W A L K E
F A M I L Y
SCRAPBOOK
C. W. Tazewell, Jr. (ed.)
1 9 8 2
D R A F T
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C O N T E N T S
(Page Numbers Refer to Printed Version)
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Yeardley . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Thoroughgood . . . . . . . . . 7
Thoroughgood Tercentenary . . . . . 13
Walke . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Mason . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Walke Genealogy . . . . . . . . 32
Lewis Walke Visit . . . . . . . 37
History of Newtown . . . . . . . 53
Henry Walke Private Record
Henry Walke Biography
Bibliography ("Coming")
P R E F A C E
This is another of the family "Scrapbooks," which also
cover the Tazewell, Littleton, Parks, Goode and Bradford
families. My paternal grandmother was a member of the Walke
family.
It is an anthology and collection of information of all
kinds on the Walke Family including collateral Walke
relatives and ancestral families. Among these are Yeardley,
Thoroughgood, Bacon, Burwell, Calvert, Mason, Moseley,
Colley, and Willoughby
Calvert Walke Tazewell
Virginia Beach, Va.
December 1982
Revised October 1988
YEARDLEY GENEALOGY
Next of Kin to Sir George Yeardley, One of the Ablest
and Most Popular of Virginia's Colonial Governors.
(From The Richmond Times Dispatch, Nov. 8 1908)
There is no more picturesque figure on the early
American stage than Sir George Yeardley. He was soldier in
the English Army before he came to Virginia, having served
with the English forces in the "Low Countries." He was the
son of a merchant tailor and came to Virginia in 1609. He
was elected Governor in 1618. He was the first Governor of
Virginia who had been a planter and gained practical
experience thereby of Virginia's resources.
During the year of his elevation to the office of
Governor of Virginia Sir Walter Raleigh and the old
chieftain, Powhatan died. Another occurrence of his period
was the transportation in 1619 of the first Negroes to
Virginia, and George Yeardley summoned the first assemblage
of representatives of the people ever held on the American
continent. He was an intrepid Indian fighter, and from the
moment of his accession to the governorship the real life of
Virginia began.
He was knighted in 1618 and he married Temperance West,
who had come to Virginia in the Falcon a few months before
he husband came in the Deliverance the same year, 1610.
So indelibly did Sir George Yeardley make an impression
upon the growth and prosperity of Virginia, so courageous
and wise in administration was he, that an unusual interest
centers upon his next of kin. Who in Virginia now can claim
descent from George Yeardley?
It is an easy matter to mention those who bear today
the surname Yeardley, for there are none. George Yeardley
had three children - Elizabeth, Argall and Francis.
Elizabeth Yeardley was the girl of Jamestown, one of the
first Anglo-Saxon maidens mentioned. If she ever married,
she did not live in America, for no trace of any descendant
of hers can be found.
Argall Yeardley (2), eldest son and heir of Sir George
and Lady Temperance, was born about 1621, and married about
1640, wife unknown. She died early and he married Anne
Custis of Rotterdam. His children were Argall (3), Edmund
(3), Rose (3), Henry (3) and Francis (3). The names of
Edmund and Henry disappear from the records of the Eastern
Shore when they were mere boys.
Argall (2) Yeardley was a member of the Council and was
appointed Commander of "Accomac," then comprising all of the
Eastern Shore. His plantation was called Yeardley.
Francis (2) Yeardley, youngest son of Sir George and
Lady Temperance was a brave soldier. He and his brother,
Argall, were Royalists during the parliamentary struggles.
Francis (2) Yeardley was appointed captain of militia during
the Indian scare whne he was only twenty-one years old. He
married Sarah Offley of London. She first married Adam
Thoroughgood, and second Captain Gookin. Francis (2)
Yeardley was her third husband. They had no children, so
you see all descendants of Sir George Yeardley came through
his eldest son, Argall, and only Argall (3), Rose (3), and
Frances (3) who married Colonel Adam Thoroughgood, son of
Adam Thoroughgood and Sarah Offley.
Argall (3), son and heir of Argall (2), married Sarah
Michael (daughter of John Michael, of the commission of
Northampton and Elizabeth Thoroughgood, his wife) and had
Argall (4) (Died young), John (1) (died young), Elizabeth
(4) who married George Harmonson, Sarah (4) who married John
Powell,and Frances (4) who married John West.
From Elizabeth, Sarah and Frances come all the
descendants of Argall (3) Yeardley. The Yeardley name only
extnded to the third generation -- the line only exists
through George Yeardley's great-granddaughters.
Benjamin (6) Harmonson married Elizabeth, and had
Katherine (7), who married ---- Justice; Elisha (7), who
married --- Kendall; Elizabeth (7), who married --- Kendall
also, and John (7) Kendall.
George (?) Harmonson married Hannah and had Suzanna (7)
Harmonson, born in 1755, who married Dr. John Winder of
Somerset County, Maryland in 1783, and had John (8)
Harmonson Winder, who married Comfort Quinton Gore, and had
Lawretta (9); Anne, who married Thomas Littleton Savage, no
children; Charlotte (9); Louise, who married William P.
Nottingham, and had one child, Comfort (10); Quinton Gore
Notttingham, who married Robinson Nottingham, no issue; and
Susan (9) Comfort Winder, who married Dr. Robert Major
Garrett of Williamsburg.
These are the parents of the Garretts of Williamsburg,
who are tenth in descent from George Yeardley, Knight,
Governor of Virginia.
"Yeardley" was the seat of Argall Yeardley on the
Eastern Shore. It was kept in the family for generations,
and old furniture and pictures from this estate now adorn
the beautiful home of the Garretts of Williamsburg.
THE FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENT
* * *
Flower de Hundred is another old place on the river,
and no one seems able satisfactorily to explain the name.
The first owner, Sir Geroge Yeardley, was that Governor
of Virginia who called and presided over the first free
legislature that ever met in the American colonies, the
Assembly of 1619, held in the old church at Jamestown. His
nephew, Edmund Rossingham, and John Jefferson, ancestor of
the president, represented Flower de Hundred in this
Assembly. The Governor lived in Jamestown, but in 1621 he
built on this plantation the first windmill in America.
Here in 1622 six people were murdered by the Indians, the
property was sold, and then changed hands several times
until in 1725 it was purchased by Joseph Poythress and has
remained in the family ever since.
The oldest part of the present house was built more
than a hundred years ago by John Vaughn Wilcox, who married
the widow, Susan Peachy Poythress. This was a small
building of but three rooms, and was used by Wilcox when he
came to superintend the planting of the land. His son
finished the present building. In June 1864, General
Grant, on his march to Petersburg, crossed the river here.
His men did much damage to the old house, hacking
magnificent mahogany woodwork and furniture, tearing up
floors and smashing marble.
From Historic Houses of Early America, by Elise Lathrop. NY:
Tudor Publishing Co., 1941.
FLOWERDEW HUNDRED WINDMILL --Located off Route 110 in
Prince George County. The 18th century style windmill at
Flowerdew Hundred Plantation was designed and constructed by
a well-known English millwright. Located on a hill just
above the site of the 1621 windmill, like its ancestor, the
new windmill is a post mill. The two wooden gears fixed to
a windshaft drive two pairs of millstones which grind wheat,
corn, barley and oats. Archeological investigations of the
early 17th century English settlement are in progress on the
property. Mr. and Mrs. David A. Harriison, owners. A
Virginia Historic Landmark and National Historic Landmark.
T H O R O G O O D
Captain Adam Thorogood was the son of William and Ann
Edwards Thorogood. He married Saeah, the daughter of Robert
and Anne (Osborne) Offley April 16, 1609., and died in
Virginia in 1645.
Their son, Lieut. Col., Adam Thorogood (Burgess 1666),
married Frances Yeardley, youngest daughter of Col. Argall
Yeardley (Burgess 1666).
Their son, John Thorogood, married Margaret Lawson,
daughter of Col. Anthony Lawson, and married second,
Margaret Sayer.
John Thorogood, son of John Thorogood and Margaret
Lawson (died 1719), married Pembroke Fowler, daughter of
George Fowler and Mary Sidney.
Their daughter, Margaret Thorogood, married Thomas
Walke.
Margaret Walke, daughter of Thomas Walke and Margaret
Thorogood Walke, married John Calvert, son of the emigrant
Cornelius Calvert.
Thomas Walke, the first of the name in Virginia, came
to Lower Norfolk County from Barbadoes. In 1662 a patent
for 300 acres of land was granted him by the Provincial
Governor, Lord Howard of Effingham, and is now in the
possession of his descendants in Chillicothe, Ohio. In the
State Land Registry Office we find the following: Thomas
Walke, 195 acres on the south side of Elizabeth River,
Norfolk county, granted by Sir Edmond Andros, April 29,
1693, Book No. 8, page 308. He was Justice of the county
1715-1718.
(Source not known)
LINE OF DESCENT FROM ADAM THOROUGHGOOD
Calvert Walke Tazewell, John Parks Tazewell and Sophie
Tazewell Hawkes are the children of:
Calvert Walke Tazewell (1888-1962) and Sophie Parks Goode
(1890-1976). He was the son of:
Littleton Waller Tazewell (Bradford) (1848-1918) and Mary
Louisa Walke (1856-1923). She was the daughter of:
Richard Walke (1812-c1871) and Mary Diana Talbot (-1839).
He was the son of:
William Walke (1786-1882) and Elizabeth Nash (-1850). He
was the son of:
William Walke (1762-1795) and Mary Calvert (-1798). He was
the son of:
Anthony Walke (1726-1782) and Mary Moseley (-1795). He was
the son of:
Anthony Walke (1692-1768) and Anna Lee Armistead (-1732).
He was the son of:
Thomas Walke (-1693/4) and Mary Lawson. He emigrated from
Barbadoes in 1662.
* * *
Mary Calvert was the daughter of:
Cornelius Calvert (1725-1804/5) and Elizabeth Thoroughgood.
He was the son of:
Cornelius Calvert (-1747) and Mary Saunders.
* * *
Elizabeth Thoroughgood was the daughter of:
John Thoroughgood (-1757) and Elzabeth Mason. He was the
son of:
John Thoroughgood (-1718) and Pembroke Sayer. He was the
son of:
John Thoroughgood (-1701) and Margaret Lawson. He was the
son of:
Adam Thoroughgood and Frances Yeardley. He was the son of:
Adam Thoroughgood (1602-1640) and Sarah Offley (bap. 1609,
d. 1657). He was the son of:
Rev. William Thoroughgood and Anne Edwards. He was the son
of:
John Thoroughgood and ? Luckin. He was the son of:
John Thoroughgood and ?. He was the son of:
Thomas Thoroughgood and ?. He was the son of:
John Thoroughgood and ?.
* * *
Frances Yeardley was the daughter of:
Argoll Yeardley and Ann Custis. He was the son of:
Sir George Yeardley (1589-1627) and Temperance Flowerdieu
(1587- ). He was the son of Ralph Yeardley and Rhoda
Marston. He emigrated to Virginia in May 1610, and was
governor 1616-1627.
(From "Tazewell Genealogy" by C. W. Tazewell, Sr., and other
sources)
In History of Lower Tidewater Virginia Rogers Dey
Whichard writes a brief account of the first two generations
of Thoroughgood descendants and the interesting seventeenth
century house which bears the Thoroughgood name. Adam
Thoroughgood died in 1640, at the age of thirty-five, and
his will was probated on April 27, 1640, in the Quarter
Court at James City instead of in the inferior Lower Norfolk
County Court as was customary. This raises a point that he
may have died in Jamestown while attending a Council
session. In view of his importance as a Council member,
probate in the Quarter Court (which was the Council) would
have been perfectly natural. Sarah Thoroughgood, his wife,
was named executrix in his will and inherited, among other
things, the Manor House Plantation for life. His son Adam
inherited the rest of his father's houses and lands in
Virginia. The Manor House Plantation was to go to his son
Adam on the death of Sarah. Adam Thoroughgood also
bequeathed 1,000 pounds of tobacco to the Lynnhaven Parish
Church to buy "some necessary and decent ornaments," and
directed that he be buried in the churchyard at Church Point
beside some of his children already interred there. Captain
Thomas Willoughby and Henry Sewell were designated as
"overseers" of the execution of his will in Virgina.
Sarah Thoroughgood already had remarried prior to April
15, 1641. The widow's new husband was Captain John Gookin,
the son of Daniel Gookin of the plantation at Marie's Mount,
near Newport News. Probably was a result of having married
the influential widow, Captain Gookin assumed positionin the
comunity and soon became commander and presiding justice of
Lower Norfolk County. Gookin died in 1643. His widow was
appointed administratrix of his estate. However, the widow
Sarah apparently was not inconsolable for very long; in
1647, she married Colonel Francis Yeardley, son of the
former Governor. Although Colonel Yeardley had extensive
land holdings on the Eastern Shore, he, like the late
Captain Gookin, came to reside at the Thoroughgood's Manor
House Plantation with Sarah.
Sara's eldest son, Adam Thoroughgood found himself in
the midst of a complicated family relationship. When he
reached manhood about 1646, he married Frances, the daughter
of Argoll Yeardley and granddaughter of the former colonial
governor, Sir George Yeardley. His stepfather Colonel
Francis Yeardley was his wife's uncle. Colonel Yeardley
died in 1655, and two years later in August, 1657, the
thrice-widowed Sarah died. At her death Mistress
Thoroughgood Gookin Yeardley requested that she be buried
next to her second hiusband Captain John Gookin. She also
requested that her best diamond necklace be sold in England
to pay for six diamond rings [probably mourning rings] and
two black tombstones as was indicated in a receipt for and
agreement to sell the necklace executed by Nicholas Trott,
merchant on February 1, 1658. Her armorial tombstone was
still visible at Church Point as late as 1819 when its
inscription was published in a Richmond newspaper.
Many stories are told about Mistress Sarah. It is said
that at a Lower Noroflk Court held at William Shipp's on
August 3, 1640, the wife of a vestryman made insuations as
to sharp busienss practices on the part of the late Captain
Thoroughgood, at which the widow Sarah exclaimed, "Why,
Goody Layton, could you never get yours?" (referring to a
cancelled note which had been paid.) Goody Layton flounced
around and cried, "Pish!" To which Mistress Sarah replied,
"You must not think to put off with a `pish!' for if you
have wronged him you must answer for it, for though he is
dead I am here in his behalf to right him." Goody Layton
was ordered by the court to ask Mistress Sarah's forgiveness
on her knees, both in court and the following Sunday in the
Parish Church at Lynnhaven. Four years later on October 8,
1644, two excessively exuberant young men were tried in
Quarter Court at James City for making insulting remarks
concerning the late Captain's daugher, Sarah. One of them
was sentenced to receive fifty lashes on his bare back and
to ask forgiveness of the widow Sarah in the Lynnhaven
Parish Church, as well as pay her court costs.
Meantime, Sarah's son, Adam Thoroughgood, who came to
be known as "Colonel," had raised quite a family of his own:
Argoll, John, Adam III, Francis, Robert and Rose. Upon his
mother's death in 1657, he finally came into his complete
inheritance and undoubtably moved his large family into the
Manor House Plantation which his mother Sarah had occupied.
The house, in which he had lived since his marriage, may
well have been the Adam Thoroughgood House still standing
today. Whe the "Colonel" made his will in 1679, he provided
for his wife, as his father had done, by leaving her the
Manor Hopuse Plantation and 600 acres for life. Upon her
death the plantation wuld go to his eldest son, Argoll. The
remainder of his land and houses were to be divided in equal
parts, one for each of the sons according to their choice in
order of seniority. Colonel Adam Thoroughgood died in
1685/6.
The Manor House Plantation, built by Adam Thoroughgood
--by 1639 -- and inherited by his son Adam and by the
latters eldest son Argoll, is not the present day Adam
Thoroughgood House. The Thoroughgood House was probably
built by "Colonel" Adam Thoroughgood at the time of his
marriage, about 1646 or en later. He probably lived there
while waiting to take possesion of the Manor House
Plantation after his mother Sarah Thoroughgood Gookin
Yeardley died. Similarly, Argoll Thoroughgod did not
inherit the Manor House Plantation until his mother,
Frances, died. Once Argoll inherited the Manor House
Plantation, his former residence, the Adam Thoroughgood
House, was chosen by his younger brother, John.
It is difficult to say just when the existing
Thoroughgood House was built. Many researchers have dated
it btween 1636-40 on the assumption that it was the Manor
House. However, Dr. Whichard states that it is clearly not
the Manor House and a more accurate date would be around
1660 or earlier. The east front wall and both gables of the
present day Thoroughgood House are of English bond
construction while the west wall is of Flemish bond, which
points to a date around the 1660's. The west wall was
probably remodleled or reconstructed at a later date. A
brick in the west wall bears the inscription "Ad.T.," which
tends to indicate that the remodeling was done by Colonel
Adam Thoroughgood. The use of the above initials, instead
of simply "A.T.," was probably used to distinguish between
Adam and Argoll Thoroughgood. The house was acquired by the
Adam Thoroughgood House Foundation, headed by Henry Clay
Hofheimer II, and was restored under the direction of Finlay
F. Ferguson, Jr., an architect formerly associated with
Colonial Williamsburg, Incorporated. An interesting feature
uncovered during the restoration was the medieval type of
leaded diamond-panel casement windows which had been
replaced by Georgian frames. Another medieval feature of
the house was the lack of a central hall: the entrance went
directly into the larger of the two downstairs rooms. The
addition of a partition parallel to the original inner wall
remodeled the downstairs into two equal size rooms, with a
central hall between.
From The Beach
TERCENTENARY OF ADAM THOROUGHGOOD
1621 1921
An Address Delivered By
Rt. Rev. Beverly Dandridge Tucker, D. D., L. L. D.
Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Virginia
At the Thoroughgood House, Old Lynnhaven Farms, April, 1921
I was staying, a few years ago, at the Deanery of
Westminster Abbey. Sitting in the library of that wonderful
old house, whose associations are interwoven with so much of
English history, I asked my good friend, the Dean, "How old
is the Deanery?" And he answered, "This room is very
modern, it only goes back to the time of Elizabeth."
WHat is modern in England may belong to antiquity in
America. And so we cannot help feeling, as we come to this
house, simple in comparison with the stately homes of
England, yet in its line and structure taking us back to the
homes of our fathers beyond the seas, that we are in touch
with all the past of Virginia, whose first settlement we
commemorate this morning.
How long this house has stood we cannot exactly tell.
It is just three hundred years ago, this year, that one Adam
Thoroughgood, a youth of eighteen years, came as a gentleman
adventurer in the Ship Charles to this extension of old
England.
He was the son of William Thoroughgood, commissary of
the Bishop of Norwich and the great, great grandson of John
Thooughgood of Chelston Temple in Hertfordshire. His
brother was Sir John Thoroughgood, knighted by Charles the
First, and a gentleman in waiting of Charles the Second.
The young Adam settled first in Kicoctan, which is
Hampton, where he patented two hundred acres of land. In
1634 he moved to Lynnhaven Bay, and it was probably shortly
aftrwards that this house was built. He acquired by patent
5250 acres, bounded on the north by Chesapeake Bay (in the
present Princess Anne County), "granted unto him at the
especial recommendation of him from their Lordshipps and
others of His Ma'ties most Hon'ble privie Counsell to the
Governor and Counsell of the State of Virginia and also due
for the importation of one hundred and five persons." It
was this procuring the immigration of a large number of
desirable additions to the population of the colony that
gave to Adam Thoroughgood his leading position in Virginia.
Among the names of the new colonists are Augustine Warner,
who built Warner Hall in Gloucester, Adam and Thomas
Thoroughgood, Kinsmen, Francis Newton, Thomas Keeling,
William Atkins, Edward Parish, James Willson, George
Whitehead and Daniel Hatton.
The ships which brought them were The Hopewell, which
gave the name of the estate by City Point; The Merchant's
Hope, which is the name of the church in Prince George's
built about 1660; The Truelove, The Hope, The Africa, The
Cristopher and Mary, The Ark, The Middleton, The
Bonadventure, The William and Dorothy, The John and Dorothy.
The "importation " by Adam Thoroughgood of Augustine
Warner gave to America and the world, George Washington, who
was his great, great grandson, and Robert E. Lee, a later
descendant.
Two lustrous names which linked together
seem
As priceless jewels linked by virgin gold,--
Two stars that blend in one transcendant
gleam
To deck the firmament of fame,--and hold
The torch to light the path, which they must
tread
Who would unveiled the face of glory see,--
For high we find, on scrolls of noblest dead,
Virginia's sons, her Washington and Lee!
He was Commissioner and Burgess again in 1630. He was
a member of the Council in 1637, and Presiding Justice of
the County Court of Lower Norfolk. He became before his
death in 1640 the leading citizen of Lower Norfolk, which is
now Princess Anne.
He left, besides his widow, one son, Adam, and three
daughters, Ann, Sarah and Elizabeth.
The widow was not inconsolable, for in less than a year
she married Captain John Gookin, a Burgess, and later
Colonel Francis Yeardley.
In 1641, an inventory of the things reserved for Mrs.
Thoroughood's chamber was presented in court. She evidently
wanted what Adam Thoroughgood had left her. Here is the
inventry: Imprimis, one bed, with blankets, rug and the
furniture thereunto, two pairs of sheets and pillow cases;
one table with carpet, table cloths and napkins, and knives
and forks, two (illegible), one linen, one woolen, two
chairs, six stools, six pictures hanging in the chamber, one
pewter basin and ewer, one warming pan, one pair of andirons
in the chimney, one pair of tongs, one chair of wicker for a
child. Plate for the cupboard, one saltcellar, one bowl, one
tankard, one wine cup, one dozen spoons, (which I claim as a
gift exprest in the inventory).
The above mentioned are conceived to be a fit allowance
for furnishing Mrs. Gookin's chamber, the said Mrs. Gookin
being the relict and widow of Captain Adam Thoroughgood,
deceased.
The inventory is witnessed by Richard Lee.
The widow not only held on to "the things" that were
coming to her, but when she died she claimed all her
husbands. Her epitaph is on the tomb in the old Lynnhaven
churchyard, now under water. It is as follows:
Here lieth ye the body of Captain
John Gookin and also ye body of Mrs.
Sarah Yeardley, who was the wife to
Capt. Adam Thoroughgood first, Capt.
John Gookin & Collonell Francis
Yeardley, who deceased August 1657."
Adam Thoroughgood, a son of the first marriage, married
Frances, daughter of Argall Yeardley of Northampton, son of
Sir George Yeardley. Their son, Argall married Ann Church.
Their son Argall, Jr., married Elizabeth Keeling and their
daughter, Elizabeth, married James Nimmo, of Shenstone
Green, not far from here, and their son, William, married
Elizabeth, daughter of William Nimmo, also of Shenstone
Green. The other children of Adam Thoroughgood were:
Colonel John, Justice of Princess Anne, who married
Margaret Lawson. They had two children, Anthony and John.
Colonel Adam, Justice and Burgess, who married Mary
Mosely.
Robert, William, Francis. There are not many
descendants who bear the Thoroughgood name, but most of the
families in Princess Anne and many in Norfolk trace back to
this first leading citizen in what was Lower Norfolk, in
whose home we have gathered today, by the kindly courtesy of
the present owners, who have done so much for its
preservation.
We do honour to this man who came to Virginia three
centuries ago, in order to help transplant the traditions,
the ideals and the religion of old England in this new
world, not because he stands out as a man of high
achievement. It may be noted, however, that though he was
only thirty-eight when he died, his name and his memory have
come down through the three centuries of American history.
He lived here, in this house and in this region, the simple
life of a plain English gentleman. He stands rather as a
type of those first colonists, whose children have helped to
make America what it is today.
They came, those pioneer Virginians, not as the
Pilgrims came to Plymouth Rock, as refugees from
persecution, but as men who were proud to bring with them
the full heritage of their home beyond the seas. They were
the children of the men of the spacious times of the great
Elizabeth.
Their mothers had told them the story of the great
Armada. Raleigh and Sydney and Drake and Sir Humphrey
Gilbert were household names to them. Shakespeare and rare
Ben Johnson and Marlow and Spencer and Bacon were in their
libraries.
Above all they brought with them that open Word of God,
in a tongue understood by the people, which had been made
possible by the blood of the martyrs of Smithfield and
Canterbury. They tried to shape their lives by its
teachings and by that Book of Common Prayer, which voiced
their devotions in the churches which they built (the
stateliest house in every community) as it had done in the
old parish churches of their fathers.
They were neither ashamed of their religion, nor of
their country. Virginia to them was not a New England, but
a part of old England. They still called it home beyond the
seas, and were loyal to Church and to King.
They had the faults and the virtues of their times and
their race. There was no eighteenth amendment in those
days, as the inventories of cargoes proved. They had in
common with England and New England, their strange belated
superstitions, their belief in witchcraft, which belonged to
the age, as was evidenced in the trial of Grace Sherwood at
Witchduck, near this place. They had stern ideas, brought
down from the middle ages, of justice and of vigorous
punishments which amaze us. But they had a high sense of
honour, a love for their country, a fear of God and a
reverence for His Word. They were men who stood upright and
who never quailed, who had learned from their sires:
"To ride hard, to shoot straight, and to speak the
truth."
Those were days of autocratic government. The colonial
history of Virginia is a story, with few exceptions, of
tyrannical rule of men like Dale and Gates, and Berkeley and
Botetourt and Dunmore. But these men who came first to
Virginia brought with them that English love of liberty,
which has asserted itself in every century of England's
story. They looked back to Runnymeade and hear the trumpet
tone of Magna Cata, which found expression again in that
first representative assembly in America, which met in 1619
in the old Church at Jamestown under Sir George Yeardley,
himself a lover a freedom. It was heard by Bacon and by
Hansford, and agin and again, until at last Henry's silvery
tongue and Jefferson's matchelss pen, and Washington's
stainless sword gave the realization of that haunting dream
of freedom, which had been in the hearts of all the
generations of the English race. The blood of those men who
boldly crossed the seas in those little barks, The Susan
Constant, The Goodspeed, The Discovery, the spirit of those
men who were adventurers for truth and for liberty, have
been in the veins and the hearts of the Virginians of all
the years. They inspiored the men who followed Lee and
Jackson and Stuart, they fired the souls of our sons, who
stood at their posts here in obediance to orders, or who
crossed the seas their sires had crossed, that they might
strive to give to the world the boon of that freedom, which
has made England and America what they are.
A race is not made in a day. The English stock has its
roots in the long past. Into the fashioning of the
characters of our sons and daughters there enter the subtle
tradition of the generations that are gone. The children of
such a man as Adam Thoroughgood and of those who came after
him had a goodley heritage, which should not be forgotten.
We do not belong to one generation alone--into bone and
sinew, into heart, and mind and soul are interwoven the
influences, subtle but real, of the men and women who have
gone before.
We speak of pure stock. But there are many blends of
the typical Virginian of today--thank God. If we go far
back, we are Saxon with Harold, and Norman with William and
Scotch with William Bruce. There are in our veins the
knightly blood of the Crusaders, the chivilry and the
loyalty of the Cavalier, the consecration to duty and the
unflinching spirit of the Puritan,--and a strain of the
Huguenot blood, whose daring for the truth is pictured by
Millais, when on the eve of St. Bartholomew, the young hero
tears from his arm the badge which would have marked him as
a traitor to his cause, as he says to the fair maiden at his
side:
"I had not loved thee, dear so much
Loved I not honour more."
God and country!--this is the shibboleth that has
marked the English race. It is only as we shall be true to
them--to God as well as to country, loyal to all the past of
the English story, that we will keep the leadership among
the nations of the world which is within our reach.
This house of Adam Thoroughood, humble though it be,
has stood the strain and stress of time. It and Bacon
Castle are forerunners of those old Virginia homes, Brandon
and Shirley, Westover and Rosewell, Wakefield and Stratford,
Mount Airy and Sabine Hall, Audley and Mount Vernon, but
also of the simpler homes, in the valleys, on the mountain
sides and by the sea, of the men and women who have been
trained to serve their country and their God.
The Virginians are not descendants of princes and
dukes, but of simple Englishmen, squire and yoeman of the
same sturdy, heroic type. I, myself, have known men and
women, who came from the log cabins of our mountains, where
illiteracy and isolation have robbed the people of their
heritage, who in response to a changed environment and the
advantages of education prove that they are heirs to all the
past. They, too, trace back to the Isle of Thanet and are
kinsmen of the men who have showed themselves worthy of
victory, at Poitiers and Cressy, at Yorktown and Waterloo,
at Manassas and at Chancellorsville, in the Argonne or at
Verdun; or equal to defeat, when all was lost save honor at
Hastings or at Appomattox.
It is not pride of ancestry. There is the story of a
Virginian whose son was going away, and who said to him, "My
son, it is not necessary for you to say, I am from Virginia;
if it is a Virginian, he will know it, if he is not, it is
not a kindly or generous thing to mortify anyone
uncecessarily."
That is not the true Virginia spirit. It is the spirit
of gratitude to God for a lineage, which brings no blush of
shame, but leads us to look back for idealism and
inspiration, in the paths of duty, to those who have blazed
the way, a spirit which calls us not to boastfulness, but to
the realization that noblesse oblige.
"The knightiest of the knightly race,
Who, since the days of old,
Have kept the lamp of chivilry
Alight in hearts of gold;
The kindliest of the kindly band
Who rarely hated ease,
Who rode with Spottswood round the land
And Raleigh round the seas!
Who climbed the blue Virginia hills,
Amid embattled foes,
And planted there, in valleys fair,
The lily and the rose,
Whose fragrance lives in many lands,
Whose beauty stars the earth,
And lights the hearths of many homes
With loveliness and worth.
We thought they slept! The sons who kept
The names of noble sires,
And slumbered while darkness crept
Around their vigil fires!
But still the Golden Horseshoe Kings,
Their Old Dominion keep,
Whose foes have found enchanted ground,
But not aknight asleep."
I have in my library a volume of Spencer's Fairie
Queen. The dedication is to Elizabeth, Queen of Great
Britain, Scotland, Ireland, France and Virginia. It is to
this share in England's glory that gave the motto to the
shield of the Old Dominion:
En dat Virginia quintum--
Lo! Virginia gives a fifth.
The world knows what she has given top all high causes
since that first planting in 1607.
"To sons of a race stouthearted,
Whom God had meant to be free,
She gave a new home--where open
The gates of the restless sea.
A home where the English virtues
Transplanted might seem as fair,
In soil that was still uncrowded,
In pure and untainted air.
Where Liberty, seed long dormant
Could blossom and bud and bear."
Printed as a pamphlet by Eugene L. Graves, Inc., Norfolk,
Va.; reprinted in The Tidewater Trail, September, 1941.
WALKE SCRAPBOOK;WALKE FAMILY
The History of Eastern Shore Chapel. Louisa Kyle
The Virginia Beach Sun, Aug. 3, 1988, "Anniversary
Celebration of Ratification," p. 4, Photo Feature at Upper
Wolf Snare. (Among many photos is one of Dr. John T. Walke
and one of two Walke family portraits he donated to the
Princess Anne Virginia Beach Historical Society.)
Return To Wolf Snare, Television Presentation, 1988, City of
Virginia Beach Public Information Office. (Enacted at Upper
Wolf Snare in and outside; roles played of Thomas and
Anthony Walke; commemorating ratification of U. S.
Constitution.)
Virginia Historical Magazine, "Families of Lower Norfolk
County and Princess Anne Counties, Walke Family of Lower
Norfolk County, Virginia, p. 139-153.
Walter, Alice Granberry. 17th Century Families of John
Martin and Thomas Keeling of Lower Norfolk County, Va.,
etc., 1974 (Willoughby)
Walter, Alice Granberry. The Thomas Walke Family of Princess
Anne County.
Walter, Alice Granberry. "The Four Marriages of Mary Anne
Thorowgood to . . . ", 1975
The oldest and most consecutive series of family
portraits known to us in Virginia belong to the heirs of the
late Burwell B. Mosely of Norfolk, Va. They reach back to
the days of the Protectorate.
The portraits of the Newtons of Norfolk, painted by
Duiand, run back to 1713. They are in possession of their
worthy descendant, Tazewell Taylor.
The Mosely and Newton portraits embrace a larger
continuous period than any collection we can now call to
mind.
The Wrights, the Balfours and the Walkes portraits
present a field of observation to the 18th century.
**** **** **** **** ****
George Newton I married Francis Mason, daughter of Col.
lemual Mason.
George Newton II appointed Town Clerk 1780, when
Norfolk was incorporated, Later Justice.
George Newton II was educated in Lancaster, England.
(Jonas Lawson attended the same school.)
Issue:
1. Elizabeth, married Thomas Walke
2. Mollie " James Murdaugh
3. Fanny Wright " Mr. Wescott
4. Margaret (Peggy) " John Calvert
5. Nannie " Thomas Willoughby
**** **** **** **** ****
Children of Charles Hansford Shield and Susan Walke:
Robert
Anthony
Ann married Rev. Robert McCandlish of Norfolk.
Issue: Charles Shield, Upton Beale, Robert Coleman,
Anne Walke, Mary Peters.
Issue: William Francis
Henry
Issue: Howard Shield, William Walke Shield
FAMILY TRADITION
Copied from marginal note on Ancestral Records & Portraits,
Chapter 1, Colonial Dames
In an old letter written by Mrs. Emma (Blow) Blacknall,
wife of Dr. George Blacknall, U.S.N. to Miss Imogen Barron,
her cousin, she states that their great aunt, Mrs. Mary
Wright Warren, was named for Mary Mason, adopted daughter of
Lemuel Mason, a white child found among the North Carolina
Indians, supposed to be the child of Virginia Dare, of the
ill-fated colony at Roanoke. She married Matther Phripp
(wife, Mary Mason). He was the father of John Phripp, Mayor
of Norfolk.
The Trevethians (also spelt
(From Blow family papers at the Boush-Waller-Tazewell House)
UPPER WOLFSNARE PLANTATION
The very name Wolf Snare stirs the imagination, but it
was not used for this house until it was purchased by the
late State Senator James H. Barron and his wife in 1939.
Prior to this it was designated in deeds and wills as The
Old Walke place or Brickhouse Farm. Upper Wolf Snare
dsitinguishes it from another old house a mile to the
northwest, which was built before 1750 and has long been
known as Wolf Snare Plantation. Both of these old houses
get their names from the creek on which they are located.
The known history of the area around Wolf Snare Creek
goes back to the 17th century. As early as 1651, am Ensign
Thomas Keeling papented 700 acres of land on Olover Van
Hick's Creek. The Keelings must have renamed it, for two
generations later, in a will, reference is made to the creek
as "Wolfes Snare.' This creek which flows west across the
lower end of present day Great Neck, enters the Eastern
Branch of the Lynnhaven River just north of the village of
London Bridge. The name London Bridge has also been used
since the late 1600's. This area is now known as Great Neck
and including Oceana Air Station was kbnown prior to the
revolution as the Lower Eastern Shore precinct of Princess
Anne County.
The earliest settlers of this part of Virginia had
Indians as well as packs of wolves to endanger their lives.
The wolves also killed precious livestock brought over from
England. To snare a wolf deep pits were dug, covered with
twigs and branches and leaves. The traps were baited and
the weight of the wolf caused him to fall into the pit and
be captured. A bounty was given for all wolves killed.
Long after there was no danger from wolves in the area of
Wolf Snare Creek, the deep pits remained and were seen as
late as the beginning of this century.
Wolf Snare Creek was an important waterway in times
past. Today one sees it filled with marsh grass, but trees
alon the edge mark its original boundaries. The cReek has
two branches; one leads up to present dat First Colonial
Road and the other flows south, around the neighborhood of
Point of Woods up to the Virginia beach Boulevard. Prior to
the building of the Expressway to Norfolk, the Creek went
almost to Upper Wolf Snare Plantation House.
In the last years of the seventeenth century, there was
a settlement on the north branch of Wolfe Snare Creek.
Here, prior to 1689 was built the first Eastern Shore
Chapel, a secondary courthouse for Lower Norfolk County and
a Presbyterian Meetinghouse.
Before 1714, 600 acres at the mouth of Wolf Snare Creek
was sold by Capt. Adam Keeling to John Pallet. The Pallets
build a tradimg post, known as Pallet's Landing where the
creek enters the Lynnhaven River. It was possible, due to a
deeper Lynnhaven River in those days, for ships from England
and the West Indes, to bring cargo to Pallet's Landing and
to reload their ships with tobacco, tar and other exports
from the colony. John Pallet built his Wolf Snare Platation
House in 1750, on the south shore of the creek.
Upper Wolf Snare located up the creek from Pallet's
house was built in 1759. The Walke family who built the
beautiful Georgian brick house were very prominent in this
part of the colony. The first Thomas Walke came to Lower
Norfolk County from the island of Barbadoes in 1662. He was
granted land on the south side of the eastern branch of the
Elizabeth River. He acquired more land south of the present
day village of Kempsville and was a mariner, building up a
fleet of ships that carried on trade with England and the
West Indies. He remained a bachelor until 1689 when he
married Mary Lawson, the daughter of Col. Anthony Lawson of
Lawson Hall. By this time Thomas Walke has made quite a
name for himself as a member of the House of Burgesses and
was commissioned a colonel by the Governor. Thomas Walke
lived only four years after his marriage but left three
children, Thomas, Anthony and Mary. His will leaves Thomas
Walke II the house where he was living and Anthony,
theplanation near Kempsville. Here Anthony Walke built
Fairfield, one of the most beautiful homes in Princess Anne
County. Anthony Walke's descendants lived at Fairfield
until it was destroyed by fire in 1865.
Thomas Walke's children were evidently raised by the
Lawsons; anyway, we find that Major Thomas Walke II acquired
land in the Lower Shore Prescinct near London Bridge in the
early 1700's. He married Mary Anne ? and had five daughters
and one son. When he died in 1761, he devised "to son
Thomas Walke III, my plantation, lands and houses where I
now live at the Eastern Shore." From this it seems that
Thomas Walke II had already built a house before the present
Upper Wolf Snare because in his will he leaves instructions
as to how the brick house begun in 1759 was to be furnished
and finished.
Fortunately, the house has remained in remarkedly good
condition for more than two hundred years. The beautiful
hand carved wood panelling today attests to the taste of the
builder. A hall runs through the house; there is a large
and a small room on either side of the hall, upstairs there
are four rooms and an attic. There is a large cellar
entered from outside the house. The chimney of the east
side is triangular in shape, giving fireplaces oin the
corner of the house.
Major Thomas Walke, the builder of Upper Wolf Snare,
was prominent in Princess Anne County. For years he served
as Vestryman and Warden of Lynnhaven Parish. He had much to
do with the designing and nuilding of the third Eastern
Shore Chapel, which stood less than a mile from his home on
land given by the Cornicks, from a part of their Salisbury
Plains Plantation. He was present when the newly completed
chapel was received from the builder. Major Walke was also
appointed to arrange for the shipment of the Communion
Silver for Eastern Shore Chapel which was made in England.
This silver bearing the date 1759 is now on exhibit at the
Norfolk Museum.
Thomas Walke III married Elizabeth ?. They had no
children. He was the owner of the brick house after his
father's death and he and his wife lived on Wolfe Snare
Creek for 36 years. He fought in the Revolutionary War and
was a Colonel. He was also a vestryman of Lynnhaven Parish
and active in the county. One canimage that Col. and Mrs.
Walke entertained ofterin their beautiful home. With five
married suisters, there must have been a constant stream of
visiting nieces and nephews and cousins. There were
neighbors, the Jacob Hunters, living at Pallet's Wolf Snare
Plantation, the Cornicks at Nearby Salisbury Plains, the
Woodhouses, Elligoods, Lovetts, Keelings and Lnads who came
to service at eastern Dhore Chapel. The Walke's home faced
the main road that ran from Kempsville to Eastern Dhore
Chapel and then south to Pungo, so there was always contact
with travelers. On the Western Branch of the Lynnhaven
River, near Old Donation Church were Walke cousins that
lived at Ferry Farm.
Col. Thoams Walke III died in 1797. In his will he
left his estate to his wife and to two of his sisters and at
their death to go to three nephews. His will lists property
on both sides of the road, marsh land, slaves, farm
equoipment and household furnishings and a mill that he is
buoilding on Wolfe Snare Creek. Elizabeth Walke must have
lived on at the plantation for some years, for in 1822 there
is record of the property (1000 acres of land and house)
being sold by trustees of the three nephews to Caleb Boush.
This frist sale was not completed, for a month later the
property was sold to John Cornick form $4,750.00
The Walke Farm on Wolfe Snare Creek changed hands many
times between 1822 and 1964 when it was purchased by the
Commonwealth of Virginia to obtain right of way for the
Norfolk-Virginia Beach Expressway. The price that the state
paid for the house and 85 acres was $235,000 showing how the
value of property increases.
The Commonwealth of Virginia planned to tear down the
house at Upper Wolfe Snare and to use the land on which it
stood for fill for the new expressway. At this time the
members of the Prinsess Anne Historical Society, realizng
that one of the fine 18th century homes in the city of
Virginia Beach was to be destroyed, began negotiations with
the highway department. An agreement was worked to trade
land on which the old house stood for an equal amunt of land
at another location that would supply sufficient fill. Than
land was secured by the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. James
Sadler, and on March 22, 1966, the Commonwealth of Virginia
deeded the Old Walke house and (the) acres of land
surrounding it, to the Princess Snne Historical Society.
The fine old trees near the house, and older than the house
itself, were also saved and the grounds about the house are
planted and cared for by the historical society.
FORMER OWNERS OF UPPER WOLF SNARE PLANTATION:
1759 Major Thomas Walke II (builder)
1761-97 Col. Thomas Walke III
1797-1815 Mrs. Thomas Walke III
(& Nephews of Col. Walke III - Wescoat, Willoughby &
Murdough)
1816 Caleb Boush
1817 Warren Ashley
1822 John Cornick
Thomas Cornick
1847 Thomas James Cornick
1856 William Dozier
1857 Enoch Ferebee
1885 George Ferebee
(rented) John Bell
1903 Malachi L. Fentress
1911 Lucien D. Stark
1920 Louise Adair
1920 H. C. N. Batten
1934 J. F. East
1936 Morris Franklin - Laura Worrell
1939 James H. and Kate R. Barron
1952 Rodney Malbon
1966 Princess Anne Historical Society
T I D E W A T E R L A N D F A L L S
By George H. Tucker
THE MINISTER ON HORSEBACK
According to a colorful, time-honored tradition, the
hunting horn and a pack of baying foxhounds took precedence
over the Book of Common Prayer as far as the Rev. Anthony
Walke of Princess Anne County was concerned.
Walke was the rector of Lynnhaven Parish without
renumeration from 1788 to 1800 and again from 1812 to 1813,
during which time he is reputed to have more or less divided
his time between his sacred duties in the chancels of Old
Donation Church and the pleasures of the hunt.
Walke was born at Fairfield, the ancestral home of the
Walke family near Kempsville at the head of the Eastern
Branch of the Elizabeth River in the 1750s.
He was the son of Col. Anthony Walke II and Jane
Bolling Randolph os Curles Neck, an aunt of John Randolph of
Roanoke.
On his mother's side of the family he was a direct
descendant of Pocahontas, whose father, Powhatan, was the
most powerful chieftan in Tidewater Virginia at the time of
the arrival of the Jamestown settlers in 1607.
This wild strain in his blood could easily have
accounted for his predilection to field sports.
Walke's father, one of the wealthiest Virginians of his
day, was a great advocate of the `social glass, the rich
feast, the card table, and the horse race.' And when he
died he left his son well fixed.
Besides receiving a considerable amount of property in
what is now downtown Norfolk, Walke also received several
interesting personal bequests, and the clause in his
father's will mentioning them reads:
`To my son Anthony my suit of embroidered curtains in
memberance of his mother who took great pains in working
them; the two neat trunks, Gold Studs, and every other
article that belonged to my late wife, Jane Walke, now in my
possession; my Father's walnut Secretarie and Clock (and) a
piece of Gold coined in the year 1609, weighing about four
pounds nine shillings, which belonged to my
Great-Grandfather.'
After the Revolutionary War, Walke was a member of the
Virginia Convention of 1788 that ratified the U.S.
Constitution. And shortly after that event he was ordained
a priest of the Episcopal Church in Philadelphia.
Returning to Princess Anne County, now the City of
Virginia Beach, Walke was the rector of Lynnhaven Parish for
many years, and his `mild clear voice and solemnity of
amnner in reading the church servive' were remembered by the
more pious of his flock.
There were others, however, who recalled another and
entirely different aspect pf his ministry.
According to those who chose to recall the picturesque
side of the Rev. Walke's character, it was his habit to
tether his horse Silverheels near the door of the church
where he was officiating.
And if, during the service, he heard the sound of the
hunting horns, he would immediately descend from his high
pulpit, turn over the service to his clerk, Dick Edwards,
stalk down the aisle, and ride away in the direction of the
baying foxhounds as fast as Silverheaals could carry him.
The Virginian-Pilot, 4/8/74
Included in the Bolling and Randolph family portraits
at the College of William and Mary is that of Jane Bolling
Randolph Walke (1729-1756) by John Wollaston. She was the
daughter of Richard Randolph I or "Curles" and Jane Bolling
Randolph, and she married Anthony Walke II in 1750. This
portrait was given by Mr. and Mrs. O. W. June and hangs in
the Earl Swem Library.
THE LATE RICHARD WALKE
We yesterday announced the death of this gentleman so
well known in our community.
Mr. Walke was in his 59th year, was a member of one of
our oldest and most excellent families, and had filled
several positions of prominence in our community. Kind to
all, amiable in every relation of life, the loss of such a
man will be deeply felt by all who knew him. He has left a
large family to mourn the loss of one so dearly beloved as a
son and as a parent. May He who has inflicted the blow upon
the venerable father of him that is gone and upon his
weeping children, enable them to bear the terrible
bereavement!
The funeral of the deceased will take place today at 12
o'clock from Christ church.
The Norfolk Journal, Feb. 3, 1872
DEATH OF WILLIAM WALKE, ESQ.
At 11 o'clock yesterday morning this venerable
gentleman breather his last at the advanced age of 96 years.
The deceased was born April 3rd. 1786 in Princess Anne
County, Virginia on "the Ferry Plantation," then owned by
his father, whose death occurred when the subject of this
sketch was but 8 years old. Mr. Walke was sent early in
life to Litchfield, Conn., where for some years he attended
one of the best institutions of learning in the city.
Returning from Litchfield he entered the Virginia Bank as a
Clerk, of which institution he was during the War of 1812
one of the custodians of its books and funds, which he
conveyed to Richmond, making the journey on horseback. For
a long period Mr. Walke was City Collector of Norfolk, and
agent of the Mutual Insurance Co. of Richmond. In fact,
throughout his long and useful life the deceased held many
positions of emolument and trust and enjoyed the universal
respect and love of his fellow-man up to the close of his
life. His funeral will take place from 96 York St., the
residence of Richard Walke, Esq., on Sunday the 9th inst.,
at 6 P.M.
The Norfolk Landmark, 7/8/1882
DEATH OF A VENERABLE CITIZEN
Mr. William Walke, probably the oldest white citizen of
Norfolk, who had been ill at the Hospital of St. Vincent
dePaul for some time, died at that institution yesterday
morning at the advanced age of 96 years. Mr. Walke was a
native of Princess Anne County, but had reided in Norfolk
during the greater part of his long life, and held many
positions pf trust, honor and emolument among which was the
office of City Collector, which he creditably filled for
many years. He was a man of the strictest integrity, and
possessed the entire confidence of those who knew him. He
was one of the last links which bound the long past to the
present in the history of Norfolk and his recollections of
persons and events for the past fourscore years, if they
could have been published, would have made a valuable and
interesting volume. He leaves a larghe number of
descendants, some of his grandchildren being among our most
prominent citizens. His funeral will take place at 6
o'clock tomorrow afternoon from the residence of Mr. Richard
Walke, No. 92 York St., and will be very largely attended.
The Public Ledger, Sat., 7/8/1882
Right on County 647 to Donation Church, in a grass plot
among pine and oak trees. The restored building is
rectangular, of red brick with high-pitched roof. It was
built in 1736 and succeeded a predecessor, erected in 1692,
and Lynnhaven Parish's first church, completed in 1640 on
another site. The Reverend Thomas Dickson in 1776 left his
farm in trust to the vestry, the income wto be used to
employ `an able and discreet teacher in the Latin and Greek
languages and mixed mathematics' for the instruction of male
orphans of the parish. This, according to tradition, led to
the church's being called `Dickson's Donation Church' and
later `Donation Church.' The old building was gutted by a
forest fire in 1882, and only the walls were standing when
restoration was begun in 1916. The old silver communion
service, pewter collectionplate, and marble font, recovered
from the river, have survived.
Beside Donation Church is a private road leading across
flat fields to Ferry Farm in a wood. The house, its
whitewashed brick walls rising in three sections to gabled
roofs, overlooks an arm of Lynnhaven River. Anthony Walke
II directed that if he `should depart this life` before
erecting `a decent Dwelling House,' then `1000L current
money' should be `laid out . . . in building on the Land . .
. called "Ferry" Plantation at the old Court House.' The
duty doubtless fell to his son, William Walke (1762-95).
This was 4he site of Princess Anne's second courthouse
(c.1735-c.1751).
Close by Donation Church stood Princess Anne County's
first courthouse. Soon after the county was formed in 1691
a courthouse was ordered built `in Jno. Keelings old field
by London Bridge,' but the courthouse was not erected until
about 1696 and then her on `land belonging to the Brick
Church.' In this building one of Virginia's two witch
trials was held. Early in 1706 Mrs. Grace Sherwood, a widow
and mother of a family, having plagued the comunity with
petty lawsuits, was haled before the county court on the
charge of having bewitched the wife of Luke Hill. A jury of
women examined Grace's body and declared they found physical
signs by which witches were identified. The court stopped
the proceedings. Whereupon Hill took the case before the
Council of State, which evaded a decision and sent the case
back to the county court. A second jury of women refused to
act and was promptly fined for contempt of court. On July
7, Grace Sherwood agreed to be `tried in the water by
ducking,' but the `westher being very rainy and bad so that
it might possible endanger her health,' the trial was
postponed until July 10. On the afternoon of that day, near
`William Harper's Plantation,' she was subjected to the
test. Her hands were bound, and she was thrown into water
`above a man's depth.' To swim was proof of occult powers;
to sink, a sign of innocence. Grace Sherwood
swam--disregarding the boat provided to rescue her.
Afterwards, she was searched by `five ancient and knowing
women' who `all declared on oath' that `she was not like
them, or no other woman they knew of . . .' Thus convicted,
she was committed to the `common gaol.' A land grant issued
in Grace Sherwood's name in 1714 indicated that the jail
term ended her legal punishment.
At the junction of State 165 and County 654 is a poor
road to the site of New Town, in Colonial days a lively
little port, established in 1697 and made the county seat in
1751. Near by lived Colonel Edward Hack Moseley, who, when
Lord Dunmore was entertained in Norfolk in 1774, was
summoned by an express `to come to town with his famous wig
and shining buckles, he being the finest gentleman we had,
to dance the minuet with Lady Dunmore, the Mayor of Norfolk,
Captain Abyvon, not being equal to the occasion.' In 1778
the county court was moved to Kempsville.
On State 165 is Kempsville (100 pop.) a village of old
houses under arching trees. A severe moral note is
frequently injected by the presence of traditionally garned
Dunkards from farms near by. With tobacco warehouses by the
canal and a deep water landing, flourishing Kemp's Landing,
as the place was called before its incorporation as
Kempsville in 1783, reached the pinnacle of its importance
during the Revolution.
(From Virginia: A Guide to the Old Dominion. NY: Oxford
University Press, 1964, p. 470-1.
WALKE, HENRY (1808-96), naval officer, born Princess Anne
Co., Va. Joining Navy as midshipman (1827), served on
Versuvius during Mexican War, takingbpart in capture of
Veracruz. At outset of Civil War, was on duty at Pensacola
Navy Yard and saved Ft. Pickens for Union. Commanded
gunboat Taylor at Battle of Belmont, and as commander of
Carondelet, helped capture Fts. Henry and Donelson, ran his
vessel past Island No. 10, and shortly afterwards took part
in engagement at Ft. Pillow and at Memphis. Given command
of ram Lafayette took part in Battle of Grand Gulf and at
mouth of Red River. In command of Sacramento, pursured
Alabama, and after her sinking by Kearsarge, blockaded
Rappahannock in French harbor of Calais until close of
hostilities. Promoted commodore (1866) and rear-admiral
(1870) and retired year later. Published Naval Scenes in
the Civil War (1877).
L. B. Hamersly, The Records of Living Officers of the
U. S. Navy and Marine Corps (1894); J.H. Borwn, American
Naval Heroes (1899) and Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of
the United States (1903).
American Biographie, Wheeler Preston.
ISAAC TALBOT WALKE, proprietor of an insurance agency
at Norfolk which has been in existence and under the
ownership and management of the Walke family for six
decades, is descended from one of the very first families to
establish homes in what is now Norfolk County.
He is a direct descendant of Thomas Walke, a native of
England, who first went to the Barbadoes in 1622 and later
moved to Virginia, establishing himself at Fairfield in
Princess Anne County. He married Mary Lawson, whose father,
Col. Anthony Lawson, was one of the eminent lawyers of the
Virginia Colony. Thomas Walke held the rank of colonel of
militia under King Charles II. He was a vestryman in the
Lynnhaven Parish Church, one of the famous churches of old
Colonial Virginia.
His son, Anthony Walke, married Anna Lee Armistead, a
granddaughter of Capt. Hancock and Mary (Kendall) Lee. Mary
Kendall was a daughter of Col. William Kendall, who served
as collector of revenues at Accomac in 1660. Hancock Lee
was a son of Col. Richard Lee, the ancestor of Richard Henry
Lee, known as the champion of American Independence. In
William Forest's sketches of Norfolk the statement is made
that Anthony Walke purchased 150 acres of land on which at a
later date the City of Norfolk was laid out, the first plat
of the city being made in 1682. Anthony and Anna
(Armistead) Walke had as one of their children Anthony
Walke, who married Jane Randolph, and they were the parents
of William Walke, who married Mary Calvert. The next
generation was represented by William Walke, who married
Elizabeth Nash, and they in turn were the parents of Richard
Walke, who married Diana Talbot. Richard and Diana were the
grandparents of Isaac Talbot Walke.
Mr. Walke was born at Norfolk. His father, William
Talbot Walke, was also a native of that city, where he was
reared and educated, and served in the Confederate
government during the Civil War. Afterwards he took up the
insurance business and followed it until his death. His
wife was Sally Gray, born at Garysburg, North Carolina.
They reared the following children, William Talbot, Richard
Gray, James Newsom, Mary Diana, Sally Willoughby, Isaac
Talbot and Herbert Nash.
Isaac Talbot Walke after completing his course at
Norfolk Academy entered Eastman's Business College at
Poughkeepsie, New York, and with this training became
associated with his father in the insurance business. This
insurance agency was established by his father in 1869. It
is located at 203 Granby Street in Norfolk.
Mr. Walke married Linda Harrell, a native of
Murfreesboro, North Carolina. They have three children,
Isaac Talbot, Jr., Linda Harrell and Gertrude Willoughby.
The family are members of Christ Episcopal Church in
Norfolk.
From Bruce (1929)
F. A. WALKE, M.D.
Thomas Walke, who settled in Princess Anne county in
colonial days, was the founder of the family in Virginia
from which Dr. Walke is descended. Jane Randolph, of Curls
neck, was the great grandmother of Dr. Walke.
He was born in Norfolk, on October 1, 1831. On May 25,
1853, he married Miss A. M. Boylor, of Norfolk. In 1854 Dr.
Walke entered service in the United States Navy, as surgeon,
resigning in 1857. During the war between the States, he
was surgeon of the 46th Virginia regiment under Gen. H. A.
Wise. Since the war he has been in practice, and also
conducting a drug store in Norfolk. Dr. Walke is a member
of the Masonic order, of the K, H., K.L.H., Golden Rule, and
other societies.
WILLIAM TALBOT WALKE
Is a son of Richard Walke and Mary D. Walke, nee Talbot, and
___
was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on January 31, 1838. He was
married at Winton, North Carolina, on August 3, 1858, Sarah
R., daughter of Richard Gary (now deceased), becoming his
wife. Their children are: William Talbot, Richard G., James
N., Mary D., Sally W., Isaac T., Ethel (deceased), Henry
(deceased), and Herbert N.
In early years Mr. Walke went ot school to Paxton
Pollard. He took the collegiate course at William and Mary
College, graduating in 1856. He then entered the wholesale
drug business, in which he was engaged till the outbreak of
the war between the States.
He entered the Confederate army in 1861, in Company H,
6th Virginia Infantry, and after six months was discharged.
In the spring of 1862 he enlisted again, in Buruss'
battalion of cavalry, and was on detached duty in the
commissary department. In 1863 he was promoted to first
lieutenant and adjutant of the 39th Battalion Virginia
Cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war.
Returning then to Norfolk, he went into business with
W. W. Chamberlaine; in 1866-67 was farming in Norfolk
Carolina; then returned to Norfolk, and was in the book and
stationerey business for about a year. In 1869 he went into
the general insurance business, in which he has continued
ever since.
F. A. Walke, M.D. and William Talbot Walke sketches from
Virginia and Virginians by Brock
Walke and Williams, Dealers in Drugs, Paints, Oils, etc.,
corner Water Street and Roanoke Avenue.-- Among the leading
houses in its line in the city is the extensive drug store
of Walke & Williams, at No. 108 Water Street, corner of
Roanoke Avenue. It was established in 1870, and has long
done a large business. The store is 30x80 feet, and is
replete with all kinds of drugs, chemicals, medicines,
paints, oils, dye-stuffs, toilet and fancy articles, etc.
The prescription department is managed with great skill and
care. Only the freshest and purest drugs and chemicals are
used, and reliable clerks intrusted with the business.
Physicians' prescriptions are dispensed at all hours. In
the departments of paints and oils the stock is very
complete and comprehensive. It embraces white lead or
colors, dry or ground in oil, putty, varnishes, etc. The
individual members of the firm are Dr, F. A. Walke and Mr.
J. N. Williams. Dr. Walke is a native of Virginia, and a
gentleman of thorough scientific attainments, a practicing
physician, and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania,
class of 1852. Mr. Williams is also a Virginian by birth
and a first-class business man. The firm is well and
favoprably known, not only to the entire community but also
to nautical men who visit the port.
Womble and Walke, Wholesale and Retail Hardware, etc.,
No. 19 East Side Market Square.-- Eighteen years ago the
firm of J. G. Womble & Co. was founded, which was succeeded
in 1878 by Womble & Walke, and from the beginning has been
one of the leading houses in Norfolk, and their hardware
establishment at No. 19 East Side Market Square, is a
representativem first-class enterprise. The stock of
hardware, rope, and twine is immense, and in their large
trade, four floors of their fine building, 18x130 feet, are
constantly occupiued and utilized. Their merchandise is
superior in quality, and in their extensive dealings this
house is reliable, prompt, and obliging. Messrs. J. G.
Womble and Henry Walke comprise this enterprising firm. The
former is a native of North Carolina and the latter of
Virginia, and they are known far and near as gentlemen of
peculiar business ability and integrity.
....................................................
DR F. A. WALKE J. N. WILLIAMS
W A L K E & W I L L I A M S
----DEALERS IN----
D R U G S, P A I N T S, O I L S, E T C.
Cor. Water St. and Roanoke Sq.
N O R F O L K, V A.
...................................................
The two preceding items and the advertisemnt, above, are
from Rambles in the Path of the Steam Horse, Chesapeake and
Ohio R. R.; an Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer of the Cities
and Towns on the C. and O. R.R. . . . . Richard Edwards,
Editor. New York: Historical Publishing Co., 1884.
Fairfield's Appreciation Substantial
Fairfield is one of those textbook cases. Buy a tract
or a lot or a house in the right location, keep the tone of
the development high and wait for appreciation.
That's what happened in Fairfield, a neighborhood of
Virginia Beach that lies on the west side of Kempsville
Road, south of Kemps Landing Elementary School and north of
Kempsville Colony subdivision. It extends westward to a
finger of the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River.
It was created in November 1967 when the developer,
Woodrow W. Reasor, a native of the Virginia mountains who
came to Norfolk in 1940, bought a farm from the heirs of J.
C. Hudgins for "slightly more than $1.5 million." The tract
contained 390 acres.
The original price comes to slightly more than $3,846
an acre. Expert testimony in a trial involving the prpperty
in 1977 valued theland at $14,000 an acre in 1972 and
$26,000 an are in 1977. Its value today can only be
speculated.
A random survey of 11 houses built between 1969 and
1977 that were resold in 1982 showed the average original
cost was $58,209. The average resale price was $110,345.
Fairfield is laid out in a complex pattern of streets
that seems to defy logic. The thoroughfares curve and
cul-de-sacs fan out from them at irregular intervals. This
keeps traffic noise at a minimum and prevents monotonous
views of houses and yards.
The houses are large -- a small model is a four
bedroomer with two baths; the larger ones have five bedrooms
and up to three baths. Brick is almost universal for
exteriors. Most of the designs are traditional Colonial and
ranch modifications. There is a moderate sprinkling of "For
Sale" signs in the beautifully maintained yards. . . .
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Nov. 7, 1982, p.
F1,3.
M A S O N
Francis Mason emigrated to Virginia in 1613, aged 18
years; born in 1595 (1584?). Justice of Norfolk County from
its formation until his death; lieut. of militia 1640;
church warden and sheriff of county 1646. He died in 1648
aged 53. His wife, Mary, and daughter, Anne, came over with
him on the ship, John and Francis. His second wife was
Alice. Issue: Lemuel, Elizabeth, Francis and James.
His son, Lemuel, and his wife, Alice, administered his
estate. Lemuel was born about 1628 (1625?), married Anne
Sewell, and he died June 17, 1695 (1702?). He was Justice
from 1649 until his death. He was High Sheriff in 1668,
Burgess 1654, 1657, 1660, 1663, 1675, 1685, and presiding
justice and colonel of militia of Lower Norfolk County,
1680. Issue:
Frances, born 1652, married George Newton.
Alice, mar. 1st Hodges; 2nd Porter; 3rd, Samuel Boush.
Elizabeth, mar. Thomas Cocke.
Margaret, married Hugh French of England.
Anne, born 1658
Abagail, mar. George Crafford.
Mary, mar. Cocke(?) (see below).
Diana, mar. Thorogood.
Thomas
Lemuel
George (see below)
Anne Sewell Mason, daughter of Henry Sewell, Sr., and
sister of Henry Sewell, Jr., was married at 15 years of age
to Col. Lemuel Mason. She was born in 1634 and died in 1705;
her will was proved March 5, 1706. Henry Sewell, Sr., was
Burgess for Elizabeth City County in 1632, and Burgess for
Norfolk County in 1639. Sewell's Point is named after him.
George Mason, son of Lemuel, died 1710. He was justice
of Norfolk County 1710 and captain of militia in 1707. He
married Philis Hobson, daughter of Peter Hobson, and their
daughter, Frances Mason, married John Phripp.
John Phripp (1684-1775) was alderman of Borough of
Norfolk in 1741, Mayor of Norfolk 1745 and 1757, warden of
St, Paul's Church 1749. He married Frances, daughter of
George Mason. His parents were Matthew and Mary Mason
Phripp. John Phripp's daughter, Ann, married Stephen Wright
II.
George Newton I married Frances Mason, daughter of Col.
Lemual Mason; will dated 1691.
George Newton II was appointed Town Clerk in 1780 when
Norfolk was incorporated; later, justice. He was educated
in Lancaster, England (Jonas Lawson attended the same
school.) Issue:
Elizabeth, married Thomas Walke.
Mollie, Married James Murdaugh.
Fanny Wright married Mr. Wescot.
Margaret (Peggy) married John Calvert.
Nannie married Thomas Willoughby.
In an old letter written by Mrs. Emma Blow Blacknall,
wife of Dr. George Blacknall, U.S.N., to Mis Imogen Barron,
her cousin, she states that their aunt, Mrs. Mary Wright
Warren, was named for Mary Mason. Mary Mason was the
adopted daughter of Lemuel Mason, a white child found among
the North Carolina Indians, supposed to be the child of
Virginia Dare of the ill-fated colony at Roanoke. She
married Matthew Phripp, who was the father of John Phripp,
Mayor of Norfolk.
From genealogical notes at Boush-Tazewell-Waller House.
WALKE SCRAPBOOK;GENEALOGY
Record No. 1.
TAZEWELL
1. CALVERT WALKE TAZEWELL, b.Apr.13,1917.
JOHN PARKS TAZEWELL, b.Sep.25,1920
SOPHIE GOODE TAZEWELL, b.Oct.28,1924
are the children of:-
(See Rec. #:
2. Calvert Walke Tazewell and Sophie Parks Goode 2.
b.Oct.14,1888 m.Jun 14,1916 b.Dec.23,1890.
d.Feb.10,1962 d.Jul.18,1976
son of:-
3. Littleton Waller Tazewell(Bradford) and Mary Louisa Walke 3.
b.Jul.16,1848 m.Nov.6,1883 b.Mar.28,1856
d.Jul.15,1918 d.Mar.9,1923
son of:-
Record No. 3.
WALKE
1-3 MARY LOUISA WALKE*
was a daughter of:-
4. Richard Walke and Mary Diana Talbot 7.
b. 1812 m. bef. Mar.4,1836 b.
d.bet.2/19/70-2/7/72 d. aft. Jan.1,1839
son of:-
5. William Walke and Elizabeth M.? Nash 11.
b.Apr.3,1786 m. bef.1814 b.
d.Jul.7,1882 d.Jan.9,1850
son of:-
6. William Walke and Mary Calvert 19.
b.Feb.7,1762 m.Dec.21,1782 b.
d.Jan.1,1795 d.Feb.,1798
son of:-
7. Anthony Walke and Mary Moseley 35.
b.Jan3,1726 m.May 8,1757 b.
d. 1782 d.Nov.22,1795
son of:-
8. Anthony Walke and Anna Lee Armistead 67.
b. 1692 m.Apr.4,1725 b.
d.Nov.8,1768 d.Feb14,1732
son of:-
9. Thomas Walke and Mary Lawson 131.
b. m. 1689 b
d. 1693/4
(Emigrated from Barbadoes
to Virginia in 1662)
*Two lines of Walke descent
Record No. 19.
CALVERT
3-6. MARY CALVERT
was a daughter of:-
7. Cornelius Calvert and Elizabeth Thoroughood 51
b. Mar. 13, 1725 m. June 19, 1749 b.
d. 1804/5 d.
son of:-
8. Cornelius Calvert and Mary Saunders 83
living in 1719 m. Jul. 29, 1719 b.
d. 1747 d.
See Calvert Family Bible at Chrysler Museum
See "Calvert Family" in Maryland Historical Magazine, 1921
See "Descendants of Calvert Family in Va."
Record No. 35.
M O S E L E Y
3-7 MARY MOSELEY
was a daughter of:-
8. Edward Hack Moseley and Mary Bassett 99
b. m. b. Aug. 7, 1716.
d. d. 1755
son of:-
9. Hillary Moseley and Hannah (Hack?)
b. m. b.
d. 1730
son of:-
10. Edward Moseley and Frances Stringer 291
b. 1661. m. b.
d. 1736.
son of:-
11. William Moseley and Mary Gookin 547
b. m. b.
d. 1671.
son of:-
12. Sir William Moseley and Susannah (Crocroft?)
b. m. b.
Emigrated to Vir- d. Feb. 8, 1655/6
ginia in 1649
d. 1655
Record No. 51.
T H O R O U G H G O O D
19-7. ELIZABETH THROUGHGOOD,
was a daughter of:-
8. John Thoroughgood and Elizabeth Mason 115
b. m. b.
d. d.
son of:-
9. John Thoroughgood and Pembroke Sayer 179
b. m. b.
d. 1718. d.
son of:-
10. John Thoroughgood and Margaret Lawson 307
b. m. Mar. 19, 1685 b.
d. Dec. 1701. d.
son of:-
11. Adam Thoroughgood and Frances Yeardley 563
b. m. b.
d. d.
12. Adam Thoroughgood and Sarah Offley 1075
b. 1602. m. Jul. 18, 1627 bap. Apr. 16, 1609
Emigrated to Vir- d. 1657.
ginia in 1621
d. 1640
son of:-
13. Rev. William Thoroughgood and Ann Edwards 2099
b. m. b.
d. d.
son of:-
14. John Thoroughgood and Luckin 4147
b.
d.
son of:-
15. John Thoroughgood and
b.
d.
son of:-
16. Thomas Thoroughgood and
b.
d.
son of:-
17. John Thoroughgood and
b.
d.
Record No. 131.
L A W S O N
3-9 MARY LAWSON,
was a daughter of:-
10. Anthony Lawson and Elizabeth Westgate 387
b. m. b.
d. d.
son of:-
11. Thomas Lawson and Bray 643
b. m. b.
Emigrated to Vir- d.
ginia in 1620.
d.
Record No. 307.
L A W S O N
(Second line - see also Record No. 131.)
51-10. MARGARET LAWSON,
was a daughter of:-
11. Anthony Lawson, No. 131-10 and Elizabeth Westgate 387
Extract of Tazewell Genealogy, by C. W. Tazewell, Sr.
WALKE SCRAPBOOK;LEWIS WALKE VISIT,/A>
VISIT TO GRAVE SITES IN PRINCESS ANNE COUNTY, NORFOLK AND
RICHMOND
BY LEWIS WALKE, OCTOBER 1914
Notes made by LEWIS WALKE concerning trips made by him and
his son, Roger S. Walke, in Princess Anne County, Virginia,
and to Norfolk and Richmond, Va., in October, 1914.
-------
On October twentieth, 1914, before starting we
consulted Mr. H. C. Hoggard as to the way to reach our
objective points. Mr. Hoggard is senior member of the firm
of H. C. Hoggard & Company, Real Estate Agents, Norfolk,
Va., and now lives in Norfolk, Va., although he was born and
lived for years at a plantation on Broad Creek in Princess
Anne County, called Poplar Hall, and is very well posted
regarding Princess Anne County. Mr. Hoggard told us that to
reach "The Ferry" and Old Donation Church, we should take
the electric branch of the Norfolk Southern Railroad,
running from Norfolk to Virginia Beach via Cape Henry, and
get off at Shelton Station: that to reach Fairfields we
should take the electric line of the Norfolk Southern
Railroad running direct from Norfolk to Virginia Beach and
get off at Euclid Station : and that to reach "Greenwich"
(the Moseley seat where Anthony Walke, 2nd, is buried) and
the "Lions Den" farm (where he told me my father - Rev.
Lewis Walke - lived while he was Rector of Emmanuel Church,
Kempsville) we should take the electric line of the Norfolk
Southern Railroad running direct from Norfolk to Virginia
Beach and get off at Greenwich station. Roger brought his
camera with him and photographed all points of interest.
"THE FERRY" and "OLD DONATION CHURCH".
October twentieth, 1914. - Upon arriving at Shelton Station
we found that the name "The Ferry" was not known by those of
whom we asked directions. However, Mr. Hoggard had told us
that the place is now owned by Mr. C. M. Barnett and a
colored man gave us directions and told us it was four miles
off. The directions were not clear and we missed the way,
going five miles further than we should have done. When we
reached Old Donation Church, we found nothing but the walls
- probably three quarters of them - standing, although a
frame Parish House has been erected behind the church,
largely through the efforts of the Hoggards, who, with
others, I am informed, hope to have the old church restored.
The road forks at the Church, and not knowing which branch
to take we walked down the left branch a few hundred yards
to a store, which was kept by Mr. Josiah Woodhouse, Jr. Mr.
Woodhouse was very courteous. He told us that the road to
the right of the church led to Mr. Barnett's place, and
walked with us to "Springfield." As it was getting late, we
returned to Norfolk; Mr. Woodhouse showing us a much shorter
way to Shelton Station through the "Springfield" farm.
OCTOBER TWENTY-FIRST, 1914. - We went first to
"Springfield" and then on to the "Ferry." Mr. Barnett was
not at home, but Mrs. Barnett was most kind in showing us
everything which we wanted to see and afterwards in serving
tea for us. She is enthusiastic about the old place and was
much interested in learning that it had been called "The
Ferry" and in other things which I could tell her about it.
She told us that the neighborhood tradition says that the
house was formerly the jail and Courthouse of Princess Anne
County, and one of the ground floor rooms, now used for a
bath room, is said to have been the jail, and Grace
Sherwood, the famous Virginia witch, is said to have been
incarcerated therein. We were shown the iron bars to the
window of this room. The house is of brick, stuccoed,
except a recent frame addition, and presents the appearance
of being the original building. An employee on Mr.
Barnett's place, a Mr. Woodhouse, brother of Mr. Josiah
Woodhouse, Jr., told me that recently when digging a hundred
yards or more back of the house he found heavy brick
foundations, indicating that a building had stood there.
"The Ferry" house is from a half to three-quarters of a
mile from Old Donation Church. It is beautifully located,
on high ground, a few hundred years from a branch of
Lynnhaven River. Across this branch there was at one time a
bridge, the piles of which protrude from the water, now in a
state of advanced decomposition. Mr. H. C. Hoggard tells me
that before the bridge there was a ferry, from which the
place took its name. We could find only one tombstone at
the Ferry. It was that of my great-grandfather, William
Walke, 1st, who was left "The Ferry" in the will of his
father, Anthony Walke, 2nd. The tomb is several hundred
yards from the house, and the stone lies flat on the ground.
Whether it now lies immediately over the remains cannot be
said, although it seems to lie within the original brick
enclosure, of the foundations of which there are slight
traces. The tombstone evidently rested originally flat upon
a low brick foundation, which has disappeared. The
inscription is legible, and there follows an exact copy:
Here lie the Remains
of
W I L L I A M W A L K E
late a Magistrate & Representative
of this County
Who departed this Life
the 1st of Janry., 1795
Aged 33 years
In Life Esteemed in Death lamented
"SPRINGFIELD"
On OCTOBER TWENTIETH, 1914, In looking for "The Ferry,"
we questioned Mr. Josiah Woodhouse, Jr., who keeps a store a
few hundred yards from Old Donation Church, on the road to
the left of the church. He directed us to "The Ferry," but
told us that a road at the side of his store, leading
through a body of woods, terminated in a quarter of a mile
at an old house, in the yard of which were several tombs
which he thought were of Walkes. It was too late to go to
"The Ferry" that day and he kindly left his store and went
with us to show the way. We found a very old two story
brick house, but the tombs were Boush. One was the tomb of
Mrs. David M. Walke, who adopted my sister Mary, and who was
a Boush. Sister Mary told me a few days later that the
place was called "Springfield." A Mr. Campbell now lives
there, but the place is owned by A. E. Anderson.
On OCTOBER TWENTY-FIRST, 1914, we returned. Roger
photogrphed the house and tombs and we copied the
inscriptions on the latter, which read as follows, viz:
In Memory of
W I L L I A M F. W. B O U S H ,
A Citizen of Princess Anne,
of which County, he was a Justice, of the Peace,
and a Delegate to the Afsembly.
In private life without reproach;
In public, attentive to his duty.
A Christian in heart and deed,
He lived by faith, and died in hope;
On the 19th., of February 1818,
In the 25th., year of his age.
About three hours before his death, he sung with an
audible voice, the following HYMN.
A charge to keep I have:
A God to glorify:
A never dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky:
To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill:
O may it all my powers engage,
To do my Master's will.
Arm me with jealous care,
As in thy sight to live:
And O thy servant, Lord, prepare,
A strict account to give:
Help me to watch and pray,
And on thyself rely:
Afsur'd if I may trust betray,
I shall forever die.
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
M A R Y B O U S H, Consort of
Wm. Boush,
who was born on the 3rd. of May A. D. 1764,
& departed this life on the 24th. of Decr. 1822,
She was of a broken & contrite heart &
when the last summons came, with serenity
of mind, affectionately took leave of
relatives and domestics & with unfeigned faith
fell asleep in the Lord Jesus.
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
W I L L I A M B O U S H
who was born on the 18th. of Feby. A. D. 1759,
& expired at Lebanon on the 6th. of Jany. 1834,
He was an eminently useful member of Society
in all the relations of life, his heart glowed
with the benevolence to his fellow beings & he lived
in the practice of the precepts of the Gospel &
of those graces and virture which exalt the hu-
man character & whose motto ever was:
Deal justly, love mercy & walk humbly before thy God.
C R
A E
S D
to the memory of
E L I Z A J . S . W A L K E
Widow of
DAVID M. WALKE
and daughter of
Wm & MARY B O U S H.
Who departed this life
on the 9th day of June 1884,
In the 82nd year of her age.
------------
"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."
To the Memory of
Coll. A N T H O N Y W A L K E
a sincere Friend & chearful Companion (sic)
Steady in the practice of Christianity
and a Zealous promoter of Virtue
he was for many Years a Member
of the Houfe of Burgeffes
and Judge of the Court of this County
in his public capacity he behaved himself
with an Uniform regard to Justice
tempered with Mercy and in all refpects
confulted the Interests of the County
over which he prefided
he died the 8th day of November 1768
in the 76 Year of his Age..
---------
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
A N N E T . daughter of
Anthy. & Anne Walke
Who departed this life
Sept. 30 1817
Aged 3 years & 6 months
(This stone is lying flat on the ground).
---------
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
S A R A H L I V I N G S T O N
Daughter of
Anthy. & Anne Walke,
Who departed this life
Sept. 26, 1819
Aged 5 months
(This stone is leaning).
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
A N T H O N Y W A L K E
Who departed this life
Sept. 13, 1820
Aged 42 years and 8 months
(This stone is lying flat on the ground).
------------
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
A N T H O N Y Son of
Anthy. & Anne Walke
Who departed this Life
Jany. 2nd 1833
Aged 20 years & 9 months
(This stone is leaning over).
--------------
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
Mrs. A N N E W A L K E
relict of
Anthony Walke
Died October 28th 18*33 *Illegible
In the 60th. year of her age
(This stone is lying flat on the ground and broken).
---------------
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
M A R Y E L I Z A B E T H
J O N E S
Who departed this life
In the Borough of Norfolk
on the 25th. May(?) 1837
Aged 10 years.
(The verses on this stone are illegible. The stone is lying
flat on the ground and is broken).
----------------
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
A N N E T A B I T H A
Daughter of
Anthy. & Anne Walke
Who departed this life
Aug 4th. 1837
Aged 20 years & 2 months
(This stone is standing).
-----------------
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
A N N T A B I T H A
Infant Daughter of
James R and Angeline
W A L K E
Died October 3rd 1842
Aged 11 months
(This stone is lying flat on the ground).
------------------
M E M E N T O O F
D A V I D M . W A L K E
WHO WAS BORN ON THE 26TH DAY OF JANUARY
1800 AND DEPARTED THIS LIFE ON THE 9th
DAY OF JUNE 1854
He was a firm believer in Christianity
and in the Holy Scriptures, but
acknowledges with shame having
fallen far short of living in
strict obedience to its holy
precepts and commandments.
----------
The world can never give
The bliss for which we sigh,
`Tis not the whole of life to live,
Nor all of death to die.
Beyond this vale of tears
There is a life above,
Unmeasured by the flight of years,
And all that life is love.
Oh could we make our doubts remove-
Those gloomy doubts that rise,
And see the Canaan that we love,
With faith's illumined eyes-
Could we but climb where Moses stood,
And view the landscape o'er-
Not Jordan's stream, not death's cold flood
Should fright us from the shore.
--------------
R I C H M O N D
OCTOBER TWENTY-THIRD, 1914. We spent the day in
Richmond and while there visited Hollywood Cemetary. There,
in Bishop F. M. Whittle's section is buried my sister
Caroline Lay, who married Frank M. Whittle, Jr., and in Rev.
Edwin B. Snead's section are buried my sister Louisa
Atkinson, who married Rev. Edwin B. Snead, and my father,
the Rev. Lewis Walke. The inscription on the tomb of my
father follows:
In Memory
of
Rev. Lewis Walke
Born in Norfolk, Va.
Aug 11, 1819
Died in Cecil Co., Md.
March 16, 1887.
In my hands no price
I bring.
Simply to thy cross
I cling.
--------------
"GREENWICH" AND "LION'S DEN FARM"
OCTOBER TWENTY-FOURTH, 1914. - We left the train at
Greenwich Station and first made an effort to locate the
grave of Anthony Walke, 2d. Upon inquiry at the station for
the old burying ground, we were pointed out a clump of trees
and bushes in a field about three quarters of a mile away on
the right of the Railroad, southeast of the station. There
we found the tomb of Mary Elizabeth Petty, but the rest of
the graveyard was covered with vines about three feet deep
and it was impossible to tell what was under them. We could
not lift them up or pull them aside. We therefore walked
East about half a mile to the house of a Mr. Hudgins and
inquired. He showed us a burying ground near the house, the
brick wall around which had apparently been recently pushed
over by mulberry trees in the enclosure. Here we found a
Moseley vault with seven or eight names and one tomb on
which the inscription was not legible.
Desparing of locating the grave of Anthony Walke, 2nd,
we walked from Mr. Hudgins' house north about three quarters
of a mile to Greenwich Station, and then looked the "Lion's
Den" farm. My older sisters call this place Elmwood and my
father's papers speak of it as such. It lies about a
quarter of a mile north of Greenwich Station in the angle
between the road to Kempsville and the Newtown Landing road.
A Mr. Masters lives tere, who said it was called the "Lion's
Den," although he had only recently learned of the name. He
says the name comes from a tradition that lions had a den in
a hole in the back of the place, although he thinks the
animal was more likely a woodchuck. Upon our asking him
about the Moseley burying ground at "Greenwich" he pointed
southwest to a place several hundred yards beyond the
Railroad and just east of the creek and told us that the
foundations of the old "Greenwich" mansion and the burying
ground were there in a clump of locust bushes. We crossed
the railroad and endeavored to locate the graves, but found
briars, weeds and bushes growing to the height of a man's
head and so thick as to make progress both slow and painful.
We searched for an hour but to our disappointment were
forced to leave before penetrating far enough or locating
the graves in order to catch our train back to Norfolk. We
hope to make as further attempt some other day.
N O R F O L K
OCTOBER TWENTY-FOURTH, 1914. - Upon returning from
Greenwich we went to Cedar Grove Cemetary, Norfolk, and in
my Grandfather's Section - lot 4, second alley West, we
found nine graves, which my sister Mary tells me are those
of
My Grandfather My Uncle Calvert My Sister Fanny
My Grandmother My Sister Anna My Father's first Wife
My Uncle William My Sister Julia My Grandfather's
Sister, Miss Peggy Nash.
We also found the following inscriptions on tombstones:
S A C R E D
To the Memory of
Mrs. E L I Z A B E T H W A L K E
Who departed this life
On the 9th. day of June 1850
Aged 63 years
---------
IN MEMORY OF
MRS. M A R Y L . W A L K E .
Wife of
Rev. LEWIS WALKE.
Born Octr. 8th 1820,
Died Sept. 11th. 1855,
She fell a victim of the pestilence,
faithful unto death a ministering
angel to the suffering.
----
Erected by the Ladies of
Christ Church.
----------
S A C R E D
to the memory of
W I L L I A M W A L K E
Who departed this life
On the 7th day of July 1882,
In the 96th year of his age.
------------------
In another lot in the same cemetary we found the
following inscriptions:
I N
Memory of
J O H N N . W A L K E
Who departed this life
December 18th. 1839
*May be 51 Aged *31 years.
Ah! Who can paint the briny tears
We shed when thus we sever:
When forced tp part for months, for years,
To part perhaps forever.
Yet if our souls are raised above,
Tis sweet when thus we sever:
Since parting in a Saviors love,
We part to meet forever.
I N
Memory of
Mrs. A N N E W A L K E .
Who departed this life,
November 13th. 1840,
Aged 68 years.
--------
"Let this vain world allure no more
Behold the op'ning tomb:
It bids us use the present hour,
Tomorrow death may come."
---------
*****************
M. N. W
A A
N L
N K
A E.
Died
SEPT. 13, 1855,
AGED 15 YEARS.
----
Death like an untimely frost
snatched from us the fairest
flower of the field.
*******************
F R A N K A N T H O N Y W A L K E. M. D.
OCTOBER 1 , 1831
JULY 5, 1904
-------
A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER.
(On his grave is a metal marker showing that he was Surgeon
46th Va. Inf. C. S. A.)
******************
In Elmwood Cemetary, in my Uncle Richard Walke's lot, we
found the following inscriptions:
LEWIS
Son of
Richard & Mary D. Walke
Born July 21 , 1847
Died July 7, 1848
*****************
MARY DIANA
Daughter of
Isaac & Sarah W. Talbot
and Wife of
Richard Walke
Born April 28, 1817
Died Feb. 3, 1859
******************
ISAAC TALBOT WALKE
Son of
Richard & Mary D. Walke
Born Feby. 22, 1843
Killed in battle
Oct. 9, 1864
******************
RICHARD WALKE
Son of
William & Elizabeth Walke
Born Aug. 2, 1812
Died Feb 11, 1872
******************
Sacred to the
memory of
WILLOUGHBY WALKE, Jr.
only son of
Willoughby & Julia A. Walke
Jany 11, 1891
Feby 20, 1898.
******************
HENRY WALKE
Born
April 28, 1849
Died
December 13, 1898
******************
In Elmwood Cemetary, in my cousin W. Talbot Walke's
lot, we found the following inscriptions:
HENRY
son of
W. Talbot &
Sally R. Walke
Died June 24, 1879
Aged 2 Mos. 5 ds.
ETHEL WILLIAM TALBOT WALKE, Jr.,
Daughter of son of
W. Talbot & Wm Talbot & Sally R Walke,
Sally R. Walke. Born June 12, 1859
Died June 23, 1880 Died March 9, 1893
Aged 3 yrs, 7 Mos, 8 ds
JAMES N. WALKE W. TALBOT WALKE
1864 - 1901 1838 - 1905
****************
In Elmwood Cemetary, in my cousin Richard Walke's lot,
we found the following inscriptions:
RICHARD CALVERT
Son of
RICHARD & ANNIE N.
WALKE
OCTOBER 31, 1878
JUNE 1, 1879.
*****************
LITTLETON TAZEWELL
WALKE
Son of
Richard Walke
and
Annie Nivison Walke
February 12, 1877,
March 10, 1901.
****************
[End of notes made and written by Lewis Walke; information
was received from Mrs. Diana Walke Parks some years ago.]
"Springfield" was recently referred to as the Wishart
House, and is now called the Lynnhaven House. "Fairfields"
was at the location of the shopping center of that name
across from the Kempsville Area Library.
This copy made by Calvert Walke Tazewell, Jr., July, 1983.
It appears that the graves from the Fairfields grave
site were moved to Old Donation Church. The graves of the
following were observed there on April 20, 1984:
Col. Anthony Walke (1692-1768) (vault, inscription
now mostly illegible)
Annie T. Walke (1814-1817)
Sarah Livingston Walke (1819-1819)
Anthony Walke (1778-1820)
Anthony Walke (1813-1833)
Anne Tabitha Walke (1817-1837)
Ann Tabitha Walke (1841-1842)
David M. Walke (1800-1854) (shaft)
The other two listed in the "Lewis Walke Visit" (Mrs. Anne
Walke and Mary Elizabeth Jones) may be at Old Donation
Church, but no longer with headstones. There is one grave
that has only a small part of the base remaining.
Also, the one tombstone listed as being at "the Ferry"
Plantation is now at Old Donation Church. The inscription
says "Here lay the remains" instead of "lie."
Two additional graves at Old Donation Church of
interest are:
THE FAMILY GRAVEYARD
Col. Edward H. Moseley
Died Feb. 4, 1814
Age 71
(DAR marker identifies him as a Revolutionary soldier,
living 1746-1811.)
Capt. Jonathan Saunders
Died 1st Jan. 1765, age 39
Two relatively recent family graves at Old Donation Church
are:
Sacred to the memory of Sacred to the memory of
RUFUS PARKS DIANA TALBOT PARKS
son of Rufus Parks wife of Rufus Parks
and his wife daughter of Richard Walke
Aline Pety and his wife
Born March 15, 1880 Anne Nivison Bradford
Died Nov. 24, 1956 Born Dec. 20, 1887
Died Dec. 9, 1975
HISTORY OF NEWTOWN
INTRODUCTION
The Virginia Research Center for Archaeology conducted
an archaeological survey between September 14 and November
30, 1978, on the property traditionally believed to be the
site of Newtown, an 18th century settlement near the Eastern
Branch of the Elizabeth River. This area, which is now
encompassed by the city of Norfolk, Virginia, is currently
being developed into the Pleasant Point subdivision.
The VRCA's reconnaissance survey was made at the
request of the property owner and developer, Edwin S. Brock,
subsequent to his discovery of a large 18th c.
archaeological deposit which was revealed by construction
activities. Historical map reaearch conducted at the VRCA
as well as datable artifacts from the site helped to
substantiate the local tradition that the survey area was in
fact a portion of the 18th century settlement of Newtown.
HISTORY OF NEWTOWN
The land in modernday Norfolk which was in the
eighteenth century the site of Newtown, a thriving port
town, has a lengthy and distinguished history. Beginning in
1697 and extending into the first quarter of the nineteenth
century, Newtown was a center of commerce and trade. It
served variously as the seat of the Princess Anne County
government and the home of several prominent Virginia
citizens. During the American Revolution it was to Newtown
that many Norfolk citizens fled during the conflagration
which consumed their city. In the early nineteenth century
when the Courthouse was relocated to Kempsville and as
inland commerce accelerated, Newtown's importance diminished
appreciably.
Originally, Newtown lay within the jurisdiction of
Elizabeth City County. By 1636 the area on the south side
of Hampton Roads became New Norfolk County. However, due to
the rapid influx of settlers, only a year later New Norfolk
County was divided into two separate entities, Upper and
Lower Norfolk Counties. The Newtown land was included in
the Lynnhven Parish of Lower Norfolk County until 1691, when
Princess Anne County was formed.
The first Virginia colonist to patent land along the
northern side of the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River
in the vicinity of Newtown was Barthalomew Hoskins who
patented 10 acres on the Hampton River on November 3, 1637.
Hoskins, or Hospkins, as his name was variously spelled,
came to Virginia prior to the departure of Sir Thomas Dale
in 1616. Termed an "ancient planter," Hoskins' early
Adventure qualified him to receive a 100 acre land grant as
a headright and to be exempt from military service and most
public levies.(1)
By January 1, 1645, Barthalomew Hoskins' land holdings
included "800 acres upon the northward side of ther
Ewd/branch of Elizabeth River, near Hoskins Creek."(2) The
800 acre grant was assigned to Hoskins for his having paid
for the transportation of 16 persons to the Colony. The
refernce to the grant's being near Hoskins Creek implies
that he was already residing in the general area at the time
he applied for the 1624 patent. Hoskins served as a Burgess
for Lower Norfolk County between 1649 and 1655/6.(3)
An immigrant named Thomas Holt also patented acreage
along the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth, in close
proximity to Hoskins. He was granted 500 acrea on May 22,
1637, 50 acres for his personal adventure and 450 acres
additional acres for the transportation of nine other
persons.(4)
Sometime prior to 1645 Holt sold a parcel of land to
Symon Hancock, whose widow, Sarah, patented it on November
29, 1654. Her patent for 300 acres indicates that a 100
acre portion of the patented land had been purchased from
Holt by her deceased husband and that the remaining land was
adjacent to "Mr. Moseleys land" from which it was separated
by a creek. A later patent identifies the watercourse
separating the Hancock and Moseley properties as Hoskins
Creek and indicated that that portion of the land had been
previously purchased from Barthalomew Hoskins.(5) Sarah
Hancock repatented her 300 acre tract on November 23, 1657,
reiterating that the land was "due her as relict and
Administratrix."(6)
Little is known about the deceased Symond [sic] Hancock
(Handcock, Handcocke) except that he was numbered among the
earliest settlers in Lower Norfolk County and that on July
16, 1642 he participated in that area's first jury trial of
a civil case.(7)
The succeeding patent reference to the Hancock property
occurs in the March 18, 1662 patent to William Hancock.
This document states that the 300 acres of land which had
been previously granted to Sarah Hancock had been assigned
by her to her son, William.(8)
On October 3, 1671 William Hancock patented 700 acres
in Lower Norfolk Couinty. Along with some newly purchased
acreage, his grant included the original 300 acre tract he
had acquired from his mother, Sarah Hancock.(9)
The will of William Hancock, dated April 14, 1687,
conveyed to his three sons, Simon, William and Samuel, all
of his land on the east side of Hoskins Creek.(10) It is
the elder son, Simon Hancock, who in 1697 elected to sell a
portion of the land he had inherited from his father to the
men who proposed to establish Newtown.
The desirability of the Elizabeth River area for
settlement had been noted by Ralph Lane of Roanoke Island,
North Carolina, who visited the Norfolk area well ahead of
the arrival of the first colonists at Jamestown. Land and
his exploring party found an Indian village situated on the
shore of the Elizabeth River and commented on the temperate
climate, lush vegetation, and almost idyllic setting of the
land south of the Chesapeake.(11)
According to the 1673 map of Virginia and Maryland,
prepared by Augustin Hermann and Thomas Withinbrook, the
area along the shores of the Elizabeth River was well
settled by the third quarter of the seventeenth century.
Evidence of the popularity and accessibility of this
locality is demonstrated by the fact that a chapel of
Lynnhaven Parish was erected on the north side of the
Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River in 1661, just east of
the Newtown land.(12) This chapel is first mentioned in a
Lower Norfolk County Court Order and was apparently a frame
structure. Records show that the builder, Henry Snaile, was
alleged to have been progressing so slowly that some of the
Chapel's timbers had become too rotten for use. He was
ordered to "goe forward with the worke he hath begun."(13)
Deed references to adjacent property indicate that the
chapel next to the Newtown land was still standing and in
use until at least 1700. During that period the Reverend
John Saunders served as minister of the Parish and lived
nearby.(15)
A February 2, 1697 deed of conveyance from Simon
Hancock, Jr. transferred 51 acres "scituate lying and being
on the North side of the Western branch of the Elizabeth
River in Princess Anne County" to Anthony Lawson, Edward
Moseley, Sr., and William Moseley, Jr., who undertook the
establishment of a new town. The purchase price was 10,000
pounds of tobacco.(16) The deed refers to Simon Hancock, Jr
as "son of William Hancock, late of Lower Norfolk County,
now Princess Anne County, planter" and states that the tract
is "parte of the land and plantacon whereon Simon Hancock
now lives."(17)
The will of William Hancock, dated April 14, 1687, had
beqeathed "unto my eldest Sone Simon Hancocke ye Plantation
I now live on Bounded with a small Cr. ye mouth of wch. runs
in a little below the Chapele and runneth up nigh my
dwelling house and bounded Ely with an old trench on ye Nw.
on a Cr. formaly Cald hoskins Cr. and nly. on a branch cald
deep branch."(18)
The three grantees also lived closely. Anthony Lawson
owned land to the east of the Newton tract whereas the
Moseley family had owned property just across Hoskins Creek
from Newtown since at least 1654.
All three of these early land developers were prominent
Virginia citizens. Lawson served in the House of
Burgess[es] from 1680 until 1692, Willian Moseley was a
Burgess at the time he purchased Handcock's land, and Edward
Moseley became a Burgess in 1700, only three years
later.(19)
The Newtown deed described the property as:
beginning at a point of land at the mouth of
a small cove or creek a little below the
Chappell in the said Eastern Branch and soe
running up along the sd. cove or ccreek a
little above a small marked pine tree and
from thence west north-west seventy-two poles
along a line of stakes stuck in the ground to
the creek that runs betwixt the sd. plantacon
of the said Hancock and the plantacon of the
sd. Edward Moseley, Sr. and so down the water
side of the sd. creek according to the
several meanders thereof to the end of a
point known by the name of long point, and
soe up along the eastern branch river to the
first menconed point at the mouth of the
Chappell cove or creek.(20)
In keeping with the prevalent belief in town building
as a means of strengthening and broadening the Virginia
economy, the deed states the intention of the purchasers to
establish the town "in hopes and designed to be for building
storehouses and other houses, thereon for accomodation of
merchasndising and for cohabitatiion and a place for pride
for buying and selling of goods and merchandize in the
nature or quantity of a town."(21) Lawson and the Moseleys
pledged their willingness to promote rapid development of
the town site and agreed not to:
refuse to putt to sale any of the land to any
person... provided that they shall perform
the conditions hereafter expressed: that
every person purchasing one lott or half
acre, or more, betwixt the date herre of and
the first day of March 1698/9 shall and doe
build a goodhouse on each such lott or halfe
acre of land 20 feet long and 15 feet broad,
by or before the first day of March 1698/9
and paying into the said purchaser above sd
for each lott soe built on noe more than it
really cost the sd purchaser . . . but for
want of such buildings . . . the same to
revert to the above sd first purchaser.(22)
Thus, any lots purchased within the first year of the
grantees' ownership could be bought at the original cost;
however if these lots were not improved by the construction
of a 15 by 20 foot dwelling within that year, the land would
revert back to Lawson and the Moseleys. Lots were to be 1/2
acre in size.
Persons who purchased lots after March 1, 1698/9 and
for the four succeeding years thereafter "shall pay double
the price of the first purchase and will buld such a
house"(23) with the same conditional terms of ownership,
should they not improve their lots accordingly.
Such deed restrictions were not uncommon in the
planning of late seventeenth and early eighteenth century
towns. In localities such as Princess Anne's and Queen
Mary's Ports, near Williamsburg, which were laid out in
1699, similar conditions were specified. Whether this
promotional policy proved practical or enforceable is highly
debatable; however it was commonly accepted in its day.
The 1697 deed of Simon Handcock also specified that he
reserved the right to choose any two of the town's lots
"except that at the Catch landing."(24) According to a
March 3, 1698 deed, Hancock sold the two lots he had
reserved for himself to William Clowes and Christopher
Cocke, merchants, for 1,000 pounds of tobacco. The lots
were located "on the long point and the other adjacent to
the branch next to the Cove easterly."(25) The deed does
not indicate whether the lots were improved; however they
may have been sold to avoid being confiscated by the
original purchasers. It should be noted that land values
had appreciated 50% for one year's time, ie. Hancock sold a
total of one acre for a tenth of what he had sold 51 acres
for only twelve months previously. The fact that Clowes and
Cocke were merchants may imply that the property was
considered to have commercial value.
Although no plat of the Newtown plan is though to be
extant, according to several eighteenth century
cartographers, a street ran along a northeast-southwest axis
toward the center of Long Point and was the antecedent of a
portion of modernday Newtown Road.(26) A 1741 plat of the
lots at Newtown indicates that a street also ran in an
east-west direction across the Long Point.(27) (see Figure
1 [not provided])
A June 8, 1698 deed from Anthony Lawson and Edward
Moseley, Sr. to Edward Moseley, Jr., conveyed a one-half
acre lot "on the west side of the street running down toward
the long point and contains 3 poles along the said st. for
breadth and for length is bounded by Mr. Moseley's creek and
the said Street being the 13th lot from the west northwest
line of the said tract. Note: lot is the uppermost lot
adjoining Simon Hancock's land."(28)
Also on June 8, 1698 Anthony Lawson and Edward Moseley,
Sr. sold to Simon Hancock a lot west of Captain John
Thorogood's [sic] lot and which ran "along the street next
the branch, then north to the middle west northwest Street,
then... east southeast to Captain J. Thoroughgood's
lot."(29) This deed indicates that a street paralleled
Hoskins Creek, also roughly paralleling the access road
toward Long Point. It should be noted that the street
pattern suggested by deed examination approximates the town
plan of Princess Anne Port, Virginia and Bath Town, North
Carolina, as well as the plans of several other North
Carolina port towns, as depicted by cartographer, C. J.
Sauthier. In each instance a central street bisected the
town whereas other streets paralleled the waterfront at its
periphery.
A Newtown lot bequeathed by Col. Anthony Lawson to his
son, Thomas, was sold to Lewis Connor on May 4, 1702. The
inventory of the deceased Anthony Lawson is a testimonial of
his affluent lifestyle. Many items of monogrammed silver,
jewelry, silk curtains and fine linens are included among
the numerous items which were divided among his five
children.(30)
Thomas Walke, son of Thomas Walke of Barbadoes, was
also a lot owner at Newtown. He and his wife, Katherine,
were residing at Newtown in 1714 when he was a member of the
House of Burgess. A prominent merchant and planted, Walke
was a appointed agent for the Newtown storehouse in 1715 and
served on the Lynnhaven Parish Vestry as Church Warden that
same year. He also served as Justice of the Peace from
January 4, 1715 until July 5, 1723. Thomas Walke was a Lt.
Colonel of the militia.(31)
In his May 22, 1722 will Thomas Walke conveyed to his
son, Thomas, "my land amd houses in Newtown, also my said
Thomas all ye Smith's tools that belong to ye Smith's shop
in Newtown or that shall here after come from England."(32)
. . .
According to Deed book 6, page 403, on January 7, 1732
Col. Edward Moseley gave as a gift the southernmost of his
six contiguous lots to James Nimmo, a surveyor. The lot is
described as being "near the lott that was formerly James
Isorels, dec." and "lay along the west northwest
street."(35) A May 1743 deed reference to the same lot
states that it was given to Charles Smythe of Newtown with
the "full and absolute liberty to build and erect a
schoolhouse."(36) Apparently the lot already contained a
house, because the deed refers to maintaining the building
"as it is now built of a schoolhouse . . . house shall be so
kept up and repaired for the said use."(37) Inasmuch as
Charles Smythe's 1749 will lists his occupation as merchant,
one is led to assume that his interest in the Newtown school
was oriented more toward sponsorship than actual
teaching.(38)
Captain William Parsons, a Newtown merchant, received a
letter from Edward Moseley requesting credit for Mr. Peter
Fraiser of Marytland, who had married "one of Mr. Bolithos'
daughters." The November 25, 1735 letter requested that the
credit be extended "at your store in Newtown."(39)
James Powell was residing at Newtown on October 13,
1738 when he placed an ad in Parks' Virginia Gazette:
Run away the 26th of September last, from New
Town, on the Eastrn Branch of Elizabeth River
a Servant Man, nam'd Phillip Davis, a
Lancashire Masn, in a middle stature,
well-set, and broad shoulder'd, of a ruddy
complection, with long strait Hair of a Sandy
Colour. He had on, he went away, a brown
coat, with white Mettal Buttons, an Oznibrig
Shirt and Trowsers, a Felt Hat about half
worn, and a Pair of Old Shoes. Whoever
apprehends and brings he said Servant to me,
at new Town aforesaid, shall have a Pistole
Reward, besides the allowance by Law.(40)
Apparently the fact that Newtown, when it was
established in 1697, was not officially sanctioned as a town
by Act of Assembly, caused many controversies to arise over
land titles and lot ownership.(41) on May 27, 1740 "a
petition of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Newtown, in
the County of Princess Anne, was presented and read;
praying, That an Act of Assembly may be made, to constitute,
confirm and appoint the said Place for a town, called by the
Name of New-Town."(42) The next day, May 28, 1740 "on
consideration of a Proposition from the Freeholders and
Inhabitants of new Town, in the County of Princess Anne, for
conferring their Titles to the said Lands purchased at that
Place, and for appointed and established the same for a
Town, by the Name of New-Town, as it is now bounded and laid
out, resolved That the said Proposition is reasonable."(43)
The act establishing Newtown states:
Whereas it hath been represented to this
Assembly that colonel Anthony Lawson, Edward
Moseley, and William Moseley jun., all now
deceased, did in the year one thousand six
hundred and niney seven, purchase of one
Simon Hancock, fifty one acres of land, lying
and being in the parish of Lynnhaven, in the
county of Princess Anne, bounded, as in the
deed for the same, dated the second day of
February, in the year aforesaid, is
particularly mentioned, and did lay out the
same in lots and steets for a town, by the
name of New Town; and made sale of said lots
to divers persons, who have since settled and
built thereon: And that the said fifty one
acres of land is convenioent for trade ad
navigation; but because the same was not laid
out, and erected into a town by act of
Assembly, many controversies and
inconveniences are likely to arise, For
presenting all doubts in that matter,
Be it enacted . . . that the said parcel
. . . is hereby constituted, appointed,
erected and established as a town, in the
manner it is already laid out in lots and
streets, to be called by and retain the name
of New Town.(44)
. . . In February 1745 the people of Newtown again
brought their community to the attention of the House of
Burgess, this time when a question of aesthetics was raised.
According to the records of the Assembly, "it is
represented, that a great number of hogs are raised, and
suffered to go at large in Newtown . . . to the great
prejudice of the inhabitants thereof."(47) Therefore an Act
was passed making it unlawful "for any person or persons,
owners of any swine, to suffer the same to run or go at
large within the limits of the town . . . and if any swine
shall be found running or going at large, within the said
limits, it shall be lawful for any person whatsoever, to
kill and destroy every such swine." The law then stiputated
that the swine's carcass be left in situ and the owner so
notified. All animals slaughtered in this manner were to be
given to the poor.(48) A month later, the Act was amended
to include a prohibition on wandering sheep.(49) . . .
On March 23, 1732 the inhabitants of Newtown presented
a petition to the Executive Council, requesting that the
Princess Anne County Courthouse be moved to their
community.(51)
In response to their request, on April 7, 1752 "The
Board having this day resumed the Consideration of the
Petitioners for removing the Courthouse of Princess Anne
County to New Town are of Opinion that New Town is the most
firm and convenient place for the Courthouse and it is
accordingly Ordered that a Commodious Court House with a
Good and Sufficient Prison, and Pillory be erected at the
expense of the Petitioners."(52)
Prior to the agreement of the Executive Council to
relocate the Courthouse at Newtown, James Nimmo, Sr. had in
1750 expressed his willingness to donate "half of a Lot of
Land" for that purpose.(53) Therefore subsequent to his
death on August 21, 1753, his son and heir, William Nimmo, a
Princess Anne County attorney, conveyed the property to Col.
Edward Hack Moseley, "half of a lott of land scituate lying
and being in Newtown . . . whereon the New Courthouse now
stands,"(54) thus indicating that the courthouse was built
by that date; the Princess Anne County Court was located at
Newtown until 1778 when it was shifted to Kempsville. The
deed reiterates James Nimmo's wish to donate the land,
stating that he "had agreed to transfer and convey unto the
said Col. Edward Hack Moseley for the use of the said
Courthouse and other Public Buildings relating thereto."(55)
The deceased James Nimmo, Sr. bequested the rest of his
"Lotts or Pieces of Lotts in Newtown" to his son, James,
Jr.(56) . . .
It would appear that the improvement of inland
transportation and the relocation of the county seat to
Kempsville doomed Newtown to mediocrity. Thus, at the onset
of the nineteenth century, Newtown, like many other 18th
century planned towns, slipped into obscurity once their
political and economical raison d'etre vanished.
-o-
FOOTNOTE BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Nell M. Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, Volume I
(Baltimore, 1974), 7: Patent Book I, 45.
2. Ibid., 178: Patent Book 2, 157.
3. Ibid., xxxiv.
4. Ibid., 57; Patent Book 1, 423.
5. Nell M. Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, Volume II,
(Baltimore, 1977), 99: Patent Book 6, 379.
6. Nugent, Volume I, 354: Patent Book 4, 127.
7. C. B. Cross, Jr., The County Court, 1637-19?4, Norfolk
County, Virginia (Portsmouth, 1964), 9: Lower Norfolk
County Record Book A, 140.
8. Nugent, Volume I, 504, 505: Patent Book 5, 341.
9. Nugent, Volume II, 99: Patent Book 6, 379.
10. Lower Norfolk County Deeds and Wills, 1666-1675>/i>, V, fol.
8.
11. W. H. Stewart, History of Norfolk County, Virginia
(Chicago, 1902), 16.
12. G. C. Mason, ed., The Colonial Vestry Book of Lynnhaven
Parish, Princess Anne County, Virginia 1723-1786 (Newport
News, 1949), xix.
13. Lower Norfolk County Deeds and Wills , 1666-1675, V.
fol. 8.
14. Ibid., fol. 23; Princess Anne County Deeds 1691-1788, I,
349
15. Lower Norfolk County Virginia Antiquary, Volume I
(Baltimore, 1897), 61.
16. Princess Anne County Deed Book I, 167.
17. Ibid., 167.
18. Lower Norfolk County Deeds and Wills , 1666-1675, V,
fol. 23.
19. H.R.McIlwaine, ed., Journal of the House of Burgess
(Richmond MCMXV), index.
20. Princess Anne County Deed Book I, 167.
21. Ibid., 167.
22. Ibid., 167.
23. Ibid., 167.
24. Ibid., 167.
25. Ibid., 173.
26. Crumblier D'Opterre, "Virginia: Embouchure de la Baye de
Chesapeake," 1781, facsimile, Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia; Unknown, "A map of
Princess Anne County, prepared during the Revolution by
English Army Engineers for the use of said Army while under
the command of Benedict Arnold, the Traitor while he was in
command at Portsmouth in 1781, "1781," facsimile, Virginia
State Library, Richmond, Virginia.
27. James Nimmo, "A Survey at the request of Capt. Jno.
Hutchings a point or plott of land lying and being in New
Town. . . .," December 5, 1741, Virginia State Library,
Richmond, Virginia.
28. Princess Anne County Deed Book I, 232.
29. Ibid., 232.
30. Lower Norfolk Co. Antiquary, 48.
31. William and Mary Quarterly, series I, Page 75.
32. Princess Anne County Deeds and Wills, 1714-1724, 532.
33. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (Richmond
1922), XXXI, 183.
34. Princess Anne County Deed Book I, Novemnber 5, 1716.
35. Ibid., VI, 403.
36. Ibid., VI, 226.
37. Ibid., VI, 226.
38. J. H. Creecy, Virginia Antiquary, Vol. I, Princess Anne
County Loose Papers, 1700-1789 (Richmond, 1954), 33.
39. Ibid., 2.
40. Parks' Virginia Gazette (Williamsburg), October 13,
1738, page 4 column 2.
41. W. W. Hening, Statutes at Large (Richmond, 1820), V,
106.
42. McIlwaine, Journal of House of Burgess, 1736-1740, 401.
43. Ibid., 405, 406.
44. Hening, Statutes, V, 106.
45. Creecy, Virginia Antiquary, 16 (loose Papers, Box 2a).
46. Ibid., 167.
47. Hening, Statutes, V, 387, 388.
48. Ibid., V, 387, 388.
49. McIlwaine, Journal of House, 1742, 1748-9, 221.
50. Creecy, Virginia Antiquary, I 34 (Loose Papers, Box A6).
51. H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Executive Journal of the Council
of Colonial Virginia, V, 379.
52. Ibid., V, 384.
53. Lower Norfolk Co. Antiquary, I, 92.
54. Princess Anne County Deed Book VII, 504.
55. Ibid., VII, 504.
56. Lower Norfolk Co. Antiquary, I, 90.
57. Creecy, Virginia Antiquary, I, 78.
58. Stewart, Norfolk County, 46.
59. H. R. McIlwaine, ed., Journal of Council of State, II
(Richmond, 1932), 420.
60. W. P. Palmer, Calendar of State Papers, (Richmond),
VIII, 91.
61. Unknown, "Benedict Arnold Map," 1781.
62. D'Opterre, "Embrochure de la Baye Chesapeake," 1781.
63. Unknown, "Map of Princxess Anne County," 1785,
facsimile, Viginia State Library, Richmond, Virginia.
64. Creecy, Virginia Antiquary I, 128.
65. Ibid., 169 (Loose Papers, Box A43).
66. Lower Norfolk Co. Antiquary, I, 94.
67. Ibid., 94 (ft nt).
68. James Madison, "Virginia," 1807, facsimile, VRCA,
Williamsburg, Virgnia.
69. Herman Boye, "Virginia," 1823, facsimile, VRCA,
Williamsburg, Virginia.
From An Archeological and Historical Survey of the Cultural
Resources at Newtown, Norfolk, Virginia. J. Mark
Whittkofski, Martha W. McCartney and Beverly Bogley,
Williamsburg, Va.: Virginia Reserach Center for Archeology,
December, 1979.
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