought to America about 1640 by Thomas Smith, of Charlestown, Massachusetts. It is the same as that owned and used by Thomas Smith, Landgrave, Cacique, and Governor of Carolina, of Charlestown, S. C. It is also the same as that used by the Smiths of Exeter, England, except that the American arms have silver where the English arms have gold, showing that the American is the younger branch of the family.
In River's "History of South Carolina" we read :
In 1687, Thomas Smith was on the committee to correct existing laws and is supposed to have originated our present system of drawing jurors.
In "Notes on Cape Fear History," by James Sprink, October 15, 1692, the following appears :
The law for drawing the names of jurors indiscriminately from a box was passed by the Colonial Council.
115
VIRGINIA FAMILIES
In Carroll's "History of South Carolina." Volume I, page 109, we find :
Thomas Smith had followed the sea for some time, and among the places he visited was Madagascar, where he studied the cultivation of rice, which eulture he first introduced into Carolina.
For an account of Thomas Smith's administration as Governor of South Carolina, see "Archdale's South Carolina," Volume I, page 101.
The following is a copy of the inscription on the tomb of Land- grave and Governor Thomas Smith :
Here lyeth ye body of ye Right Honorable Thomas Smith, Esquire, one of ye Landgraves of Carolina, who departed this life ye 16th November, 1694, Governor of ye Province, in ye forty-sixth year of his age.
In the "Colonial Records of North Carolina," Volume I, page 382, we read :
Barbara, Thomas Smith's wife, was accompanied to Carolina by a rela- tive, Bernard Shenking. This Bernard Shenking was Chief Justice and Sheriff of Berkeley County, Nov. 8, 1691.
In Hutton's list of Original Emigrants to America is included a list of the inhabitants of St. Nicholas, Barbadoes, which includes "Bernard Shenking, 10 acres," and mentions that he had had baptized in Christ Church, Barbadoes, on January 2, 1679, the following of his children: "Elizabeth, S years old; Catherine, 7 years old ; Armaringia, 5 years old; Benjamin, } months old." There is also noted a burial "Sept. 25, 1678, Hannah. youngest daughter of Bernard Shenking." This must have been a child between Armaringia and Benjamin.
It is mere speculation to try to fix the degree of relationship between Barbara Shenking and the Bernard Shenking who accom- panied her to Virginia. He may have been her brother, who was present at the marriage of Barbara to Thomas Smith, in Exeter, England, and came over with her on the ship "Carolina" in 1669. married and went to the Barbadoes to reside, raised a family there. and returned to Carolina in 1691, and became Justice and Sheriff of Berkeley County, November 8, 1691.
This Bernard Shenking who came over on the "Carolina" mar- ried Elizabeth Moore, tenth child of Governor James Moore, of Sonth Carolina. Bernard Shenking was a resident of Barbadoes in 1680.
116
SOME PROMINENT
There is a record in Berkeley County, North Carolina, of a con- test of the will of Bernard Shenking, dated July 17, 1695.
Thomas Smith, of Boston, Mass., moved to Nevis, W. I., where he married Elizabeth, daughter of Bernard Shenking and Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Gov. James Moore, of South Carolina.
James Moore, Sr., was not Governor of South Carolina until late in life, namely, the year 1700. He died September 7, 1700. His son, Col. James Moore, Jr., was Governor, December 19, 1719. He was the first "Royal" governor.
In another account I have read it is stated that: "The wife of Thomas Smith, of New England, the father of Thomas Smith, the Planter, of South Carolina, who married Sabina Smith, daughter of second Landgrave Thomas Smith, was named Elizabeth Shenking, the granddaughter of a nobleman of that name, and a relative of the Barbara Shenking who married the first Landgrave Thomas Smith."
Thomas Smith, of Boston, Mass., married Elizabeth Shenking. of Barbadoes, and had issue :
I. Thomas Smith. Married Sabina Smith, in 1716.
II. Amarentia Smith. Married Peter Taylor, of England.
Thomas Smith1, born in Exeter, England, 1648, died in Charles- ton, S. C., November 16, 1694. First Landgrave of Carolina, Cacique of several Baronies, Governor of Carolina, member of Colonial Council. Married (at Exeter, England, in 1668) Barbara Shenking, daughter of Bernard Shenking, and had two sons:
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.