Neddy's Palaver

In the mid 1600s, the Catholic BRENT family sailed across the Potomac from Maryland to Aquia, Virginia and settled at the Colony of Brenton. This was the first Catholic settlement in English Virginia. When the BRENTS were colonizing Maryland, Giles BRENT had done just as John ROLFE, who had married an Indian princess at Jamestown. BRENT’s bride was a 12-year-old student or ward of his spinster sister Margaret BRENT, who was operating a school for the Piscataway children. When GILES claimed almost all the land of the Maryland Colony due to his marriage to the Piscataway chief’s daughter, he got himself, and his BRENT sisters, into a dangerous situation with the Lord Baltimore government. The BRENTS were forced to cross the river and live in Virginia.

Margaret BRENT was America’s first suffragette, but few have ever heard of her. She was an outstanding, accomplished women. She acted as Lord Baltimore’s attorney, and in fact was probably running the government of the colony. She was able to own property, because she never married, and she even demanded the right to vote. It was denied of course, but the Marylanders did bestow upon her the title of “Gentleman” Margaret BRENT. After the move to Virginia, she seemed never quite so powerful, probably because of her “out of favor” Catholic religion.

This plaque is at the Crucifix Monument on the east side of Jefferson Davis Highway, at Telegraph Road, in Aquia, Virginia.

All of Virginia is abuzz about the upcoming arrival of Queen Elizabeth II to Jamestown and points in between from there to Washington. It was 400 years ago this month that her royal relative, the first Queen Elizabeth, sent her British subjects to the Colony which was named “Virginia” in her honor for being a “Virgin Queen”. One has to wonder if at times the present Elizabeth doesn’t wish she had been a “Virgin Queen” too, considering the antics of her progeny these last few decades.

Some lucky Virginians are going to have the great privilege of coming face to face with the Queen, but few of them know what to say nor how to behave. “Give the Queen a Hand, but When It Comes to Bowing . . . ” don’t, advises WaPo, the local self-proclaimed authority for all things Virginian.

Virginia’s governor has inserted himself into the royal festivities by creating a new Web site illustrating how HE expects HIS subjects to behave when Her Royal Highness comes calling. First tip - she will be greatly insulted if you address her as “Her Royal Highness” , according to “Virginia’s Royal Welcome”. Furthermore, His Highness the Commonwealth’s Governor has created an entire page for Virginians to learn Queenly “Royal Etiquette.”

If you are a United States citizen you are not required to bow or curtsy to the Queen. Jolly good - as after all we fought a war over just that sort of silliness with the Queen’s Great-Great, George III, back in ‘76. For genuine Americans shaking hands is acceptable. If you are British or a citizen of one of the Commonwealth states, excepting Virginia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, you must bow or curtsy, depending upon whether you are a man or a woman. Be real careful about that last rule, as these days it is hard to tell one gender from another, and we don’t want anyone on Virginia soil to be suddenly banished to the Tower of London to lose his, her or its head. If you are an illegal immigrant - anything goes, as no one can lay a hand on you, Queens, Governors, Presidents notwithstanding.

Genealogists have to be especially cautious when talking with the Queen. Her Majesty absolutely does not want to hear that you too are descended from royalty. Even if you have the DNA evidence to back up your claim, keep your lips sealed, or you may be getting a non-tour of the Tower too, as no self-respecting Royal wants to be reminded of the scattering of the Royal seed amongst the hoi polloi.

After all these centuries of British settlement here in Virginia, it was not until the Queen’s own father, George VI, came to call in 1939, that the United States had ever been visited by a British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II is only the second Royal ruler to step upon this formerly British soil that is now the Commonwealth of Virginia. This will be Queen Elizabeth’s third visit to Virginia. It was during a presentation of Appalachian dance many years ago, that the then young Queen Elizabeth referred to it as “clogging”, which name has stuck ever since then. All Hail to the Queen.

They are singing about the hardships endured by the first settlers at Jamestown Colony. His own ancestor, Captain Thomas Graves, arrived at Jamestown in 1608, on the second supply ship, The Mary and Margaret.

Eleanor Parke Custis was the adopted grand-daughter of George Washington. “Nelly” was one of four children of Martha Washington’s son “Jackey” Custis who died young. Nelly was born March 31, 1779, at Abingdon Plantation, Virginia, present site of Ronald Reagan National Airport. She was part of the Washington household, appearing in the famous Edward Savage painting of the family. Her grandpapa Washington provided Nelly with a very good schooling.

When Nelly married Lawrence Lewis on Feburary 22, 1799, it represented the joining of the Washington family and the Dandridge/Custis family, as Lawrence was the son of George Washington’s sister Betty (Washington) Lewis. They lived at Woodlawn Plantation; see the previous post for a picture of their home from the side.

The illustration is from “Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington by his Adopted Son George Washington Parke Custis,” New York, 1860.

Northern Virginia - I took this photograph yesterday at Woodlawn Plantation.

Our Founding Father’s Fathers

The father of John Washington was a fifth son who became a clergyman and was later expelled from his parish as a royalist during the English Civil War. Taking note of his prospects in his home country, the parson’s son emigrated to colonial Virginia and there he was able to procure a landed estate of 6,000 acres, an achievement nigh impossible to someone of his station in the motherland.

Captain Lawrence Washington, a son of Colonel John, continued the family tradition of supporting the Crown by serving in high government positions in Virginia. He married Mildred Warner, granddaughter of a former acting governor of Virginia and a descendant of the medieval Lords Kyme. According to English peerage law her direct descendants were potential heirs to the Kyme title, which had fallen into disuse since 1381. George Washington was undoubtedly not aware of his access to a title of nobility.

When Captain Lawrence Washington died his son Augustine, future father of the first American president, was only three years old. Augustine’s mother, Mildred, as was customary in those times, promptly remarried, and with her new husband, returned the Washington children to England. Mildred soon died in childbirth and the guardianship of the three Washington orphans fell to their stepfather. This arrangement was contested in court and a cousin of the deceased Captain Lawrence Washington, John Washington, took over and returned to Virginia with the children.

When young George Washington was but eleven, his own father died. Augustine’s widow and children lived with various relatives, spending much time at the Mount Vernon estate that had been passed to George’s elder half-brother, Lawrence Washington, oldest son of Augustine. Lawrence was a worthy father figure for George, having been educated in England and possessed of graceful bearing. He had married a cousin of the Lords Fairfax family and his father-in-law Colonel William Fairfax was quite influential on the young George Washington. It was from links with the Fairfax family that George Washington was tasked as a surveyor of their lands in Virginia.

At the death of Lawrence the landed estate he had inherited from his father totaled more than 10,000 acres. After the deaths of Lawrence’s heirs, Mount Vernon eventually passed to the younger half-brother George Washington. In colonial Virginia the English system of entail was in effect which allowed estates to be kept whole by passing to a single heir. This system was abolished after the Revolution at the insistence of Thomas Jefferson.

Young Washington was ambitious and could have won appointment as a British naval officer through his contacts with nobleman Lord Fairfax, but his mother would have none of it. She was highly possessive of her son and her distress at his leaving her for abroad made English schooling and a hoped for naval career impossible for young George.

And the rest is history, as they say. The Washington Legacy Lives.

“No nation is drunken where wine is cheap.”

At Alamo Nation I happened upon this - “Say ‘Non!’ to French Surrender Wines!” Great idea! Especially since I did not know about Texas wines - but why not? It’s a big state that should be able to produce anything. However, Thomas Jefferson’s beloved Virginia was not on the wine-roll. It is true that Jefferson was a francophone extraordinaire, but that was in the days of Lafayette and Napoleon. That France is gone forever. Virginia’s “favorite” favorite son would still love Virginia, as it is much the same as when he attempted to produce the “nectar of the gods” from its red clay soil. Visit The Virginia Wine Country and “Say ‘Non!’ to French Surrender Wines”:

• Texas Wines
• California Wines
• Italian Wines
• Australian Wines

“We could in the United States make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly of the same kinds, but doubtless as good,” declared Thomas Jefferson as he encouraged farmers to cultivate the wine grape, as he himself was doing at Monticello. In 1976, American wines triumphed at an international wine competition in Paris and fulfilled one of Thomas Jefferson’s Dreams for America.

Virginia vintner Jim Law of Linden Vineyards says “We grow European vines on a new Zealand trellis system in Virginia soil. We use a California dejuicing tank to gently extract the Chardonnay juice before it is traditionally barrel fermented in French oak using Australian yeast,” showing the ingenuity and eclecticism of the making of Virginia’s wines.

Jefferson and Wine
Thomas Jefferson, Winemaker
Judgment of Paris : California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine

October 18th - The World Turned Upside Down

What a glorious day it was for General Washington and his men when the world’s mightiest army surrendered to them. What a blow for the British to lose their most valuable colony. Lord Charles Cornwallis attempted to evacuate his army from Yorktown, but it was not possible as the French and American guns bombarded their position in the early morning of October 17th. After the American victory and the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, the defeated Redcoats departed to the strains of “The World Turned Upside Down“, a tune expressive of the sentiments of the day:

“If ponies rode men and grass ate cows,
And cats were chased into holes by the mouse . . .
If summer were spring and the other way round,
Then all the world would be upside down.”

Surrender at Yorktown: Washington refused to make the same mistake that had been made four years earlier by Horatio Gates in the surrender at Saratoga, where the defeated soldiers were allowed to return to their homes in exchange for a promise not to reenter the war in North America at a later point. The obvious problem with such leniency was that those soldiers could be assigned to another theater, thus replacing soldiers in that location who could then be sent to America.

Terms were negotiated on October 18th and included the following provisions:

* surrendering soldiers were to march out of their fortification with colors folded, surrender their arms at a predetermined location, then depart to detention

* British officers were allowed to keep their side arms and to depart to Britain, or to a British-occupied American port

* officers and soldiers were allowed to retain personal possessions

In a breech of military etiquette, Cornwallis declined to attend the surrender ceremony, claiming illness. The second in command, Brigadier General Charles O’Hara, filled that role. To avoid the humiliation of turning over Cornwallis’ sword to Washington — known contemptuously to many British as “General Buckskin” — O’Hara attempted to present the token to General Rochambeau. The French commander refused to accept the sword and pointed to Washington. When O’Hara turned to make the presentation, Washington called on his second-in-command, General Benjamin Lincoln, to accept. Thus, General Buckskin won some satisfaction in the wake of his humiliation at the surrender of Charleston.

My grandfather’s great, great grandfather, the young Virginia soldier William Via, was there at the momentous day of the victory at Yorktown.

Hurricanes are said to be the most destructive force of nature. We in the eastern United States know that power well. Now we are fortunate to have warnings before fury strikes. When Galveston was hit in the early 1900s and Long Island in the 1940s, with so many lives lost, people were going about their everyday affairs when devastration came. It has been almost two years since northern Virginia was visited by the fury and destruction of Hurricane Isabel, 19 September 2003. Our neighborhood weathered the storm quite well. However, my son’s neighborhood, which is nearer to the Potomac and Washington City was without power for more than a week. For a few days it was not even safe to drink tap water.

A heartwarming story to remember from the frightening day of Isabel’s visit is that the soldier sentries guarding the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery remained at their posts. A contingency plan had been made if the hurricane’s winds reached 120 mph. In that case the guards could retreat to take up positions in the trophy room, above tomb plaza, which has a clear view of the sepulcher. This plan was not put into effect. The sentries never left their posts during the howling winds and downpours.

God bless them and their comrades in arms for unfailing dedication to the tomb of an unknown serviceman, a man who represents all American soldiers. By honoring the courage, valor, and sacrifice of the unknown soldier, they honor also all of those in military service, because when called upon, they will do no less than did the unknown. By honoring these dead, we stand in awe of the deeds of the living.

There are three sets of remains in the tomb; from World War I, World War II and the Korean War. There was a fourth soldier’s remains from the Vietnam War which were disinterred and identified to be buried in his hometown.

Story of Hurricane Isabel and Arlington Cemetery

Arlington Cemetery

Historic Photographs of Arlington Cemetery

Arlington Tomb of the Unknowns

Gravesite Photographs from Arlington