Chapter V: Part I: Seventeenth Century (3)

The kitchen and pantry were probably detached or in a wing. This was the busiest and coziest spot in all early homes, and the hearth was its glowing heart. There were the fire-dogs holding the big logs and the little andirons used with them called "creepers." On pothooks and trammels hung the brass and copper kettles, some with a fifteen gallon capacity, and that most beloved pot of iron, which sometimes weighed as much as forty pounds. In summer when a large part of the cooking was done out-of-doors this iron kettle was the main utensil used.

A boiler of copper and brass may have been imbedded in brick and mortar and heated from beneath for the purpose of brewing the ale that was so necessary to a transplanted Englishman.

When the chimney was built there was usually a brick oven on one side. This oven was as a rule heated once a week. Convenient to the oven was a long-handled shovel called a peel, which was used for placing the dough in the oven, or for tossing it on cabbage or oak leaves which were often used instead of pans.

The simplest way of roasting a fowl or joint of meat was to suspend it in front of the fire by a hempen string.

The laundry was allowed to accumulate into great monthly washings. This seems to have been the custom for a hundred years after the colony was first settled. Soft soap was made by the barrel from refuse grease and wood ashes. This soap was used for the laundry but a toilet soap was made from the bayberry, or "sweet myrtle," as it was called in Virginia. Candles were also made from the myrtle berries, and from tallow. The myrtle berry candles were prettier and more fragrant.

The brick-floored milkhouse at these early plantations was a separate building. Besides the milk pails, bowls, skimmers and churn, this house was a storage place for pewter that needed repairing, powdering tubs for salting meat, rum casks, spinning-wheels, chamber pots, fish kettles, stillyards, hides, tanned leather and so on.

Brooms were made at home, and turkey wings were saved for brushing the hearth.

Perhaps another duty of Ursula and her indentured maids was the picking of the tame geese. Their feathers were more valuable to the colonists than their meat. Goose feathers were prized for beds and pillows, which were handed down as heirlooms. The feathers were stripped from the live geese three or four times a year, but the quills, which were used for pens, were never pulled but once. Ursula probably dreaded goose-picking because it was a hard and cruel work. Feathers from wildfowl were also carefully saved for beds and pillows.

Probably the last chore on a winter's night was the warming of the beds. The brass or copper warming pan with its long handle hung by the fireplace where it reflected the firelight. At bedtime, which was early, the pan was filled with hot coals and thrust within the beds and moved rapidly back and forth so as to warm the bed but not burn the linen. Sometimes a large chafing-dish was used in the bed-chambers for "knocking the chill off" the ice-cold room.

And so at last, after the last chore had been attended to, Ursula could crawl between the warm sheets, pull up her quilt, or leather coverlet, and fall into a well-earned sleep.

_THE YARD_

The surroundings of a seventeenth century planter's house, such as Coan Hall, were simple, lacking in ornament of any kind.

Near the back door was a garden in which vegetables and a few simple flowers grew side by side. Real flower gardens were not developed until the next century.

Some flax and hemp were probably included in the garden at Coan. And herbs, such as thyme, rosemary and marjoram were considered almost a necessity at that time.

There was usually an orchard, containing a few apple, pear, cherry and peach trees.

There may have been a dovecote at Coan Hall. There must certainly have been a tall pole in the yard with a bee-martin's house on top, for these birds notified the settler and his household of the approach of hawks and other enemies of the poultry. They were the watch-dogs of the yard. There may have been a few birdhouses made Indian fashion of gourds.

The planter's dwelling, even though it was little and plain, sometimes no larger than 24 x 24, was referred to as the "manor house," "great house" or "mansion," in order to distinguish it from its dependencies, the kitchen, milkhouse, smokehouse, henhouse, stable, barn and cabins for servants.

According to an early order by the Assembly, all dwelling houses throughout the Colony of Virginia must be palisaded. This order was still in effect when Coan Hall was built, but as the Indians were friendly in this region and there was no one at Chicacoan to enforce the law, the yard may have been surrounded by a stout fence of locust instead, or by palings to keep out hogs and cattle which wandered without restraint.

Needless to say, a bubbling spring was somewhere close by the dwelling, and perhaps a gourd dipper.

_KITTAMAQUND_

Pocahontas was not the only Indian girl of royal blood who once lived in the Northern Neck. Kittamaqund, too, lived for awhile, died and, it is believed, was buried in the land between the Rappahannock and the Potomac.

Kittamaqund was the only child of the Tayac, or Emperor, of the Piscataway Indians. Their village was located on Piscataway Creek on the Maryland side of the Potomac. At this point the Potomac, which separated the Province of Maryland from the Colony of Virginia, was less than a mile wide.

In the winter of 1640 Father Andrew White, a Catholic missionary, came to "Piscatoe" to baptize the Indians. Among those whom Father White baptized were the Emperor and his wife.

Shortly after the missionary's visit, the Emperor brought his seven-year-old daughter, Kittamaqund, to St. Mary's "Citie," Maryland, and put her in the care of Father White. He loved his daughter very dearly and he wanted her to be educated and "when she shall well understand the Christian mysteries, to be washed in the sacred font of baptism."

The "little Empress," as she was called by the settlers, was adopted by Mistress Margaret Brent of St. Mary's. By 1642 Kittamaqund had become "proficient in the English language" and she was baptized by Father White at that time and given the Christian name Mary.

Before long romance took a hand in the situation. Mistress Margaret had a brother, Giles Brent, who had left England with her on the ship _Elizabeth_ in 1638, and they had arrived together at St. Mary's. Giles had been born in Gloucestershire, England, about 1600.

Giles and the little Indian "Empress" were married when she was about twelve years old. Giles had a home on Kent Island where they lived for part of the year and the rest of the year they stayed with Margaret at her home "in St. Maries, where he had certain goods &C"--"divers cattle and other commodities ... linen, shoes, stockings, sugar ... and also a little cabbonett containing Jewels &C."

About 1646 Giles took his Indian bride and crossed the Potomac to the Northern Neck of Virginia. He settled on the north shore of Aquia Creek and there built a house which he called Peace. This name seems to indicate that he may have had troubles, probably religious persecution, in Maryland. He had also failed in his attempt to claim Kittamaqund's royal domain, which was most of Maryland.

The home of Giles and Kittamaqund in the Northern Neck was in the midst of the wilderness. They were the northernmost English residents in Virginia. When in 1651 settlers pushed northward to patent land above the Brent home they all stopped at Peace for refreshments and information. It was the point of departure into the unknown.

Giles built another home in the same region which he called Retirement. Their second son, Giles, was born there.

Giles traded with the Indians and continued to keep open house for the settlers from the southern region. He also patented thousands of acres of land in Westmoreland and Northumberland.

Kittamaqund, the little wilderness flower, wilted and died before she scarcely had time to blossom. She left three children, Richard, Giles and Mary. Before she died Kittamaqund made a deed of gift to her daughter of her inheritance in Maryland, since she herself had no brother or sister to inherit it.

Giles again laid claim to most of Maryland in his daughter's name, but the Indians opposed the claim as being contrary to their tribal customs. They chose a king of their own instead.

Thus Kittamaqund lost her royal heritage. According to traditions she was buried somewhere in the upper Northern Neck.

Giles Brent became a great landowner in his own right. He was largely responsible for opening up the northern part of the "Chicakoun country" to the white settlers. His homes at Peace and later at Retirement were outposts of civilization.

_THE GIFT_

While the settlers of the Northern Neck of Virginia were hacking away at the forest, planting crops in the land thus cleared and building houses of the felled timber, events were taking place across the sea that would eventually change the history and culture of the land between the Rappahannock and the Potomac.

For some time a civil war had been in progress in England and early in the year of 1649 Charles I was beheaded by Oliver Cromwell's men. A new government, known as the Commonwealth, was immediately established in England, under the direction of Cromwell.

The late king's oldest son, Charles, had escaped from England and was now living in exile in France. His misfortune was shared there by some of his father's supporters, who now had plenty of time to brood over their lost estates back in England. These gentlemen with the flowing hair had little left except the clothes on their backs, plumed hats and buckled boots. Some of them were walking the streets of Paris in search of cheap board and lodging, for which they would pay with their jewels--pawned or sold. Some had already gotten into the clutches of money-lenders. Their only hope was that Charles would be restored some day to the throne of England.

Charles wished that he could in some way repay these noblemen, soldiers, diplomats and favorites of his parents who had proved their loyalty. But what, he may have wondered, did he have to give? Apparently nothing remained. Then he thought of land--other land to replace the estates his followers had lost. This was not a new idea of his own for the English government had at times awarded frontier lands to deserving soldiers.

But where could lands-to-give-away be found? It was then that Charles remembered the colony across the sea--Virginia. That was the answer--a slice of the Virginia wilderness as a grant to his courtiers!

Charles apparently knew little about Virginia, or about the size of the slice which he selected as a gift to his friends--"all that entire Tract, Territory, or porcon of Land situate, lying and beeing in America, and bounded by and within the heads of the Rivers of Rappahannock and Patawomecke," and "said Rivers."

A patent was written, dated September 18, 1649, at St. Germaine-en-Laye, France. It was written in close fine writing on both sides of a small piece of parchment and bore "Our Great Seale of England." Charles signed it simply in the upper left-hand corner of the front page "Charles R." Thus the deed was done.

True, the grant was worthless unless Charles was restored to the throne of England, which event seemed improbable at the moment. However, he had paid off his obligations as best he could. The courtiers may have appreciated his gesture but some of them placed no value on their part of the patent.

Meanwhile, back in Virginia the colonists went on as usual for news was slow in crossing the ocean. The pioneers of the Northern Neck had their own problems--fevers and bloody flux, Indians, wolves, witches, and taxes to be paid to the Colonial Government at Jamestown. It would be a long time before they would know that their land had been given away lock, stock and barrel, for Charles had given his followers not only the land and the rivers, but all rights pertaining to them, even to the "wild beasts and fowle," the fish and the "wrecks of the Sea."

And should the grant ever become valid, future generations in the Northern Neck would have landlords over them and pay rent for the land that their forefathers had believed to be their own.

_THE CAVALIERS_

A man stood on the deck of the _Virginia Merchant_, a leaky English vessel bound for Jamestown. He had once been a fine gentleman, clothed in satin and velvet and gold lace. His beard had been trimmed to a peak, with small upturned mustaches, and his shoulder length hair had been curled and perfumed. "Love-locks" his curls were called.

Now the velvet was stained and the lace tarnished and his silver buckles looked more like pewter. The plumes on his hat dangled against his salt-matted hair. The ship was loaded with men just like him. In England they were called Cavaliers because they had been loyal followers of the King. A writer of that time described these Cavaliers as "of the best material in England"--the nobility, the clergy, the landed gentry and officers in the King's army.

Tradition says that there were three hundred and thirty Cavaliers on board the _Virginia Merchant_. This number included the wives and children, and probably the ship's company.

The voyage had been a nightmare. Rats lived in the dark cabins with the people, and when the cabin doors were opened a stench rushed out. Some lay ill from the ship's diet of "pease-porridge" and salt beef. Worms wriggled in the cheese and hard bread that was called ship's biscuits. And there was not even enough of this food to last the trip.

Desperation had driven these people to make this voyage, and they were lucky to have the six pounds to pay their passage. Their England was no longer good for them. It was a place to "fly from ... as from a place infected with the plague." Some of their comrades were now rotting in English prisons, their estates confiscated and sold to members of Cromwell's party.

Virginia seemed to be the only "city of refuge" left in his Majesty's dominions. When the _Virginia Merchant_ at last arrived at Jamestown the Cavaliers were received with open arms by the colonists, whose sympathy was predominantly with the royalist cause. Still other Cavaliers reached Virginia from time to time during Cromwell's reign in England.

The _Virginia Merchant_ had sailed from the Old World about the middle of September 1649. This was almost exactly the same time that the exile in France was affixing his signature to a bit of parchment. Both incidents were destined to change the pattern of life in the Northern Neck of Virginia.

A number of the Cavaliers settled in the Neck, bringing with them into the wilderness the grace and manners of the English Court and the way of life of the English country gentleman.

"_CHARLIE-OVER-THE-WATER_"

In the spring of 1650 a small Dutch vessel, according to one tradition, was bucking her way across the Atlantic. On board was a young man named Richard Lee. Richard had arranged this trip and "freighted" the vessel himself, it was said, and he was now on his way to visit England's royal exile who was at this time living in Brussels.

In Richard's pocket, the story goes, was Sir William "Barcklaie's" commission for the government of Virginia, which hadn't been worth a shilling since the execution of England's late King. But Sir William and Richard, who was his Secretary of State, were determined to hold the colony firm in its allegiance to "Charlie-Over-The-Water."

Richard arrived safely in Breda and made himself known to Charles. Thereafter, it is said, a little comedy ensued which we can imagine.

The gentleman from Virginia, dressed in his finest trappings, kneels before the exiled prince and surrenders the Governor's commission. He then in flowery words extends a warm invitation to Charles to return with him to the New World and become "King of Virginia."

Charles is pleased, but he has other plans. Bigger plans. He thanks Richard and graciously presents him with a new commission for Governor Berkeley, which isn't worth the paper on which it is written.

After this little farce was attended to, Richard Lee, tradition says, returned to Jamestown to deliver the commission to Governor Berkeley. Richard was probably disappointed with the unsatisfactory outcome of his mission.

How different the history of the New World would have been if Richard Lee had brought Charles back with him to be crowned "King of Virginia!"

_THE LEGACY_

It was a place especially dear to the Indians. They were still in the region when Richard Lee built his simple home in the wilderness.

He chose for his home site a neck of land in the southeastern part of Northumberland County. A creek flowed in here from the Chesapeake and divided into two parts. The neck was between these two branches of the creek. Richard called the estuary, Dividing Creek, and he named his home, Cobbs Hall.

It was wild and beautiful at Dividing Creek. The primeval forest with its savages and "beastes" was so close, and out in front the Creek led directly into the Bay--a highway to any place in the world. The Creek was deep so that foreign ships could come right up to his wharf and take away the loads of tobacco that this fertile soil would grow.

Richard knew that in this New World land was wealth, so he began to acquire land by purchase of head-rights. He acquired land along the Potomac from its mouth to the site that later became Washington. He had laid the foundation for the future Lees of Virginia.

Richard Lee represented Northumberland in the House of Burgesses at Jamestown in 1651, which establishes the fact that he was living in the Northern Neck at that early date. He was also a justice, a member of the King's Council and Secretary of the Colony.

Richard had business interests abroad and he lived there part of the time. He owned partnerships in several ships, he was a tobacco merchant in London with his own warehouse and counting-house. He crossed and re-crossed the Atlantic almost as often as a modern American tycoon.

A London merchant at that time held a high social rating. In England he owned a country estate three miles from London. Whether Richard had inherited the estate or purchased it himself is not known. This was the property that caused him to sign his will, "lately of Stratford-Langton in the County of Essex, Esquire." The "Esquire" signified that he was the proprietor of land with tenants of his own.

Each morning Richard's coach appeared at his door and he emerged "silver-buckled and knee-breeched" and rumbled away along the road called "Strat-by-ford" toward London and his counting-house. And back again each evening, just like a modern American business man shuttling between his city office and his suburban home. But Richard finally sold his home and furnishings in England and returned to his home at Dividing Creek.

Richard Lee was the largest landowner in Virginia at the time of his death in 1664. He left his family firmly established with probably more than thirteen thousand acres of virgin tobacco land. He left his son, Hancock, land near Cobbs Hall. This son established his home there, called Ditchley.

Richard Lee stated in his will that he desired his family to live in Virginia. Perhaps after all that was his greatest legacy to his family. It turned out to be an important legacy not only to the Northern Neck, but to the American nation.

_THE INDIAN DEED_

Perhaps one of the strangest deeds on record is the one signed by Accopatough, King of the Rappahannock Indians.

An Englishman named Moore Fauntleroy came to the Northern Neck about 1650, settling on the Rappahannock, rather far up from its mouth. He must have been very exact in his business dealings, because when he purchased a tract of land from the Indians it was conveyed to him by a written deed, dated April 4, 1651, and signed by:

"Accopatough, the true and right Born King of the Indians of Rappahannoc Town and Towns."

For the land, it is said, Fauntleroy paid the Indians "ten fathoms of peake and thirty arms lengths of Rhoanoke." The tract is said to have been a vast domain which extended from the Rappahannock to the Potomac and some distance along both rivers.

Later, after the Northern Neck became a proprietary, Moore Fauntleroy had his Indian deed confirmed at Jamestown:

"Act I, the grande assemblie at James Cittie, Va., the 23rd March, 1660-1; Sir William Berkeley, his Majesties Governor, 13th year of Charles II."

Fauntleroy's "ancient mansion seat" was located on the Rappahannock, above Cat Point Creek, and it was known as Naylor's Hole. This section of the Neck was established as Richmond County in 1692.

Colonel Moore Fauntleroy was said to have been the great-great grandson of Edward Lord Stourton. He came to the Northern Neck during the Cavalier migration.

_A SUMMONS TO JAMESTOWN_

After the county of Northumberland was created from Chicacoan, John Mottrom had many extra duties. As a justice he held court at Coan Hall. A unit of militia had been formed and he had been named by Governor Berkeley as its chief officer--it was _Colonel_ Mottrom, now!

On the river just above Coan Hall Colonel Mottrom had started the nucleus of what he hoped would be a future town. He had built there the first wharf and the first warehouse in the Northern Neck. He had plans for a "Brew-house" where "ye good ale of England" might be had.

His activities were interrupted in the spring of 1652 by a summons from the Governor to appear at a meeting of the House of Burgesses.

The grapevine said that danger threatened the colony. It said that Cromwell's government had sent "a powerful fleet" from England with "a considerable body of land forces on board" and that the vessels had already arrived and had cast anchor before Jamestown. It said that the Governor himself was saying that the strangers were pirates and robbers who had come to steal the lands of the colonists.

Colonel Mottrom may have had two other burgesses to keep him company on this trip--George Fletcher from Northumberland, and Francis Willis from the newly organized county of Lancaster.

When Colonel Mottrom arrived within sight of the Island, he could probably see that the royal standard was still flying above the town, even though the English warship _Guinea_ and her armed fleet of merchantmen had weighed anchor and were moving in closer.

All was astir at Jamestown, especially in the State House. The "middlemost" of the "stack" of brick buildings was like a busy hive, with burgesses pouring in and out, and conversing in agitated groups, while they warmed themselves before the fireplaces in the two rooms.

Governor Berkeley was very much disturbed. Ever loyal to the Crown, he had boasted that Cromwell's forces would not risk an attack on the colony. But to be on the safe side, Sir William had, during the fall and winter, reinforced his defenses. The militia, which he had called up, was strengthened by the veteran Cavaliers from the King's army who had so recently come to the colony. He had the promise of help from five hundred Indian braves, and several armed Dutch ships which were lying in the river were pressed into service.

In spite of these plans for defensive measures the House of Burgesses showed no enthusiasm for going into active warfare. They reasoned that the loyalty of the Indian allies might be uncertain, and the presence of the enemy fleet in the James was but a reminder of England's sea power. The Governor was finally persuaded to disband his small army.

An agreement was signed on March 12, 1652, between the commissioners from the Commonwealth of England and the "Governor and counsel for a cessation of Arms."

This was probably the most stirring event ever associated with the first State House at Jamestown.

The agreement was favorable to Virginia, even though the colony was subdued. Most of the essential liberties of the colonials were retained. One of Cromwell's commissioners, Richard Bennett, was chosen as Governor by the Assembly.

Sir William had refused to serve under the Commonwealth. He retired to his estate, Green Spring, near Jamestown, where he could entertain Cavalier guests and drink toasts to King Charles as much as he pleased.

_THE OATH_

When Colonel Mottrom and the other burgesses from the Northern Neck returned home from Jamestown after the treaty with Cromwell's commissioners had been made, they brought news that every "white male" in the colony would be required to take an oath of loyalty to this new government in England. If any should refuse to do so they would have to move away within a year.

As the news traveled into the creeks and coves to the homes of the planters on the fringes of the wilderness, we can visualize the reluctant men of Northumberland straggling along to "Cone"--in shallops, sloops, barges, canoes, and perhaps a few on horseback. A disgruntled lot no doubt.

But "within the year" of 1652, one hundred "white males" had signed a statement at Coan which said that they would be "true and faithful to the Commonwealth of England as it is established without King or House of Lords."

Under the treaty the people might toast the late King in private as much as they liked, but no public stand against the Commonwealth would be tolerated.

_COUNTY OFFICERS_

The highest office in the county was that of county lieutenant. In early records he was called "Commander of Plantations." In England this office was usually held by a knight, and in Virginia it was always conferred on the class of "gentlemen," and they were chosen usually from the large landholders. He was appointed directly by the governor.

The county lieutenant commanded the militia, with the rank of colonel, and was entitled to a seat in the Council, and as such was a judge of the General Court. His powers were great in the civil and military control of the county. He presided over the county courts at the head of the justices.

The executive officer of the county court was the sheriff. The judges in this court were called justices of the peace. They were important men and had almost entire control of the affairs of the county. They were chosen from the gentlemen class of the community and received their commissions from the governor with the advice of the Council. They received no compensation for their services, the office being considered one of honor, not of profit. In this way a high standard of men were obtained for this important office.

_EPRAPHRODIBUS'S WILL_

In 1640 a patent was granted to Epraphrodibus Lawson, in Tarrascoe Neck Chuckeytuck Parish, Nansemond County. Lawson must have migrated to the Northern Neck. His will was recorded there, in Lancaster County, in 1652. It is believed to be the oldest recorded will in the United States. The will follows:

"In the name of God, Amen, I Epraphrodibus Lawson, of Rappahannock, being sick of body, but of perfect memory, Glory be to God, do make this my last will and testament. I make and ordain, ye child of my wife ... my heir ... my wife ... third ... March 31st, 1652.

"Epraphrodibus Lawson.

"Witness:
"Elos Lors,
"Joan Lee,
"Wm. Harper,
"Recorded June, 1652.
"G. John Phillips."

_THE CHALLENGE_

Young Richard Denham almost broke up the Lancaster County court when he burst into the room bearing a message that challenged Mr. Daniel Fox to a duel.

The court was being held in the home of one of the justices as no court-house had yet been built for the new county. Lancaster had been formed from Northumberland in 1651. The date of the present court was about 1653.

Richard bore the challenge from his father-in-law, Captain Thomas Hackett. It ran as follows:

"Mr. Fox, I wonder ye should so much degenerate from a gentleman as to cast such an aspersion on me in open Court, making nothinge appear but I knowe it to be out of malice and an evil disposition which remains in your hearte, therefore, I desire ye if ye have anything of a gentleman or of manhood in ye to meet me on Tuesday morninge at ye marked tree in ye valey which partes yr lande and mine, about eight of ye clocke, where I shall expect ye comeinge to give me satisfaction. My weapon is rapier, ye length I send ye by bearer; not yours present, but yours at ye time appointed. THOMAS HACKETT. Ye seconde bringe along with ye if ye please. I shall finde me of ye like."

This message could not have been delivered at a worse time or place, for Mr. Fox, a justice, was at the time sitting on the bench with his fellow justices. That dignified group, dressed in their velvets and gold lace, were shocked by the lad's audacity.

One of the justices, John Carter, sharply scolded Richard--"saying that he knew not how his father would acquit himself on an action of that nature which he said he would not be ye owner of for a world."

Richard answered in a slighting way "that his father would answer it well enough!"

When sternly questioned by the court, Richard admitted that he knew that the message he bore was a challenge. He then boldly demanded of Fox what answer he proposed to send back to Captain Hackett.

The court then made a quick and emphatic decision that Richard was "a partye with his father-in-law in ye crime," and that for bringing the challenge, whose character he well knew, and for delivering it while the justices were sitting, as well as for his contemptuous manner and bold words he was "adjudged"--"to receive six stripes on his bare shoulders with a whip," at the hands of the sheriff.

The sheriff was then directed to arrest Captain Hackett and have him "detained in safe custody without baile" until he should "answer for his crimes" at the next session of the General Court at Jamestown.

Thus a duel was averted, and Mr. Fox did not meet Captain Hackett "in ye valey." The valley was probably chosen by Captain Hackett so that the duel could take place without observation or interruption, and it was the dividing line between their estates.

Hackett was scrupulous to inform Fox of the length of the rapier he intended to use, but had he followed regulations exactly, he would have left the selection of the weapon to his opponent.

_TRADE_

In the early days the Northern Neck carried on trade with various places besides England. Lancaster County seems to have been especially active in this trade. From the following record it appears that tobacco and grain were not the only articles used in trading with the Barbadoes: "In 1686 the sloop Happy transported from Lancaster County to that island, 2 firkins of butter, 2 barrels of pork, and 22 sides of tanned leather, in addition to 144 bushels of Indian corn." Trade to the West Indies was conducted in small Virginia-built sloops.

The Dutch brought to the Neck to exchange for tobacco such things as linen, coarse cloth, beer, brandy and "other distilled spirits." In 1653 Henry Mountford of Rotterdam appointed an agent in Lancaster. About the same time, Jacobis Vis had "important transactions in exchange of merchandise for tobacco in the counties of the Northern Neck." It was said by the Dutch that Virginians could beat them in a deal.

A letter from Captain James Barton of New England to a citizen of Lancaster indicates that there was commerce between these places. Barton stated in the letter that he wished to secure a cargo of tobacco, hides and pork for market in the Barbadoes. His ketch, with a cargo of rum, salt, sugar, cloth and salted cod and mackerel, would sail from Salem and exchange cargoes in Virginia and then continue to the West Indies. Boats from the West Indies sailed to Virginia and then on to New England.

_THE COLONIAL SAILOR_

A sailor was always a source of interest to the public in colonial days, whether he wore his tarry working clothes or his shore outfit. There was the aura of foreign lands about him--he brought stories of far places to the news-hungry colonists of the New World.

On shore the sailor was a glamorous figure in his flapping trousers, scarlet sash and cutlasses, or dressed "in a strange habitt with a four-cornered Capp instead of a hatt and his Breeches hung with Ribbons from Wast downward a great depth, one over the other like Shingles of a house." He wore his pigtail shoved into an eelskin, which was supposed to make his hair grow longer.

_JOHN CARTER_

One day in the year 1654 the frontier home of Thomas Meade on the Rappahannock, in Lancaster County, was the focal point toward which the men of the Northern Neck were converging. Some came galloping on horseback between the big forest trees and others probably came by sloop.

The Assembly at Jamestown had recently ordered that an armed force be raised in the Northern Neck: "100 men from Lancaster, 40 from Northumberland and 30 from Westmoreland." After meeting at Meade's house the force under John Carter was to proceed to the Rappahannock Indian town and demand satisfaction for injuries done the white settlers in that region, but they were to commit no acts of hostility unless attacked.

Swords and firearms were glinting that day, and no doubt the flagon was passed many times. Among the men assembled, there was Captain Henry Fleet, the old Indian trader. He and David Wheatliff were to act as interpreters.

There seems to be no record of the outcome of this expedition. With the assistance of Captain Fleet, who was well known as "a powerful man in Indian affairs," it probably turned out well.

After this affair John Carter was known as "Colonel Carter of Lancaster County."

Colonel Carter had but recently settled in the Northern Neck. He had sailed one day from the Chesapeake into the Rappahannock and there before him lay virgin territory--tobacco soil and a ready-made highway where ships could sail to his dooryard and carry his tobacco straight to foreign markets.

He patented land and built his home on a neck cut out from the land by a creek and a river. He gave his home the Indian name of the river, Corotoman. The creek was called Carter's.

John Carter left England in 1649 when Cromwell seized the government. Little is known of his family in England. When he came to Virginia he settled first in Upper Norfolk and lived there five years. He probably came to Lancaster County because he saw more opportunity there.

John Carter prospered in the wilderness of the Northern Neck. He acquired many acres, considerable wealth and all the offices and honors that went with his position as a substantial landowner. He was even appointed to his Majesty's Council in Jamestown, which was a high honor.

His dwelling at Corotoman was no doubt a good house for that time. Inventories show that it had glass windows, and the basement was floored with paving stones which he had imported from England. The floors of the dependencies were probably of the same.

He wanted his children to have religious training. He built a church on his property so that his family could have a place to worship God.

Although women were scarce in this frontier country, Colonel Carter managed to find five wives within twenty years.

In 1669, Colonel Carter died at Corotoman and was laid to rest in the yard of his church.

Colonel John Carter of Lancaster County was the founder of the Carter family in Virginia. His son, Robert, was left to carry on the family traditions. He did so in a spectacular way.

_FLEET'S POINT_

When a sailing vessel left the Potomac and headed south toward Jamestown it traveled about six miles down the Chesapeake and then it came to the entrance of the Great Wicomico River.

On the north side of the mouth of the Great Wicomico there was a point. This point was called Fleet's Point because the plantation of Captain Henry Fleet, the Indian trader, was located there.

Between the year 1650 and 1655 Captain Fleet had patented large tracts of land in Northumberland and Lancaster. He apparently lived in Lancaster for awhile because he was a burgess from that county in 1652.

But Captain Fleet finally settled in Northumberland at Fleet's Point. In that region there had been an Indian village named Cinquack. It was thus marked on an early map. By the time Captain Fleet settled on the point the Indians may have moved inland, or to an island in the Chesapeake. Or Fleet may have bought the land from the Indians.

Weary voyagers on the Chesapeake, if evening was near, must have looked for the lights of Captain Fleet's dwelling on the point. Probably because of its location Fleet's Point became a stopping place for "persons passing from Maryland to Virginia."

Captain Fleet no doubt welcomed these guests, but he would stand for no misconduct at Fleet's Point, as is shown by a deposition that has been preserved:

"One Henry Carline, of Kent County, Maryland, in 1655, stopped at his house with a woman, and that he provided lodgings also for another woman, and a man. Fleet becoming indignant at Carline's loose behavior, turned him, and the woman who came with him, out of his house, and had them arraigned before the Rappahannock Court. Carline was fined for keeping the servant woman from her employer, and disowning his wife, and the woman was ordered to receive 30 lashes."

All records concerning Captain Fleet seem to end here. Did he ever return to England? Or was he killed by the Indians?

Perhaps he spent the rest of his life at Fleet's Point and was buried there.

_GEORGE MASON_

George Mason was another early settler in the upper wilderness of the Northern Neck.

The first George Mason came to Virginia during the Cavalier emigration. He "went up the Potomac River and settled at Accohick, near Pasbytanzy."

Apparently the first mention of this founder of the Mason family in Virginia occurs in the patent of land obtained by him in March, 1655: "Said land being due the said George Mason by and for the transportation of eighteen persons in to the colony." Mason was married but it is not known if his wife or family were among these persons transported as "head-rights."

The next mention of George Mason in the records is in 1658 when he sold five hundred acres of land to Mr. John Lease for "five cows with calves and two thousand five hundred pounds of tobacco." Westmoreland County at this time included land on the Virginia side of the Potomac from the northern boundary of Northumberland to the present site of Georgetown in the District of Columbia. With the land sold to Mr. Lease, Mason included "all privileges of hawking, fishing and fowling."

By this time George Mason was fairly well established in his wilderness home among the Indians, some of whom were friendly and some were not.

George Mason, Giles Brent and Gerrard Fowke were the "men of the border" at this time. From time to time they were involved in troubles with the Indians.

Colonel Mason's death occurred probably in 1686. He was buried in the "Burying Place, at Accokeek." He was the great-grandfather of George Mason, the Revolutionary patriot and author of the Bill of Rights.

_MARY CALVERT_

"Ye said Mrs. Calvert shall personally receive thirty stripes upon her bare shoulders for her offence." Thus the court of Northumberland decided in the case of Mary Calvert in the year of our Lord 1655.

This court was probably held at Coan Hall, the home of Colonel John Mottrom, as it is doubtful that a court-house had yet been built.

Court Day was a great event to the men of Virginia in colonial times. It created an opportunity for the discussion of politics, for trading livestock, bargaining for the sale of tobacco, catching up with the news, and last but not least, a free enjoyment of rough horse-play, accompanied by the passing of the jug.

Let us imagine this Court Day at Coan Hall. If the weather was warm enough the session may have been held out of doors under the trees. In the rear the virgin forest must have furnished an impressive background. In front flowed the river where the small sailing vessels, barges and log canoes belonging to the men who had come to court were tied or anchored. A few horses may have been tied in the barn-lot or tethered out to graze, but there were not many horses in the Neck at that time, probably not more than fifteen or twenty in the county.

In cold weather court was doubtless held inside before the blazing fire in the great hall. Colonel Mottrom, if he was presiding, was no doubt dressed in his best, as befitted the occasion and his position as justice. Ursula was probably in the kitchen supervising preparations for a feast for those among the gathering who would be their guests.

If the crowd overflowed outside there was perhaps an outdoor fire near the stables for warmth. And the passing flagon of ale no doubt helped to warm and cheer the crowd. Contests of strength and skill, such as wrestling, cudgeling, running, riding and shooting may have been going on there while the court was in progress inside the house.

Mary Calvert must have been embarrassed to have been the only woman in such a crowd of men, for as a rule women stayed out of sight on Court Days. The records reveal only enough information about Mary Calvert to arouse the curiosity. What sort of woman was she?

She was perhaps fairly young, as women of that day usually married early and died early. There is no clue as to her appearance but it is safe to assume that her clothes were bright because colonials wore gay colors, and that she wore a hood of some sort over her head, and if it was cold a mantle that covered her other garments.

What heinous crime had this woman committed that she deserved to be lashed thirty times across her bare shoulders?

Mary Calvert had been so bold as to speak in public against Oliver Cromwell and the Parliament of England. She had called them "rogues and rebells."

Now, Mrs. Calvert confessed in court that she had made this statement, but in her own defense she stated that she was in danger of being murdered by her husband and "spake those words" to bring about her arrest and thus be "secured from her husband."

Was Mary telling the truth? The true answer will never be known. But the ancient county records do reveal the fact that her husband either loved her and could not stand by and see her lashed, or that he wanted to save his own self-respect.

Whatever his reason may have been he did come forward and beg to pay a fine in order that Mary's sentence be revoked--

"Upon Mr. Calvert's petition in behalfe of his wife," the court ordered him to pay a thousand pounds of tobacco for commuting "of ye corporall punishment to be inflicted upon his said wife, with charges of court."

_HE LIVED BRAVELY_

Colonel John Mottrom may not have presided at the county court of 1655 for he died about that time. He was but forty-five years old and he had not yet built his brew-house or seen his vision of the town at Coan come true.

The funeral was no doubt a big affair for Colonel Mottrom was a prominent man, and all funerals then were important occasions. These early funerals were carried on in a reverent manner but there was a cheerful side too. Funerals could even be called festive. The reason for this was that a funeral brought about one of the few chances friends and neighbors had for a reunion, and for feasting and drinking together.

The guests had to travel a long way by boat or on horseback to attend a funeral and these funeral guests were regarded as even more "sacred" than ordinary guests. The unwritten laws of hospitality would have been broken if these guests had been allowed to return home without more than ample food and drink.

Thus the bereaved Mottrom household probably had to put their sorrows aside while they made preparations for the funeral.

Sometimes the minister and pall-bearers, who were usually the leading citizens of the county, were directed to wear certain special items, such as gloves, ribbons and a "love scarf." Mourning-rings and gloves were often gifts to chief mourners from the family of the deceased. Often the will of the deceased directed the family to make such gifts.

Colonel Mottrom may have desired to be "buryed ... in the garden plote." It was the usual custom to be buried not too far away from the dwelling.

It could be truly written of this first settler of the Northern Neck, as it had been said of another early Virginian--"he lived bravely, kept a good house and was a true lover of Virginia."

After the body was laid to rest the memory of the deceased was usually honored by a furious fusillade. This may have been done more for the entertainment of those who came to bury the deceased than to honor the dead. Sometimes as much as ten pounds of powder were used. Many accidents occurred at funerals because of the wild firing of guns by persons who had been drinking.

The extravagant use of powder was nothing when compared to the amount of liquor, of all kinds, consumed at a funeral. At one funeral sixty gallons of cider, four gallons of rum, two gallons of brandy, five gallons of wine, and thirty pounds of sugar to sweeten the drinks were used.

Food for the occasion may have included geese, turkeys and other poultry, a pig, several bushels of flour and twenty pounds of butter. Sometimes a whole steer and several sheep were prepared for the crowd. A big funeral cost many pounds of tobacco.

Colonel Mottrom's inventory was valued at 33,896 pounds of tobacco, which was as large as any estate in the colony at that time. His inventory was recorded in Northumberland County in 1657, and shows that he was a man of "wealth and literary pretensions."

He left his children "well-fixed" as to land. In Northumberland alone he had patented 3700 acres. Tradition says that he left the daughter of his associate, Nicholas Morris, "a riding mare." His will was referred to the governor "because of some ambiguities in the procurings of it." No copy of it can now be found.

Due to distances and lack of fast transportation the widow's hand was sometimes spoken for at the funeral of her husband by one of the guests who was afraid that he might lose out if he waited to make another visit. This was probably not true in Ursula's case, but she did remarry soon enough for her new husband to act as one of the executors of Colonel Mottrom's will.

Major George Colclough, Ursula's third husband, was a burgess in 1658. After his death Ursula Bish Thompson-Mottrom-Colclough married Colonel Isaac Allerton. Even after she had married this fourth time she continued to have trouble in settling Colonel Mottrom's estate, because of the "ambiguities" of his will.

Colonel and Mrs. Allerton lived at his home, The Narrows, which was located in the new county of Westmoreland, formed from Northumberland in 1653.

Colonel Allerton was the son of Isaac Allerton, who came to Plymouth on the _Mayflower_ in 1620, and of Fear Brewster, only daughter of Governor William Brewster, of Plymouth. He was born in 1630 and was one of the early graduates of Harvard College. He came to Virginia and settled in the Northern Neck at The Narrows.

From Ursula and Isaac Allerton was descended President Zachary Taylor.

_WITCHCRAFT_

The belief in witchcraft was prevalent amongst the early settlers of the Northern Neck. The Neck at this time was beset with wolves and Indians and was a true type of a frontier colony.

To the witch was ascribed the power of inflicting strange and incurable diseases, of changing men into horses when they were asleep at night, and after bridling and saddling them, riding them at a gallop over the countryside to the places where the witches had their frolics. Horses too were thought to be ridden at night, unbridled and barebacked. In the morning these horses would be fagged-out and caked with sweat and mud and their manes plaited into "witches' stirrups."

That witches were taken seriously by settlers of the Neck in the seventeenth century is proven by the following abstract from the Northumberland County records:

"20 Nov., 1656.

"Whereas, Articles were Exhibited against Wm. H---- by Mr.
David Lindsaye (Minister) upon suspicion of witchcraft,
sorcery, etc. And an able jury of Twenty-four men were
empanelled to try the matter by verdict of which jury they
found part of the Articles proved by several depositions. The
Court doth therefore order yet ye said Wm. H---- shall
forthwith receave ten stripes upon his bare back and forever to
be Banished this County and yet hee depart within the space of
two moneths. And also to pay all the charges of Court."

_SEAHORSE OF LONDON_

On a cold day in the late winter of 1657 some men were busily working in the Potomac near the mouth of Mattox Creek. They were trying to lift a foundered ketch, the _Seahorse_ of London. Among the men was young John Washington, son of an English clergyman.

John had sailed for Virginia in the winter of 1656, as mate and voyage partner in the _Seahorse_. After arriving in the Potomac the ketch was loaded with a cargo of tobacco. On her way out of the river she ran aground. Before she could be floated a storm hit and sank her. The entire cargo of tobacco was ruined.

During the delay John made friends with a wealthy planter named Nathaniel Pope, who lived in the neighborhood.

The _Seahorse_ was finally raised but by that time John did not wish to return to England. Perhaps Nathaniel's daughter, Anne, was the attraction in Virginia.

John prevailed on Edward Prescott, the master and part owner of the _Seahorse_, to release him from further service in order that he might remain in the Northern Neck of Virginia. He also demanded payment of his wages. Prescott countered that Washington owed him money and was partly responsible for the damage done to the vessel. He threatened to have John arrested and imprisoned.

John's new friend, Pope, offered to go his bond in beaver skins. If there was a suit the outcome is unknown. Prescott finally sailed away in the _Seahorse_ and Washington remained in Virginia, but they parted on bad terms and this was not the last of their quarrel--but that is another story.

John soon married Anne Pope. As a wedding gift Nathaniel gave them a seven-hundred-acre tract of land near Mattox Creek, in Westmoreland County. In 1664 John and Anne moved to a new home four miles eastward on Bridges Creek.

John Washington was the first of that name to settle in the Northern Neck. In Westmoreland he led an active life as a planter and as a leader in county affairs. He had received "decent schooling" before he left England. John and Anne were the great-grandparents of that most famous Washington--George.

"_TENN MULBERRY TREES_"

In the fall or early spring of 1656-57 the Virginians were planting trees.

Since the pioneers of the Northern Neck were living on the edges of a virgin forest and had been trying desperately to clear away enough of it to make fields for tobacco and corn, it seems strange that they would now be engaged in planting more trees.

But these trees were different--they had been imported from China. The Assembly at Jamestown had recently declared that "whereas by experience silke will be the most profitable commoditie for the country ... that everie one hundred acres of land plant tenn mulberry trees."

When the colonists came to Virginia they noticed the abundance of mulberry trees. These native trees, such favorites of the Indians, had reddish-blue berries. The early colonists thought that "the climate and soil of middle America were ... adapted to the culture of silke."

So, the first Assembly, in 1619, in the church at Jamestown, had adopted measures on the planting of mulberry trees:

"About the plantation of mulberry trees, be it enacted that every man as he is seatted upon his division, doe for seven years together, every yeare plante and maintaine in growte six Mulberry trees at the least, and as many more as he shall think conveniente."

But the silkworms would not cooperate--they refused to eat the leaves of the red mulberry tree. In 1621, the white mulberry was imported from China. But still the silk industry languished, this time it was said, for want of cheap labor.