USA > Virginia > Westmoreland County > Westmoreland County > Westmoreland County, Virginia : parts I and II : a short chapter and bright day in its history > Part 11
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The Lee Birthplace Memorial Committee of the Virginia State Camp, Patriotic Order of America, has an Option on Strat- ford as a Memorial to the Lees, to be Dedicated to Vir- ginia.
The Lee Birthplace Memorial Committee of the Virginia State Camp, Patriotic Order Sons of America, passed a resolution taking up the patriotic work of purchasing Stratford, September 10, 1907; endorsed by the National Camp of the order, September 25, 1907; the State Camp of Maryland, August 12, 1908; New Jersey, Au- gust 19, 1908; Delaware, August 25, 1908, and Pennsylvania, Au- gust 27, 1908.
Stratford will be a memorial to the Lees, and a room dedicated to each one. After the work is done, it is proposed to present the property to the State of Virginia, to be perpetual for all time as a memorial to the great men born under its roof or connected with its history. The committee at present holds an option on the pro- perty.
EXTRACT FROM RESOLUTIONS.
Resolved, That it is the purpose of this committee to have Stratford purchased by the people, and remain forever the prop- erty of the people, to refurnish it in the style of the period when these great men were born, to build a wharf and make it a place where patriotic citizens may gather and refresh their memory with the great deeds performed by these heroes of the past.
On July 15, 1906, a movement was inaugurated by Rev. John Poyntz Tyler, Archdeacon of Virginia, an honored son of West- moreland and an accomplished preacher, by a bi-centennial cele- bration to raise a memorial fund for the preservation of old Yeo- comico Church, in Cople Parish, Westmoreland county. Right
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Rev. Robert A. Gibson, Bishop of Virginia, commended the work of endowing this colonial church, built in 1706 (the first one be- fore 1655). In his striking appeal he calls it "a historic land- mark of the very highest interest," and says "it has a romantic story and one which is in many of its aspects pathetic."
The present members of the congregation of Cople Parish earn- estly went to work to see that this sacred edifice, once the worship- ping place of so many whose names are indelibly associated with the leading events of Virginia's history, should be preserved from decay. The faithful committee, composed of Wat Tyler Mayo, S. Downing Cox, and Walter R. Crabbe, appointed by them and aided kindly by Rev. George Wm. Beale, D. D., with his historical data, prepared and published an attractive and charming sketch of the church and the people who have worshipped within its walls. Kind and generous friends have responded to the call to contribute, among whom notably is P. H. Mayo, Esq., Richmond, Va .; and Hon. Wm. P. Hubbard, member of Congress from the Wheeling District, W. Va. Russell Hubbard and Mrs. Joseph Brady have generously contributed to erect a memorial to their sister, Mrs. Julia Hubbard Tyler, wife of Wat H. Tyler, Westmoreland county, Va. The fund is placed under control of the Diocesan Board of Trustees, to be permanently invested, and the proceeds used to keep the old building and enclosure in repair. Among those who wor- shipped at Yeocomico were Colonel George Eskridge, an eminent lawyer, after whom George Washington was named, and to whom was committed the care and tutelage of Mary Ball, the mother of General Washington, when she was about thirteen years of age-a sacred duty by the young girl's mother in her last will and testa- ment, and one which Colonel Eskridge sacredly kept; John Bush- rod, one of the Burgesses of Westmoreland, whose family name be- came distinguished by his grandson, the Hon. Bushrod Washington of the Supreme Court of the United States, born at Bushfield, in Westmoreland, and a favorite nephew of General Washington; and John Rochester, who was a vestryman of Yeocomico in 1785, who subsequently removed to and settled in New York. Colonel Na- thaniel Rochester, after whom the great city of Rochester, N. Y., was named, was born in 1752 on a plantation in Cople Parish, West- moreland county, on which his father, grandfather and great-grand- father had lived.
Rev. Thomas Smith was minister here 1773-1776. He was a very picturesque character, and a man of force and patriotism. We see him presiding over the Committee of Safety at Westmoreland Courthouse, with its famous resolutions on June 22, 1774, and
OLD YEOCOMICO CHURCH, Built 1706
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May 23, 1775-the first time when the Boston Harbor was blocked up, and the second time when Lord Dunmore seized the powder in the magazine at Williamsburg, Va. How many more names could the writer record if the limits and space of this little chapter would permit ! When the pilgrim and stranger treads this sacred spot so full of sadness, yet of the sweetest memories and associations, and sees the graves-many neglected-that contain the ashes of a grand people and noble race, he feels around him the spirit of Westminster Abbey.
But we must add the name of Bishop John Brockenbrough Newton, son of Hon. Willoughby Newton, member of Congress, and grandson of Judge William Brockenbrough, Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, who worshipped here. He was a Bishop, that the clergy loved, and one whom in the Diocesan Council ( Virginia that appointed him, the laity clamored for, claimed and elected as their favorite. He had all that birth, blood and heredity could give. Nature had given him, besides mental endowment and a luminous intellect, robust common sense; but the best thing that can be said about him is that he made the world brighter as he passed through it, and it has been told that the man who sheds a little sunshine on his course, is himself lighted into the great Unknown.
Bishop Payne, late Bishop of Africa, is claimed by Westmore- land, too. He lived and died near by in Washington Parish. After spending all in Africa, with failing health he came back to West- moreland to die. He named his home Cavalla, and there died with harness on him. When I think of grand old Bishop Payne and his coming home to die, the thrilling words of Goldsmith's "De- serted Village" fill me with pathos :
"In all my wanderings round this world of care, In all my griefs-and God has given my share- I still had hopes, my Tatest hours to crown, Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down; To husband out life's taper at the close, And keep the flame from wasting by repose : I still had hopes, for pride attends us still, Amidst the swains to show my book-learned skill, Around my fire an evening group to draw, And tell of all I felt, and all I saw; And as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue, Pants to the place from whence at first he flew, I still had hopes, my long vexations past, Here to return-and die at home at last."
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There is something more than a romance and a tradition still in Westmoreland that is treasured by its votaries like the perfume of sweet incense, and throws a halo around its people. It is this : that there is an unseen crimson thread of blood and kinship be- tween the Campbells, Patrick Henry and Lord Brougham
Bishop Meade and other cultured writers state that Parson Campbell (Rev. Archibald Campbell, minister of Washington Par- ish,) was from Scotland; was related to the Stuart and Argyle families of that country, and an uncle of Thomas Campbell, the poet. That lawyer Campbell, a most eloquent man, a brother of the poet, married a daughter of Patrick Henry, and that Patrick Henry, on his mother's side, from the stock of Robertson the his- torian, was in that way a relative of Lord Brougham, so that his descendants are connected with the poet Campbell, thus showing a connection between our great orator and one of the greatest poli- ticians and one of the sweetest poets of the age.
Lastly, the Mayos worshipped at the old Yeocomico Church, and the graveyard contains the ashes of some of them. Judge Rob- ert Mayo married Miss Campbell of this distinguished family. He was erudite and strong. His two sons, Colonel Robert M., mem- ber of Congress, and Colonel Joseph, distinguished in journalism and literature, both came to the Bar splendidly equipped by edu- cation, and both full of honors and distinction as officers in the War Between the States. At the Bar they attained distinction, earning for themselves the appellation applied by the holy evan- gelist to Joseph of Arimathea, "an honorable counsellor." A sweet fragrance lingers around their names. Wm. Mayo, another son, ex-State Senator, and at present chairman Board of Supervisors, of fine character and mental endowment, is one of the most pro- gressive and leading citizens of this county.
The question may be asked by some hypercritical and super- sensitive person why reference has not been made in this booklet to other churches. The answer is ready : because it is not a volume of churches, families and biographies, and is limited in space. There is no class, caste, degree, nor denomination, church, nor family to be served in this booklet. The manuscript has been with- held from the publisher by the writer to take in conference and confidence the representatives of all the churches to get their wis- dom and judgment on this very point and question. Yeocomico has been treated because of the early and historic character of the church alone. The sweetest and most hallowed memories cluster around the other churches, its graves and cemeteries as well as Yeocomico. The greatest and grandest men of Westmoreland were
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not all buried within the hallowed precincts of Yeocomico. In these latter years General R. L. T. Beale, as statesman and soldier, mem- ber of Congress and Brigadier-General of Cavalry, C. S. A., leads, and his name will live brighter and brighter as the years pass by. Thomas Brown, late Governor of Florida, Hon. John P. Hunger- ford, Hon. Willoughby Newton, Judge John Critcher, Col. Richard Claybrook, the Bakers, the Lewises (Judge George W., as high as his soul was pure) ; the Walkers (W. W., the brilliant orator) ; Robert J. Washington, dashing and gifted, and Lloyd Washington, progressive and successful, his brother; Murphy; the Garnetts; (Gen. Thomas Stuart of Chancellorsville fame, and John, major C. S. A., and Dr. Algernon S., surgeon C. S. A., his brothers) ; the Beales (Rev. Geo. Wm. Beale, D. D., the accomplished scholar and divine; Robert, the sturdy and faithful judge, and Rev. Frank B. Beale, D. D., the earnest, faithful preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ) ; Cox, Tayloe, Capt. Wm. Newton of the Hanover Troop, the Davis preachers, evangelical and scholarly; Joseph Christopher Wheelwright and Samuel Francis Atwill, the hero cadets of New Market; J. H. Wheelwright, president of the Consolidated Coal Company, West Virginia and Baltimore; Wm. Hutt and J. Warren Hutt, clerks, and others-some still living-and others whose names are carved on the Confederate Monument as immortal, share in the glory of Westmoreland. Some shed lustre on the Confederate arms; some on her distinguished Bar and the holy ministry, and some in the other departments of life and progress. I wish I had space to exalt and pay tribute to them.
XII.
What the Most Distinguished and Highest Authorities Say of Westmoreland.
But we must abbreviate this short chapter, and write FINIS. We must, however, give a few extracts from the highest authority as to the present condition of this great county-its material pro- gress-what the Hand-Book of Virginia, The Manufacturer's Record, Baltimore, Md., and Governor Mann of Virginia say of progressive Virginia.
WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
Westmoreland was formed in 1653 from Northumberland, and is situated in the northeast portion of the State on the lower Poto- mac River, fifty-five miles northeast from Richmond. Its average length is thirty miles, width ten miles. It contains an area of 245 square miles, and a population by last census of 9,243, a gain of 844 since 1890.
The surface is generally level, but hilly in some portions. Soil light loam on river bottoms, stiffer clay soil on uplands and easy of cultivation.
Farm products are corn, wheat, millet, rye, clover, and peas for hay. Potatoes, sweet and Irish, do well, and the raising of clover seed for market is a considerable industry. Orchard grass and timothy are successfully grown. Average yield per acre of corn twenty-five bushels, of wheat ten bushels, and of hay one and a half to two tons. Fruits of the various varieties, such as apples, peaches, pears, plums, strawberries, etc., grow well, and several canneries are located in the county. The climate and soil is especially adapted to the raising of vegetables, and trucking is becoming quite an important industry. The numerous creeks and inlets along the Potomac boundary abound in the finest fish, oysters and wild fowl. There are large natural oyster beds on these tidal waters, and the species of fish obtained embrace trout, rock herring, shad, and perch, which are caught by nets, traps and seines.
Grazing facilities are fairly good, and stock does well, especially sheep, which are receiving increased attention and proving quite remunerative. That class of stock is being improved by the im- portation of better breeds. There are no railroads in the county, but excellent transportation facilities are afforded by steamboats on
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the Rappahannock and Potomac to Fredericksburg, Washington, Baltimore, and Alexandria markets. Marl is abundant, also marsh mud and oyster shell lime. There is some ash, poplar, etc., but the timber consists chiefly of pine, of which a large amount of cord wood and lumber are annually cut and shipped.
Water and drainage are furnished by the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers; and the numerous tributaries of the latter pene- trating inland about ten or twelve miles, with good water power, are utilized. Besides numerous saw and grain mills, the manu- factories of the county consist of a number of fruit-canning fac- tories, two plants for blasting and crushing marl, and one for dig- ging and grinding infusorial earths.
The climate is temperate. Health generally good. Water good and abundant in the uplands; not so good on water courses, except where artesian is used. Churches numerous-principally Baptist, Methodist and Episcopal. There are also a large number of public . schools. Telephone service from Fredericksburg to every important point in county. Financial conditions excellent, and considerable progress shown in improved buildings.
This is one of the oldest settled counties in the State and in colonial days was the home of wealth and influence, the immigrants to the county from England comprising many of the rich and aris- tocratic families of the old country. There are many valuable and highly important estates in the county, and by the more modern and improved system of agriculture which has been adopted the past few years, the waste lands are being reclaimed and the farm- ing interests generally improved. This county enjoys the proud distinction of having been the birthplace of two of the Presidents of the United States-George Washington and James Monroe-be- sides another no less honored and distinguished Virginian, General R. E. Lee. Montross, the county seat, with a population of about 150, is an ancient town of some importance, located near the south- ern border, six miles distant from landings on both Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, with which there is daily mail communica- tion. There has recently been erected a handsome new court house and clerk's office.
Town of Colonial Beach has sprung into existence, and has nearly reached the population of a city, and real estate has doubled in value, and with a prospective railroad in the near future. With the advantages we have for trucking, etc., with men of muscular energy and brains, I see no reason why this county should not occupy her former position, i. e., not only the "Athens," but the "Garden spot of America."-Hand-Book of Virginia, 1910, p. 241. Department of Agriculture and Immigration, George W. Koiner. Commissioner.
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COLONIAL BEACH.
Since the above was published Colonial Beach looms up in the limelight as "the Atlantic City of Washington." "Historically marked, and an ideal resort for rest and recreation"-"the Mecca of the people of Washington."
Its attractive little Hand-Book, just out, beautifully illustrated, has a prospectus of its progress, and represents the population dur- ing the summer months about 15,000.
"The Potomac River is one of the most historic and beautiful in the world. It has not the grandeur of the Hudson or the St. Lawrence, but its forest-crowned hills, mirrored in the placid bosom of the water, nature has painted a picture that is not soon forgotten. It is restful."
Its bright outlook still brightens as we read "the ozone-laden air is unsurpassed"-"the salt water bathing is superb-as heavily laden with saline matter as the very ocean." It all reads like a fairyland. With its town council and mayor, its municipal man- agement, and its progress under the auspices of Colonial Beach Company and Colonial Real Estate Co., Incorporated, with its "Classic Shore," it looks like ideal homes are there, and invites the "new comer with a hearty welcome and cordial hand shake." With its new lines across the Potomac to Pope's Creek, connecting with trains to Washington and Baltimore in little over one hour- the one under management of Evan Owen, Esq., and the other more lately chartered as the Colonial Beach and Pope's Creek Steamboat Company (Hon. George Mason, president), it is a town cf progress and growth.
ALFALFA, FRUIT GROWING AND COMMERCIAL ORCHARDING.
The Farmers' Bulletin, Department of Agriculture and Immi- gration, Virginia, No. 8, 1910, designates alfalfa growing as the "great money crop," and in it Capt. J. F. Jack writes: "I am thoroughly convinced that alfalfa can be successfully grown in Virginia for commercial purposes in quantities large enough to make it a profitable investment. This is not a theory, but a fact which has been demonstrated on Belle Grove and Walsingham estates (Port Conway, Va.)," just across the county line.
Farmers' Bulletin, No. 2, 1904, is enthusiastic on fruit grow- ing, commercial orcharding, high flavor and keeping quality of ap- ples, also peaches, pears and cherries.
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VIRGINIA AS SHE WAS AND AS SHE IS.
Virginia, "the land of sunshine"-"the gem of the Sunny South"-has been called the Arcadia of America. Some three hundred years ago, when the quaint little ships, Susan Constant, Discovery, and Godspeed, sailed up James River one sunny April day in the year 1607, from the terrors of the raging seas in this unexplored country, and founded on its banks Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement on the American continent, it is said this Arcadian land sent its perfumed breath far out to the ocean long before these pioneers in Anglo-Saxon civilization reached the borders of the Old Dominion. Then they looked upon the shores carpeted with grass and flowers, and cool groves of stately trees.
The grand old Commonwealth has been called the "Mother of Presidents, States, and Statesmen." She has been called the "Athens of America" for her culture and learning. She has been called the "Flanders of the South" by reason of her border posi- tion, and because more than six hundred battles were fought within her borders. Within those borders, too, was the capital of the Southern Confederacy, the storm cradled nation which fell, but which made the name of America respected by all the peoples of the world. Virginia has been called the "Netherlands of America" because the seat of one of the foremost commonwealths of modern times. She has been called the "Switzerland of America" for pic- turesque landscape, mountains and sky. And to-day she is called the "Venice of America" because this part has such majestic rivers, beautiful arms of the sea, and waterways. Washington called it the "Garden of America."
Basking in the sunshine of God's mercy and in the plenitude of His forgiveness, as a Virginian I utter the beautiful lines of Dr. Henry Van Dyke :
"These are the things I prize And hold of dearest worth : Light of the sapphire skies, Peace of the silent hills. Shelter of forests, comfort of grass, Music of birds, murmur of little rills,
Shadows of clouds that swiftly pass, And after showers, The smell of flowers. And, best of all, along the way, friendship mirth."
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GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF VIRGINIA.
No State in the Union offers more attractive inducements and extends a more inviting hand to the homeseeker than Virginia. In climate, diversity of soils, fruits, forests, water supply, mineral deposits and variety of landscape, including mountain and valley, hill and dale, she offers advantages that are unsurpassed. Truly did Captain John Smith, the adventurous and dauntless father of Virginia, suggest that "Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation."-Hand-Book of Virginia, 1910, page 15.
PROGRESSIVE VIRGINIA.
What Virginia is to be is, perhaps, indicated by what Virginia has become in one generation. * * * * *
Between 1900 and 1904 the capital invested in Virginia factories increased from $92,299,000 to $147,989,000, and the value of factory products from $108,644,000 to $148,856,000. It is fair to estimate the capital at present invested in all manufacturing enterprises in the State at $175,000,000, and the value of their products at $180,000,000.
The aggregate annual output of Virginia's farms, factories, mines and fisheries is at least $320,000,000, an increase of nearly $100,000,000 since the turn of the century.
And yet Virginia has hardly begun to realize upon its natural potentialities. Its 40,000 square miles support a population of only 2,050,000, or about fifty persons to the square mile, while there are nearly 400 persons to each of the 8,000 square miles of that other American commonwealth, Massachusetts. Its popula- tion of 3,200,000, have practically nothing of the advantage that Virginia possesses, either as to latent natural resources within it- self, or as to closeness to food supplies and materials for industry. With the density of population equal to that of Massachusetts, Vir- ginia would have 12,000,000 inhabitants. It is capable of making that number of people happy as citizens .- Richard H. Edmonds, Editor Manufacturers' Record, Baltimore, Md., in Hand-Book of virginia, 1910.
JANUARY 27, 1911.
What Governor Mann says. It was handed direct to the writer for this booklet:
Virginia is steadily and rapidly progressing along all lines. Her manufacturing, commercial, industrial, and mining interests are
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yearly growing in the efficiency with which they are pressed and the products which they yield. Her transportation facilities extend to almost every section, and those not now reached are being looked after, and will shortly have all of the advantages of the most favored localities.
I am writing my real views when I say that the apple lands of this State cannot be surpassed in any other state or country. We produce fruit excelling in beauty and flavor, and improved methods have demonstrated that we can produce it at a wonderful profit. I can show single trees which have yielded as much as thirty barrels of the finest fruit.
Few, if any, States produce more or better potatoes, round or sweet, and we are raising in our mountains the seed for our crops in the eastern part of the State.
Our waters are full of the finest oysters, fish, crab, and clams, and abound in wild fowl.
Our climate is delightful, our people intelligent, law abiding, and hospitable, and in every section springs and streams are plenti- ful, and their waters pure and delightful.
In many of our counties blue grass is natural to the soil and comes without seeding as soon as opportunity and conditions are afforded, and as fine cattle, many of them for export, as can be raised anywhere, are the product of the blue grass section.
Virginia embraces twenty-five millions of acres of land, of which less than four millions are under cultivation, and making due allowance for mountains, swamps, and waste land of every de- scription, it is safe to say we have ten millions of acres of arable land lying idle. Immediately after my inauguration as Governor, I, with others interested, took steps to secure the co-ordination of all the agricultural agencies of the State with the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of encouraging and pro- moting the adoption of scientific methods of agriculture, and these efforts, I am glad to say, have produced the most satisfactory re- sults.
To demonstrate the value and results of scientific methods of agriculture, Boys' Corn Clubs, in connection with our public schools, have been organized in many counties of the State, and each boy required to cultivate an acre of land and keep a complete record of his method and time of cultivation, kind, quantity and cost of all fertilizers used, kind of seed, and, indeed, a complete history of the crop. All done under the direction of the United Agricultural Board of Virginia and the United States Department of Agricul- ture. The interest, enthusiasm and results have been simply won- derful and have stirred up the farmers all over the State.
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