| Located on the
north bank of the James River in Charles City
Co., Virginia, Westover estate is one of the
oldest plantations on the river. Its original
land patent was issued to Captain Thomas Paulett
brother to the first Lord Paulett, who was born
about 1585 and came to Virginia in the Neptune in
1618. He appeared in the first American Assembly
at Jamestown on 30 July 1619 and was a
representative from Argall's Guifte. He and his
servant John Trussell, were among the sixty-one
inhabitants after the 1622 massacre where
"thirty-one persons fell beneath the
tomahawk at West and Shirley Hundred." As the last representative
of Westover as a "distinct hundred" in
the House of Burgesses in 1632, Paulett became
owner of the estate and received a patent from
the governor for 2,000 acres of the plantation
called Westover on 15 Jan 1637. Upon his death in
January 1641, he left his possessions in Virginia
to his brother, the first Lord Paulett, whose
son, the second lord, sold the Westover property
of 1,200 acres for £170 to Theodrick, son of
John Bland on 17 April 1665. In 1688, after the
Indians had killed one of William Byrd's servants
and carried off two others, Byrd purchased of
Theodoric and Richard Bland, for £300 sterling
and ten thousand pounds of tobacco, two thousand
acres which included Westover.
Byrd, who was
founder of Richmond, built the mansion around
1730, but a portion of the home was destroyed by
fire in 1749 when a housekeeper left her posset
simmering on a brasier of hot coals. It was,
however, rebuilt by Byrd's grandson exactly as it
was before and is noted for its secret passages,
magnificent gardens, and superb example of
Georgian architect. It stands today and as a
tribute to the early American families and is
recognized by the National Park Service.
Although the home
is not open to the public, the grounds and garden
are open daily. There, about a quarter of a mile
from the home and near the bank of the river, is
the family graveyard where the remains of Captain
William Byrd, the immigrant and Mary his wife,
Colonel William Byrd II and Evelyn his daughter,
Theodric Bland and others have been laid to their
rest.
|
- The Genesis
of the United States: A Narrative of the
Movement in England by Alexander Brown
1890, Houghton, Mifflin, & Co.
- The Majors
& Their Marriages by James Branch
Cabell, 1915
- Colonial
Churches of Charles City Co., Virginia by
George Carrington Mason (William &
Mary Quarterly, 2d series; 1942
- The Westover
Estate by John R. Chapin, 1871
- Title of
Westover by Lyon G. Tyler (The William
and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 3 (Jan.,
1896)
Note: Charles City
county, where Westover is located, extended on
both sides of the James River, from James City
county on the east to Henrico county on the west;
and Charles City, itself, was established in
about 1612 or 1613 as a place of "retreat
against any forraigne enemy", on the south
bank of the Appomattox River.
Note: The early
plantations of Colonial Virginia were called
Hundreds and did not consist of one hundred
acres. They were, instead, representative of an
old Norman term used to divide England into
administrative units which had been sized to
provide one hundred soldiers upon command. The
settlements in Virginia were sized similarly, but
divided by the amount of land sufficient to
sustain one hundred persons or family - which
included women and children.
Note: Headquarters
to the Union's 5th Corps, Westover Plantation is
near Harrison's Landing, the final supply point
for McClellan's Peninsula Campaign.
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