Chapter VI: Part I: Seventeenth Century (4)

In the beginning the care of the silkworms was held to be specially suitable work for children. The mulberry trees were kept like a low hedge so that children could pick the leaves to feed the worms. This is probably where the singing-game originated:

"Here we go 'round the mulberry bush, mulberry bush--."

Tradition said that two boys, "if their hands be not sleeping in their pockets, could care for six ounces of seed from hatching till within fourteen days of spinning." After that three or four helpers, "women and children being as proper as men," were needed to assist in feeding the worms, airing, drying, cleansing and "perfuming" them.

Now, under the Commonwealth, the silk industry was again being stimulated. But all was in vain--the colonists had their minds set on raising tobacco and they could not be diverted.

_ROADS_

As a rule the settlers of the Northern Neck built their homes on the banks of rivers and creeks. Since travel was by boat there was little need at first for roads through the forest.

The Indians traveled through the woods over narrow footpaths not much over twenty inches wide. These had been made originally by animals. Now they were traveled by both Indians and wild beasts. These paths usually ran along high ground or where there was little undergrowth and few streams to cross.

When it was necessary for settlers to penetrate the interior they used these Indian and animal paths, or cut new paths and blazed the trees so that the blazes stood out clear and white in the forest.

Northumberland County records mention a horse path "wch leadeth from Wicocomoco to Chickacoon buttin upon the north west side of an Indian field knowne by the name of Fairefield." There was a cart path near the Corotoman river "knowne by the name of Morratico & Wiccomcomico Path." Early land patents mention other paths, horse paths and Indian paths.

Rolling-roads were narrow roads cut through the woods over which hogsheads of tobacco fitted with axles could be rolled or drawn. In this way inland plantations could send their tobacco to wharves and warehouses on the waterfront for shipment overseas.

The parish church, court-houses, ferries and ordinaries became the focal points that led from crude interplantation lanes. In 1658 the General Assembly appointed surveyors whose responsibility it was to clear general ways from county to county. These roads were to be forty feet wide and the surveyors were to see that the citizens kept them up. This last order was hard to enforce because for a long time the planters had little interest in highways on land.

_MARKETS_

The custom of Market Day, which was a form of the English fair, was brought to Virginia by the colonists. In 1649 it was decided to hold markets every week in Jamestown, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Assembly decided in 1655 to establish one or more market-places in each county. These were to be located on a river or creek, and all the trade of the surrounding country was to be concentrated at these places. Imported articles were to be brought from certain ports to each market place. Here were to be built the court-house, prison, offices of the clerk and sheriff, ordinaries and churches. Nothing seems to have come of this attempt.

Again, about 1679, certain places were designated as public marts, to which all the Indians who were at peace with the white settlers were invited to come, one day in the spring and one day in autumn. A government clerk was to keep records of all the trading which took place at each mart.

One of these marts was situated in Lancaster County, and another in Stafford. In Northumberland, the Wicocomico Indians were to be permitted to trade with the English under special regulations adopted by the authorities in that county.

The purpose of these market places was to encourage the building of towns, but the attempts were all unsuccessful. The settlers preferred their independent way of life on the plantations.

_THE OLD DOMINION_

In May, 1660, Charles II returned to England by invitation of a new Parliament. Cromwell was dead and his son and successor, "Tumbledown Dick," had abdicated.

Charles rode into London, where the streets were dressed with green boughs and the windows hung with tapestry in his honor. Since everyone was so glad to see him he wondered why he had stayed away so long.

When the Virginians heard the news they went wild with joy!

Sir William Berkeley already had control of the Virginia government again. The Assembly at Jamestown had foreseen the restoration of the king and they had called Sir William back from his self-imposed exile at his plantation, Green Spring, in March, 1660--two months before Charles was actually crowned King of England.

It took four months for the news of the restoration to reach Virginia. In September, Sir William issued a command that the news be proclaimed in every county in Virginia.

This was what the Virginians had been waiting for and they celebrated in their typical way--by drinking healths and by making every kind of noise that they could contrive to make.

Hundreds of pounds of tobacco were exchanged for barrels of gunpowder and kegs of cider. In some places "ye trumpeters" were paid as much as eight hundred pounds of tobacco for their music, and at least one minister was paid five hundred pounds of tobacco for a service of thanksgiving.

In recognition of Virginia's loyalty to him, Charles II caused her to be proclaimed an independent member of his Empire. He had it engraved on coins that the English Kingdom should henceforth consist of "England, Scotland, Ireland and Virginia." Virginia's coat-of-arms was added to those of the other three countries comprised in his dominions. Traditions say that Charles wore a robe of Virginia silk at his coronation.

It was in this way that Virginia acquired the title of "The Old Dominion."

_THE PROPRIETARY_

The settlers of the Northern Neck had hardly ended their celebrations in honor of England's new king when they received a great shock.

One of the first things that Charles II did, at the insistence of those courtiers who had shared his exile, was to have the Northern Neck patent, which he had issued while he was in France, recorded and put on the market to be leased for the benefit of those courtiers to whom he had given it. Thus in 1661, the Northern Neck became a proprietary--that is, it was owned now by the seven courtiers.

In 1662, several English merchants took a lease of the proprietary from the original courtiers who owned it. The merchants hoped to settle new "adventures" in the land between the Potomac and the Rappahannock. King Charles then wrote a letter to Governor Berkeley instructing him to assist these men who had leased the patent.

Even Sir William who had always been fanatical in his loyalty to the Crown was shocked. The royal order aroused the opposition of both the governor and the council to the proprietorship and to the lease of it. It was a threat to the colonial government and they were afraid that they would lose their power to defend themselves. They felt that the rights of the colonists should be protected.

Before 1661, a total of 576 grants of "headright" lands in the Northern Neck had been made in the King's name by the Colonial Governor. The meaning of "headright" was that any person who paid his own way to Virginia would receive 50 acres of land. He would also be assigned 50 acres for each person he transported "at his own cost."

Now titles to these lands previously taken would be clouded. Or the lands might be completely lost.

Instead of assisting the lessees of the patent the colonial government at Jamestown prepared an address to the Crown and sent one of their ablest citizens to England to act as an agent for Virginia.

The King ignored this protest, rebuked the colonial government and sent their representative back to Virginia with a renewed petition of the proprietors and orders to "protect his agents and encourage them."

Nevertheless, no more was heard of the English merchants. The colonials had scored their first victory in the war over the Northern Neck patent, but many troublesome years were still to follow.

_A FIRST LADY OF JAMESTOWN_

While life flowed on at Chicacone, what had become of little Frances Mottrom?

Frances had been growing up. She was now, in 1662, seventeen years old and about to become the bride of one of the most important men in Virginia.

Since her step-mother's marriage Frances had probably been living with her sister, Anne, who had been married for five or six years to Richard Wright, formerly a merchant of London. The Wrights lived part of the time at Coan Hall and part of the time at Cabin Point, in Westmoreland County. The latter estate had been left to Anne by her father, Colonel John Mottrom.

And how did Frances find a suitable bridegroom in the wilderness of the Northern Neck? Probably through her brother-in-law, Richard Wright. Her future husband, the Honorable Nicholas Spencer, Esq., had also been a London merchant who had taken up lands in the Neck. He was now a neighbor of the Wrights, in Westmoreland County.

And where was the wedding to take place? There are no records to tell us, but a deed made a few years after Frances' marriage refers to her as being "late of Chickacone." It is doubtful if a church had been built as yet, although the Parish of Chicacoan had been established in 1653, and the Reverend David Lindsaye, of the Established Church of England, had arrived in the Northern Neck as early as 1656.

Let us assume that Frances and Nicholas were married at Coan Hall by the new minister, who would have been dressed for the occasion in a white surplice with bands and a "close" cap of black velvet.

The ceremony would probably have taken place on a Wednesday morning between eight and noonday.

The bride was doubtless radiant in a low-cut gown of the latest London fashion. It may have been pink, yellow or some other pastel shade but we can be sure that it was not white. The gown, no doubt fell in soft folds to the ground, as hoops had not yet come into vogue. Her hair was probably arranged just as she wore it as a child, with a veil in place of the cap.

Coan Hall was no doubt "passing sweet trimmed up with divers flowers" or evergreens. All the kettles were doubtless a-bubble in the kitchen, and the silver, pewter, brass and copper gleamed in the firelight.

There seem to be no surviving records of the festivities accompanying a seventeenth century wedding in Virginia, but we may be sure that there was "an open cellar, a full house and a sweating cook," three things dearly loved by these transplanted English people.

They also loved noise--the sound of guns and firecrackers, bells and music. They liked to sing the old ballads brought from "home," as they still called England.

The wedding guests may have brought small spiced buns to the wedding and piled them high in the center of the table. If the bride and groom succeeded in kissing each other over the mound, lifelong prosperity was assured.

Dancing and games were very likely to have followed the feasting. The wedding guests may have lingered on a week or more at Coan. It is possible that the wedding party followed the bride and groom to the groom's house in Westmoreland and continued the festivities for awhile there.

And how did Frances reach her new home? Most likely by sailing vessel, up the Potomac. If she traveled by land it was doubtless on horseback as there were few if any carriages then, nor any roads. She may have been seated on a pillion behind her new husband, holding on tight to his waist. If the wedding party traveled by land they must have made quite a clatter--riding at the reckless "planter's pace" between the big trees, shouting and singing and making the forest ring with happy sound.

Two wedding gifts that Frances may have brought to her new home were a "garnish of pewter," that is a full set of pewter platters, plates and dishes, and a bread "peel," which was significant of domestic utility, plenty, and was a symbol of good luck. These were favorite wedding gifts then. Glass and earthenware were scarce at that time because of breakage on the trip across the Atlantic. An inventory later on shows that Frances had only twelve glasses and not more than eighty-eight pieces of earthenware. Silver plate was abundant in the homes of the wealthy.

At the time of their marriage Frances' husband was a member of the House of Burgesses. Later (1679-89) he was Secretary of the Colony which made him, next to the Governor, probably the most powerful man in Virginia at that time. People started calling his home on Nomini River, Secretary's Point, by which name it was ever after known.

Colonel Spencer's neighbors named their parish "Cople" in honor of his ancestral parish in Bedfordshire, England.

About 1675 Colonel Spencer and John Washington procured a patent for five thousand acres of land on Little Hunting Creek, which later became famous as the Mount Vernon estate. This land descended to the heirs of Spencer and Washington.

Colonel Spencer became President of the Council, which was a position of great honor and dignity. As President of the Council in the absence of the Governor, his cousin Lord Culpeper, he became acting governor from 1683-84.

"Madam Spencer," as Frances was now respectfully addressed, had seen many changes since she had left her wilderness playground in the Northern Neck, to become for awhile the "First Lady of Jamestown." She had borne six children. One son went to England and remained there to claim the large estates which his father had inherited.

After Governor Spencer's death Frances married Reverend John Bolton.

_LAND_

"Clear titles" to their lands were extremely important to the landholders of the Northern Neck, probably because for many years due to the proprietary their land was not wholly their own.

To the natives of the Neck, land was an almost sacred possession. To acquire more and more of it was an obsession with some of them. Land was their wealth--without it tobacco could not be grown. The virgin soil lasted only about three years under tobacco cultivation. It was easier and cheaper to look for new lands than to enrich old acreage so the planter was always looking for new lands, in the fertile river margins or in the vast forests. It was a wasteful system.

Land made a man's social position then. For social rating purposes the amount of land he owned did not matter so much, but if he was to be "somebody" he must own some land. Common expressions in those days were--"he is a big landowner" or "he owns land." This manner of social rating persisted for many years in the Neck.

Land was a man's security--even if he could no longer make money on it "the land was still there." If he did not have wealth he still had land and a social position.

The landowner rarely sold his land. The bulk of it was left to the oldest son; other sons received smaller portions and the daughters received still smaller portions. The girls were supposed to marry into landed stock.

The importance of land to natives of the Northern Neck in bygone days can hardly be exaggerated.

_PROCESSIONING_

A morning in spring between Easter and Whitsuntide found all Virginians out-of-doors. This special day came once each year--it was the day of the "processioning."

On this day, required by law, the planters would ride and walk over their lands and inspect their property lines. We can visualize the scene--the planter and his older sons leading the way, servants following with axes and other implements, chattering women and girls, servant women bringing up the rear with lunch baskets, and children riding pillion, or in front of some older person, or when the procession halted, darting about chasing a butterfly or rabbit.

"Processioning" day was an important time, for in those days land surveys were not always true and the boundaries of each man's plantation were uncertain. At this time the various landmarks were impressed upon the minds of the older sons--"yonder is a corner pine," "the four red and the one white oak," "there is the grove of tulip poplars," "the dogwood corner," "the hickory corner," "the two gums and the white oak"--there was so much to remember!

Sometimes the lands were divided by ditches, for ditches would last a hundred years or more it was said. Landmarks were renewed at this time. Blazes were recut on trees and in the places where trees had fallen during the winter new ones were planted. Tradition says that pear trees were often planted as they were long-lived trees.

Here and there processions from neighboring plantations would meet at the boundaries where the lands joined. A sociable time then followed, and if it was at lunch time, perhaps a picnic. Disputed boundaries were decided upon at these times and announced to all persons present so that at the next "processioning" those who were still living would be able to testify as to the correct line.

"_THE BANQUETTING HOUSE_"

Among the planters whose lands adjoined near Machodoc Creek, in Westmoreland County, were John Lee, Henry Corbin, Thomas Gerrard and Isaac Allerton.

John Lee was the oldest son of Richard, the immigrant, of Cobbs Hall in Northumberland. John was the first of the Lees to establish a seat on land acquired by his father on the Potomac. This first Lee home in Westmoreland was called Matholic. John had been educated at Oxford and had graduated at Queen's College, 1658, and then studied medicine. He had probably returned to Virginia with his father in 1664. Two years later he was seated at Matholic, and he immediately took his place among the leading planters in the county. Besides the usual offices that went with his station, he was on a committee appointed by the governor for the defense of the Northern Neck against Indians. Later he served on a commission with Colonel John Washington and others to "arrange the boundary line between Lancaster and Northumberland Counties." But what Jack really liked to do was to ride, shoot and fish. He liked the militia training and the celebrations that went with it. He was young, gay and a bachelor.

Henry Corbin had been born in Warwickshire, England, about 1629. His family was of high standing among the English gentry. Henry came to Virginia during the Cavalier emigration and took up an estate on the Potomac near Matholic. His home was named Pecatone for an Indian chief of the region, according to tradition. Pecatone was one of the great manors of Westmoreland. It was built of brick with a terrace and stone steps in front. The large rooms were wainscoted. The house was set in a grove of trees and the lawn sloped to the Potomac. The house had the massive look of a fort and it was plain to severity. Life at Pecatone was carried on in the grand manner.

Doctor Thomas Gerrard lived not far from Isaac Allerton on a plantation called Wilton. Gerrard had once owned lands and had been a prominent figure in the Province of Maryland, but because of religious persecution he had crossed the Potomac and found sanctuary in the Northern Neck. Wilton had originally been patented by Major William Hockaday in 1651. At that time the Indians were still living on the land and Hockaday had to wait to seat the place "until the Indians could be removed." Doctor Gerrard purchased Wilton from Hockaday in 1662.

Isaac Allerton was the grandson of that celebrated Puritan, Governor William Brewster of Plymouth. After Isaac graduated from Harvard College, in 1650, he left New England and settled in Westmoreland County, near the plantations of John Lee and Henry Corbin. Isaac called his home The Narrows. He became a leading planter of the county and was one of the men of Westmoreland "upon whom Governor Berkeley relied." In 1675 Allerton was second in command under Colonel John Washington to fight Indians. Allerton married Ursula, the widow of John Mottrom. From the union of Ursula and Isaac was descended President Zachary Taylor, as has been stated before.

These then were the four neighbors with such diverse backgrounds, whose plantations adjoined and who all came together each year at "processioning" time.

In March of 1670 these men decided to build a "banquetting house for the continuance of good Neighborhood."

The plan was that each neighbor, or his heirs, would take turns in preparing the banquet and entertainment "yearly, according to his due, to make an Honorable treatment fit to entertain the undertakers thereof, their wives, misters & friends yearly and every year, & to begin upon the 29th of May."

Thus the agreement was written, witnessed, and signed by Henry Corbin, John Lee, Thomas Gerrard and Isaac Allerton, on the 30th of March 1670. Jack Lee was assigned the responsibility of the building of the "banquetting house." There is documented proof that the house was built in "Pickatown field," and that the yearly celebrations were held.

At these celebrations Jack Lee, arriving on his spirited mount dressed in his "gray suit with silver buttons" and "gloves with silver tops," must have been a dashing figure.

We can imagine Ursula at "Pickatown field," escorted by her fourth husband, Colonel Allerton; Henry Corbin with his wife Alice and daughter, Laetitia; and the Gerrards--Thomas and Rose.

Since friends were to be invited, Colonel Nicholas Spencer of Secretary's Point may have been there with his wife, Frances Mottrom Spencer. The host would probably have been afraid to omit from the guest list Dick Cole of Salisbury Park, and his wife Anna.

Perhaps a little eight-year-old girl from Tucker Hill was dancing gaily at "Pickatown field" in the year 1671. In three more years "little Sarah Tucker" was to put away childish things to become the bride of Colonel William Fitzhugh, one of the wealthiest planters in the Neck. And in two more years the laughter of young Jack Lee would be stilled forever.

But in the springtime of 1671 there was probably no small cloud over "Pickatown field," and the "banquetting house" was filled with happy sound.

Here end all known records concerning the "banquetting house in Pickatown field"--America's first country club, circa 1671.

_THE LAND AGENT_

Now, in the year 1670, something new had been added to the Northern Neck--a land agent.

The grapevine must have been buzzing in those days--what is a land agent?--a man who represents the proprietary--what is a proprietary, anyway?--the people who have taken our land away from us--who is this land agent?--Thomas Kirton, from England--what will he do?--make us pay rent--rent our own land?--something like taxes--I won't do it--how can he make us?--what right have they--

The Northern Neckers had probably not fully realized that they no longer owned their own land until they came face to face with a land agent.

Thomas Kirton came to Virginia in 1670 and opened a land office in Northumberland County. He was to be assisted by Edward Dale, a prominent citizen of Lancaster.

Kirton came armed with credentials, a copy of the patent and power of attorney for himself and Dale. He presented these documents to the General Court at Jamestown, April 5, 1671. He was recognized and action was prompt "... the said letters, patent being read in court ...," "obedience" and "submission" was given and recorded.

This complete acceptance of Kirton, and what he stood for, by the Colonial Government was another shock to the settlers of the Northern Neck. There had never been "anything to so move the grief and passion of the people as uncertainty whether they were to make a country for the King or for the Proprietors."

It had become a very real fact to the settlers now that they had landlords over them. They had been accustomed to the utmost freedom and independence and this was an almost unbearable blow.

A strange thing about the story of the proprietary is that the people who lived within it had very little understanding as to what it was all about. Most of them lived all of their lives without understanding the terms of the proprietary. This was partly due to the fact that everything was done in secret. Even the Colonial Government was kept in the dark as to the various changes and renewals, while the proprietors increased their authority over the domain of the Northern Neck.

Kirton's main duty was to collect quit-rents. The quit-rent was handed down from the feudal system of medieval times. In simple terms--it was the "bond between the lord and the land." The quit-rent was a monetary payment to relieve the tenant of obligations, such as laboring for the lord of a manor on a certain number of days a week, or paying him with a portion of the produce.

Under the system of the quit-rent the tenant still had complete control of his land although he did not own it. He was free to bequeath the land to his heirs.

Kirton had little success in collecting quit-rents although they were small, only two shillings per one hundred acres. The settlers had no intention of paying anything to the proprietors unless they were compelled to do so. As the years went on they acquiesced to a certain degree, but the quit-rents were never willingly paid.

However the settlers did not object to patenting new lands. These could be paid for in English coins, Spanish pieces of eight, or in tobacco, if metallic money was not to be had.

Kirton was ousted from his office, in 1673, because for some time he had failed to remit the quit-rents. Before this Kirton and Dale had quarreled and Dale had ceased to act as an agent.

Thomas Kirton probably had few friends in the Northern Neck. The fact that he married Anna, the widow of Dick Cole, tells quite a lot about him. She was despised and feared by her neighbors because of her slanderous tongue.

Kirton's home was in Westmoreland County, near the Northumberland boundary. He probably remained in the Northern Neck, for in 1686 he informed the Westmoreland court that its records were "somewhat delayed and the transfers through time and carelessness were scarcely legible." The court directed him to transcribe all the records in one book. For this he was paid 2,000 pounds of tobacco and cask, if he finished the work by 1688.

_HANNA AND THE HORSESHOE_

In early days the horseshoe was believed to have a magic potency. When butter was slow in coming, a heated horseshoe was thrown into the churn. A horseshoe was also believed to keep off witches. Doubtless most of the early settlers of the Northern Neck had one nailed over the threshold.

An instance of the belief in the power of the horseshoe is found in the seventeenth century records of Northumberland County. From three sworn statements filed in that county, "April ye 11, 1671," let us reconstruct the strange happenings that were reported.

The story starts on board a vessel at sea, bound home to the Northern Neck from a trip to the Barbadoes. ("I Edw: Le Breton deposeth that being aboard of our ship & Mr. Edward Cole talking then and there of severall psons (persons) & among all ye rest of Mrs. Neall, Hanna Rodham, daughter of Matthew Rodham, and wife of Christopher Neall.")

We can imagine Le Breton and Cole in their ship's cabin relaxing a bit as they neared home--two mariners dressed in loose breeches and jerkins of canvas or frieze, with their warm Monmouth caps and outer garments swaying on the pegs where they hung and the swinging lanthorn casting crazy shadows over all. Perhaps a bottle of the West Indies rum had loosened the tongue of Edward Cole as he told of "a certyne time some yeares past" when "there grew difference" between himself and the family of Hanna Neall. "She then," continued Cole, "made a kind of prayer that he nor none of his family never prosper and shortly after his people fell sick & much of his cattle dyed."

When Edward Cole arrived home from the Barbadoes he found his wife ill and the "suspition of Doctor S----, & others was that his wife was under an ill tongue, & if it was soe he concluded yt (yet) it was Mrs. Neall by reason of imprecations made by her & yt indeed he thought soe," and "he did accuse Mrs. Neall of it alsoe."

Edward Cole was greatly troubled. If Hanna Neall could do this much, she could do worse things. He was almost "beside himself" with fear and worry when he remembered the horseshoe nailed over his threshold. It was there to keep off witches. If he could induce Hanna Neall to cross over the horseshoe he could find out once and for all if she was a woman or a witch.

And so it came about that Edward Cole at "a certyne time sent for Mrs. Neall to come to see his wife."

Witches are usually thought of as being old hags, but from portions of these statements it seems that Hanna was not an ordinary witch. She was at least a fairly young woman, and quite possibly an attractive one. Records of early land patents show that she and her father were landowners, which gave her certain social distinctions, and only a small number of persons of the best condition had the designation of Mr. and Mrs. prefixed to their names in the seventeenth century. The Northumberland records prove that she was fearless, for she answered Edward Cole's invitation by coming at once.

Did she live near enough to walk? Since individual landholdings were large then we do not think that she lived close enough to walk. Did she come riding on a pillion? Or did she come across the water in a barge rowed by her servants? These are questions for speculation.

We can assume that she was dressed in the usual outdoor costume of women of that time and place. In April the air is still sharp in the Northern Neck of Virginia so she probably wore a linsey-woolsey gown of blue with undersleeves of white kenting, a dark mantle of wool, a hood with a bright lining turned back around her face, and a white muslin apron. Perhaps she carried a basket with some delicacy for the sick woman--a pair of quail shot by her husband and roasted by herself on the spit in her fireplace.

What feelings of dread must Edward Cole have had as he watched the approach of Hanna Neall! We can see him slowly opening the door and standing far aside for her to enter.

We can picture Hanna, looking into the dark room where the candle in the tin lanthorn threw shadows across the strained faces, and a pomander ball gave off the sickening odors that were supposed to ward off infection. And there in the dimness of the bed with its heavy hangings lay the sick woman.

Was Hanna frightened when she looked into the face of her accuser? Was she angry? Or did she pity him? In any case, when she trod on the threshold, brushed the horseshoe with her skirts, and entered the room--nothing happened.

Hanna crossed to the sick woman, knelt beside the bed and "shee prayed so heartily for her" that Edward Cole believed in her sincerity.

It was in this way that Hanna Neall was saved from being banished from the county, or from lashes at the whipping post, or from the ducking "stoole" at Northumberland County court-house, down in Hull's Neck. Saved by a horseshoe and a prayer!

And Edward Cole straightened matters out with the following statement:

"I, Edward Cole, doe acknowledge yt ye words which I did speake
concerning Mrs. Neall as tending to defame her with the
aspersion of being a witch, were passionately spoken.

"Edward Cole"

April ye 11, 1671

_MUSTER_

In the early days of the colony there was a unit of militia in each county. The governor, who was in command, appointed for each unit a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major, who had lesser officers under them. Every freeman between the ages of sixteen and sixty was subject to this military duty. Single troops and companies were mustered four times a year, and once a year there was a general muster.

Everyone looked forward to the general muster--on that day all roads led to the county seat. Some of the people came as far as they could by boat and then walked the rest of the way. Others came in carts and on horseback, with the women and girls riding pillion behind their husbands, fathers or brothers. Small children were probably perched up in front of the riders. All were dressed in their bravest clothes.

At the county seat there was excitement in the air--the British flags were all flying, swords were glinting, and there was the sound of the "brass Trumpetts w'th silver mouth pieces" and the roll of drums. There were "Troopes of horse & Companies of Foot ... provided w'th Armes & Ammunition" and with their "coullours" flying. The officers wore handsome belts and "Bootes." The men carried "firelock musketts" and had "Pistolls & Houlsters."

After the parades and drills were over the people mingled and enjoyed being together. It was probably the second day before the crowd broke up and the people started homeward. Liquor was no doubt flowing freely among the men.

The citizens of Northumberland petitioned the House of Burgesses in 1696, "praying" that no musters should be allowed to take place on Saturday, "as it led to the profamation of Sunday."

_THE STORE_

The store was one of the principal institutions in the colony in early days. Every important planter kept a store somewhere on his plantation. Sometimes it was in a room in the manor but usually it was in a detached building. Storehouses were small, often not more than sixteen by eighteen feet.

The contents of these stores included nearly every article used by Virginians. A plantation store of 1667, with contents valued at six hundred fourteen pounds sterling, carried merchandise such as: materials of all kinds, carpenters' tools, bellows, sickles, locks, nails, staples, cooking utensils, flesh forks, shovels and tongs, medicines, wool cards, compasses, needles, stirrups, looking-glasses, candlesticks, candles, raisins, brandy, wine, and many other items.

Most of the manufactured articles came from England. To be very salable merchandise had to bear an English label.

_THE WOLF-DRIVE_

For a century after the first settlers came to the Northern Neck the forest was still alive with wolves. In the evenings they could be heard hunting and they sounded "like a pack of beagles."

These wolves were small, not much larger than a fox, but so ravenous that if a traveler was forced to spend the night in the woods he could hardly keep his horse from being devoured even though tied close to him and to the light of the fire.

The scattered sheepfolds and grazing pastures had to be guarded. Wolves were such a nuisance to the planters that authorities sought ways to destroy them. Rewards were offered for any person killing a wolf "provided the said wolf shall not be so young that it is not of age to do mischief."

The planters caught the wolves in various ways--in wolf-pits, log-pens and log-traps. Several mackerel hooks were fastened together and then dipped in melted tallow which hardened and concealed them. These were fastened to a chain so that after the wolf had swallowed the hooks he could not wander away in the forest and his head be lost for bounty.

In 1674, John Mottrom, II of Coan was rewarded with fourteen hundred pounds of tobacco for "killing seven wolves in a pitt." The settlers often paid their public dues in the skins of wolves.

As late as 1691 the county court of Northumberland made public arrangements for an annual wolf-drive. The wolves were hunted on horseback with dogs, very much in the manner of fox-hunting. Early writers state that it was possible while going at full speed to run down a wolf.

The wolf-drive was somewhat like the old English "drift of the forest," where a ring of men and boys with guns surrounded a large tract of woods. The wolves scenting them would retreat to the center of the circle, where the hunters would close in on them. Many were killed in this way. "Wolf-driving" was considered great sport.

Wolf-Trap Light, in Chesapeake Bay, is said to have been named because ashore near there was a famous place for catching the last of the wolves.

_THE INDIANS AND ROBERT HEN_

In the year 1675, strange things were happening in the Northern Neck.

Thomas Matthews, a planter, whose "dwelling was in Northumberland, the lowest county on Potomack River," recorded these strange events--there "appear'd three prodigies in that country, which from attending disasters were look'd upon as ominous presages.

"The one was a large comet every evening for a week, or more at Southwest; thirty-five degrees high streaming like a horse taile westwards, until it reach'd (almost) the horizon, and setting toward the North-west.

"Another was, fflights of pigeons in breadth nigh a quarter of the mid-hemisphere, and of their length was no visible end; whose weights brake down the limbs of large trees whereon these rested at nights, of which the ffowlers shot abundance and eat 'em; this sight put the old planters under the more portentous apprehensions, because the like was seen, (as they said), in the year 1644 when th' Indians committed the last massacre, ...

"The third strange appearance was swarms of fflyes about an inch long, and big as the top of a man's little finger, rising out of spigot holes in the earth, which eat the new sprouted leaves from the tops of the trees without doing other harm, and in a month left us." (This insect was the seventeen-year locust.)

The events which followed these strange occurrences not only justified the apprehensions of the old planters but also changed the course of history in the New World.

Thomas Matthews, of Cherry Point in Northumberland, also had a plantation, servants and cattle in Stafford County. His over-seer there had bargained with an Englishman, Robert Hen, to come "thither" and be herdsman of the Stafford flocks.

Robert Hen arrived in due course of time and made his habitation on the Stafford plantation.

On a Sunday morning in the summer of 1675, people on their way to church found Hen lying across his threshold, and an Indian lying in the dooryard--"both chopt on their heads, arms and other parts, as if done with Indian hatchetts, th' Indian was dead, but Hen when asked who did that? answered Doegs, Doegs, and soon died, and then a boy who came out from under a bed where he had hid himself, told them, Indians had come at break of day and done those murders."

"Ffrom this Englishman's bloud," wrote Matthews, "did (by degrees) arise Bacon's rebellion."

Matthews continues: "Of this horrid action Coll: Mason who commanded the militia regiment of ffoot & Capt. Brent[6] the troop of horse in that county ... having speedy notice raised 30, or more men, & pursu'd those Indians 20 miles up & 4 miles over that river into Maryland, where landing at dawn of day, they found two small paths ... each leader with his party took a separate path and in less than a furlong either found a cabin, which they (silently) surrounded. Capt. Brent went to the Doegs cabin (as it proved to be) who speaking the Indian tongue called to have a council ... such being the usual manner with Indians ... the king came trembling forth, and would have fled, when Capt. Brent, catching hold of his twisted lock (which was all the hair he wore) told him he was come for the murder of Rob't Hen, the king pleaded ignorance and slipt loos, whom Brent shot dead with his pistoll, th' Indians shot two or three guns out of the cabin, th' English shot into it, th' Indians throng'd out at the door and fled, the English shot as many as they could so that they killed ten ... and brought away the kings son of about 8 years old ... the noise of the shooting awaken'd the Indians in the cabin, which Coll: Mason had encompassed, who likewise rush'd out and fled, of whom his company (supposing from that noise of shooting Brent's party to be engaged) shot fourteen before an Indian came, who with both hands shook him (friendly) by one arm saying Susquehanoughs netoughs, meaning Susquehanoughs friends and fled. Whereupon Col: Mason ran amongst his men crying out for the Lords sake shoot no more, these are our friends the Susquehanoughs."

[Footnote 6: This was the second Giles Brent, who was half-Indian.]

This attack upon the friendly Susquehannocks was a very unfortunate and costly mistake. The incensed Indians took to the warpath and murders were committed in both Virginia and Maryland. A body of Virginia militia under the command of Colonel John Washington, Colonel George Mason and Major Allerton, all of the Northern Neck, crossed the Potomac after the Indians.

This warfare ended, after much bloodshed, with Bacon in command. The allied Indians were defeated and the once friendly Susquehannocks were anihilated. And it was in this way, with an army at his command, that Bacon established his power and became strong enough to fight Governor Berkeley.

Thus it was, according to Thomas Matthews, that Bacon's Rebellion started with the murder of Robert Hen in the Northern Neck.

_THE ROYAL CAVALCADE_

When Robert Carter of Corotoman, Lancaster County, dressed on Sunday mornings he had a choice of several dress swords and of several belts to hold them--there was the silken belt, the buff, and the one of tan leather which was both "genteel and strong." His coat was of velvet with lace choker and cuffs, and his satin shorts were fastened at the knees with silver buckles to match those on his shoes.

If he looked in the mirror, as a servant adjusted his wig, he saw a strong man of medium height with a plump clean-shaven face and dark eyes that observed everything but saw no humour in anything.

When Carter and his lady, equally as splendid, stepped outside their mansion, a coach was a-waiting them, with liveried servants to help them inside. The coach was a heavy, four-wheeled, enclosed vehicle with two seats facing each other, and it carried four or more passengers. Most likely it was painted in shades of yellow and green, or a subdued red, with the family crest or coat of arms painted on the doors.

The six matched horses which drew the coach were being held in check by the driver and the outriders. A chaise may have been waiting behind the coach for the older daughters and guests. The sons of the house, if they were old enough, were mounted and attended by servants on horseback, one for each gentleman. Other mounted servants with led horses may have brought up the rear, but it is doubtful, as the distance to be traveled was only three miles.

There must have been a great rumbling of wheels, creaking of saddle leather and clatter of hoofs when the cavalcade swung onto the road which led from Corotoman to Christ Church. The master had built the road high, drained by deep ditches, and bordered on both sides by closely set cedars. It was like a long formal alley.

When the churchyard came into view people could be seen waiting there. The procession came to a halt with noise and "a great to-do." The family alighted and the master led the way. At the church door he halted and drew a key from his vest pocket with which he unlocked the door. It was customary for gentlemen to remove their swords at the church door and place them in a rack provided for the purpose, but whether or not the head of the Carter family did so is not known.

The Carters entered the church and proceeded to their high boxed pews, where curtains on gilt rods screened them from the gaze of the congregation.

According to tradition, this bit of pageantry was put on by Robert (King) Carter every Sabbath, and the congregation, it was said, waited rain or shine in the churchyard until he came to unlock the door. If he chose to take a Sunday off, services were held in the churchyard, it was said.

Though it was the custom for the rector to sign the vestry minute book first and then the members in order of their rank, in Christ Church the Carters always signed first, tradition says.

King Carter was a vestryman at Christ Church. He wanted his children to belong to the Established Church--"As I am of the Church of England way so I desire they should be."

The first Christ Church had been built by John Carter, the immigrant, in 1669. The second Christ Church was built on the same site by King Carter in 1732.

_THE KING OF THE NORTHERN NECK_

Robert Carter was born to be a king among men. His fellow countrymen called him "King" and his real name was eventually forgotten. Like King Midas, everything that King Carter touched turned to gold, but in the case of the latter there was no magic in it--he planned it that way and worked to make his plans succeed.

Robert Carter was the second son of John, the immigrant and Indian fighter. His mother was Sarah Ludlow Carter, his father's fourth wife.

Robert Carter was born in 1663, at his father's plantation, Corotoman, in Lancaster County. The foundation had already been laid there for his future success. The immigrant Carter had done well. His plantation was orderly and successful and he had accumulated considerable wealth.

John Carter died when Robert was six years old, and the elder son inherited the bulk of the estate, as was the custom then according to the law of primogeniture and entail.

But John Carter did not forget Robert. He left instructions that his younger son should be well educated, specifying that "during his minority" he should have a man or youth servant bought for him. This servant was "not only to teach him his books ... but also to preserve him from harm and evil." He further specified that his son should learn both Latin and English. These instructions were followed and Robert's education was completed in England.

The elder brother soon died, without male heir, and the whole estate reverted to Robert. It was now up to him to carry on the family traditions.

Corotoman, a bee-hive of activity, was typical of the plantations of that day. It was like a village, which was dominated by the manor house. There were the cottages of the white indentured servants, the slaves' quarters, the barn and farm buildings, the spinning-house, the laundry-house, the milk-house. There were the shops of the artisans who manufactured and repaired the articles used on the plantation. There was a shop where boats were built. Corotoman had everything that it needed to make it a self-sustaining unit.

To the sloop-landing, near the mouth of Carter's Creek, ships came directly from foreign ports with cargoes of clothing, furniture and luxuries for the manor, and shoes and other necessities for the white serfs and negro slaves. These vessels went away loaded with tobacco and grain.

Robert Carter was aware of everything that went on at Corotoman and on his other plantations, not the smallest detail escaped him. He knew when a slave's shoes didn't fit, or when a servant's child needed medical attention. When his sons were in school in England he followed their progress by remote control and never let them forget that he was holding the purse-strings--"Mind your book," he wrote his son, Landon. He wanted them to have a classical education, a thorough understanding of Latin and English. He also wanted them to have religious training.

Robert Carter was a politician as well as a planter. He held every high office in the county and colony, and even acted as governor for more than a year.

But most of all, the land fascinated Robert Carter. He loved the rich virgin soil that would grow tobacco. It was the same thing as growing money. But in about three years time tobacco had worn out the soil and new fields must always be on tap in this tobacco game.

Carter's big opportunity came in 1702 when he was appointed as a land agent of the Northern Neck proprietary. He set up a land office at Corotoman and began to acquire lands for himself as well as for others. He had accumulated 20,000 acres by 1711, at which time he lost the agency to Thomas Lee, of Westmoreland.

In 1719 Carter regained the agency and again became the representative of the Fairfax interests in the Northern Neck. In 1726 he took an even bolder step by leasing the entire Northern Neck from the proprietor for a fixed rental of 450 pounds a year. Now he had the income from the quit-rents for the entire region.

When King Carter died in 1732, he owned 330,000 acres of land, a thousand slaves and 10,000 pounds sterling. The latter fact was remarkable because there was such a small amount of metallic money in the colony. He also left more than a hundred head of horses, over two thousand cattle and swine and several hundred sheep. These slaves and stock were scattered over his various plantations. His estate also included indentured servants, ships and nautical equipment, crops, farming equipment, cabins and mansions, furnishings, personal effects and a library of 521 volumes.

King Carter had done well for himself, and well for the proprietor. He had also opened up the back lands of the Northern Neck to settlers, which automatically forced the Indians back.

King Carter was a builder. He had a large brick kiln at Corotoman, which doubtless furnished the bricks for some of his homes and the church. He built a breakwater at Corotoman to save the waterfront from being washed away by tide and storm. It was made of huge rocks, probably brought as ballast in some of the ships. He dug a well at Corotoman and had it lined with stone. It was a far-cry from the early settlers' "spring near the door."

King Carter built a road from Corotoman to Lease-Land (Fredericksburg), a distance of almost a hundred miles. It was known as the King's Highway.

In everything that King Carter did he looked ahead. He was building for the future generations of his family. When he died he was the richest and most powerful man in Virginia. His given name had long since been forgotten. He was known to everyone in the Northern Neck as King Carter. He was laid to rest in the yard of Christ Church.

_KITH AND KIN_

There used to be an old saying--"everybody in the Northern Neck is kith and kin." This was almost a fact.

It all came about because in the early days the families of wealth and ability assumed leadership locally and in the Colonial Government. It was the custom of these families to intermarry in order to keep the power of wealth and influence within their own circle.

By the end of the eighteenth century it was hardly possible to find a prominent Northern Necker who was not "kin" to some other outstanding Virginian. This rigid rule of "keeping up the bars," as they called it, resulted in an aristocracy similar in many ways to the nobility of the Old World. This system accounts for the high political intelligence for which Tidewater Virginia was noted.

The marriages of King Carter's children illustrate this characteristic of colonial life in the Northern Neck, and in Virginia. King Carter married only twice but he had twelve children.

By his first wife, Judith Armistead, King Carter had four children, John, Elizabeth, Judith and Anne.

Judith died in 1699, and he married Elizabeth Landon Willis, a widow and daughter of Thomas Landon of England. She died in 1719. The best known of her eight children are Robert, Charles, Landon, Mary and Lucy.

Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, was married to Nathaniel Burwell. King Carter gave her Carter's Grove. After Burwell died she married George Nicholas. Judith married Mann Page of Rosewell, in Gloucester County. Anne married Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, on the James.

Mary married George Braxton of Newington, in King and Queen County. Lucy married Colonel Henry Fitzhugh of Eagle's Nest, in Stafford County, on the Potomac.

John became a barrister in the Middle Temple, London, and married Elizabeth Hill of Shirley, on the James. Robert settled on the plantation of Nomini, on the Potomac. He married Priscilla, the daughter of William Churchill, a member of the Council.

Charles married three times--Mary Walker, Anne, daughter of William Byrd of Westover, and Lucy Taliaferro. His home was Cleve on the Rappahannock.

Landon's home was Sabine Hall, on the Rappahannock. He married three times--an Armistead of Hesse, a Byrd of Westover and a Wormeley of Rosegill.