History of Pope's Creek (Virginia)

History of Pope's Creek (Virginia)

Popes Creek is a small tidal tributary stream of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The George Washington Birthplace National Monument lies in Popes Creek's estuary.

Variant names

The following variant names for the creek have been listed:

History

A patent for convert|1200|acre|km2 was issued on February 24, 1643, to Edward Murfey and John Vaughan. It is said to be the first patent for land that became Westmoreland County. It bounded on the “Easternmost side of Cedar Island Creek.” The name is suggestive of the several little islands that dominate the mouth of the creek.

Governor Berkeley’s treaty of peace after the end of the 1646 War with Opechancanough prohibited all emigration to the north side of the Rappahannock River. This restriction was repealed in 1648, and immigrants poured in from England, Maryland, New England, and previously settled portions of Virginia. [Tyler, 28] Hercules Bridges, Henry Brooks and Nathaniel Pope were the early patentees of the Mattox Neck area (of three creeks, Mattox, Bridges, Popes) destined to become part of Westmoreland County.

The Henry Brooks patent of 1657, reissue 1662, included convert|1020|acre|km2 bounded: “on the northwest side to a marked corner hickory with a creeke [unnamed Bridges] that divideth this land and the land now in possession of Daniel Lisson on the northeast side with potomack river on the southeast side with the Creeke [unnamed Popes] dividing this land from the land of Colo. Nathaniel Pope to a marked red oake on the southwest thence with a line of marked trees running west and northwest 60 poles northwest half a point more westerly 310 poles and west northwest somewhat more westerly 140 poles to the aforementioned hiccory and place.”

Col. William Underwood had died by 11 Mar 1662/3 when Margaret & Mary Williamson, daughters of James & Ann [Underwood] Williamson, patented 882 A in Old Rappahannock Co VA "between some of the head branches of Pepetick Cr. & head branches of Mr. POPES Cr., beg. nigh Rappa path &c. to the head of land of Silvester Thatcher & Thomas Whitlock, thence NW &c. upon land of Tho. Wright &c. Granted to William Underwood, Gent., 10 Sep 1658 & given to the above named by the last will of said Underwood." [Nugent, 429]

Henry Brooks toward the end of life (1662) subdivided the patent into smaller tracts, one to Nicholas Saxton mentions the Abbingtons, a key family holding later added to the expanding Washington land, a deed of June 1660 for 40 acres: “Southeast with Popes Creeke beginning at a marked read oak standing on the said creeke side extending by a line of marked trees that parts the forty Acres from the land of David Whitley northwest seventy two poles unto a marked white oak thence southwest 88 poles unto a [unnamed Dancing] swamp that parts the said land from the land of Laurence Abington thence southwest down the said swamp unto the aforementioned Creeke to the place where it began.” This area later became known as Duck Hall. [Hatch, 18,19,20,23]

The Pope Family

Nathaniel Pope is first mentioned as one of the twenty-four freeman of the "Grand Inquest" in Maryland in 1637 and in the Assembly afterward. He affixed a mark to his writings. In 1643 he and his nine menial servants were exempted from military service. He was sent as an agent by Governor Leonard Calvert [Steiner, p. 68] to Kent Island in 1647, and attempted, as charged, to persuade the rebels against the Proprietary there to come and live at Mattox Neck until they should become strong enough to seize the land again. [Tyler, 30] After removing from Maryland, Nathaniel Pope, in 1651, patented convert|1050|acre|km2 in Old Northumberland between two large creeks; one would bear his name. At Mattox Creek he built dwellings, warehouses, and docks for the merchant trade with England including the port of Bristol. He shipped beaver, tobacco with caske, and raw materials; and he imported English manufactured goods. He settled the argument between John Washington and shipping partner Edward Prescott by paying off the senior officer in Beaver skins at eight shillings per pound. [Hatch, 2] In 1655 he was made Lieutenant-Colonel in the militia. His wife was named Luce and they had: 1, Anne, who married John Washington; 2, Margaret, who married William Hardwich; 3, Thomas; 4, Nathaniel. [Humphries, 5] The elder Nathaniel was among the county's wealthiest residents at his death in 1660 when he left The Clifts tract to his son Thomas. [ [http://www.chesapeakearchaeology.org/SiteSummaries/CliftsSummary.htm Archaeological Study Clifts Plantation] ] The Pope and Washington families were bound by more than blood, county documents are filled with their business and legal ties. The will of John Washington bequeaths 1000 pounds sterling to his brother-in-law Thomas Pope. [Harland, 31]

Thomas Pope, a "planter of Westmoreland" and "merchant of Bristol," died in Bristol, leaving a wife, Joanna, and sons, Thomas, Richard, Charles, John, and Nathaniel. [Humphries, 5] Later, Justice of Westmoreland, Lawrence Washington “refused to give his Judgmnt” on this estate (Will dated September 3, 1684) because he and his father John were trustees of “said Estate.” [Hatch, 8] On February 28, 1710, Joanna Pope, of Bristol, authorized Thomas Wills, merchant, and Nathaniel Pope, mariner, to dispose of the plantation known as "the Clifts". The letter of attorney describes her son as "Nathanial Pope of Pope's Creek." This Nathaniel, appeared in the county's records for the first time in 1704 when he married the daughter of a Westmoreland Justice of the Peace, William Pierce. In 1716, Joanna and son Richard Pope sold the Clifts, including what was referred to in the deed as “the manner house erected on the second”; to Thomas Lee. Even as the Popes and Washingtons had circulated among the members of Westmoreland County's political gentry, Lee's family had made their name known throughout the colony of Virginia for two generations. In the year 1729, Lee lived at his father's plantation on Lower Machodoc Creek, when the dwelling burned down. After that he erected the brick mansion, now known as Stratford Hall, on the Clifts tract about a quarter mile from the original site. Thomas Lee became a member of the Governor's Council and served as acting governor of the colony in 1749 [ [http://www.chesapeakearchaeology.org/SiteSummaries/CliftsSummary.htm Archaeological Study Clifts Plantation] ] when William Gooch returned to England.

Mary (Sisson) Pope, alias Bridges, gave a calf to her son Nathaniel Pope, alias Bridges, in 1675. As Mary Nicholas, widow of Lewis Nicholas, she made presents in 1677 to her son Nathaniel Pope, alias Bridges, and to her son Lewis Nicholas. She married again, Daniel Whitley, who promised to keep her children "so farre at school as to write and reade". Mary Nicholas refers to her brother and sister, Captain Daniel Sisson and Jane, his wife. The will of John Rosier (will, September-October,1705) leaves land to Nathaniel Pope, clerk of Stafford and practitioner at law; and the rest of the estate is given to his wife, Mary Rosier, who was Mary Pope, alias Bridges. [Tyler, 37]

Two Nathaniel Popes were in the same area around the year 1700, both grandsons of the original patentee. Nathaniel alias Bridges (through the early death of Nathaniel II) [Humphries, 6] was an established Westmoreland attorney in 1705, guardian of Nathaniel Washington in 1708, while the mariner Nathaniel was first recorded as married in 1704. They are further connected when Nathaniel alias Bridges’ son John married his cousin Elizabeth (Pierce) Pope, daughter of the mariner/merchant Nathaniel, [Humphries, 8] making the identification by alias significant. This identifies the Pope family artifact unearthed at George Washington’s birthplace, a wine bottle seal marked "N. Pope 1715," as belonging to Nathaniel alias Bridges. Jane Brooks (Higdon) Brown was the sister of Lydia Abbington. [Hatch, 150] Her daughter Jane married Nathaniel Pope alias Bridges about 1690. [Humphries, 8] The son of Nathaniel and Jane (Brown) Pope is listed as John Pope, “Planter” in 1728 when Augustine Washington purchased his mill “for 60 Pounds current Virginia money two acres with the appurtenances together with the mill thereon erected & built scituate [several miles upstream] at the head of Popes Creek.” Augustine added to the property the road called "Lord’s rolling road," the descriptive terminology derived from rolling hogsheads of tobacco down to the Potomac, The mill would remain in the Washington family until after the Civil War. [Hatch, 38]

The Washington Family

The area in the 17th century could boast at least two progenitors of future Presidents of the United States, John Washington and Andrew Monroe. They were involved in a legal dispute in 1664 between Richard Cole and David Anderson in which “Major Washington [now a member of the Westmoreland Court] did not sitt or vote in this order.” He evidently had vested interests in the property and purchased the court ordered Anderson settlement acreage a few months later. “A Jury of the neighbourhood” or “any twelve” of the fifteen listed was seated. [Hatch, 25] Possibly no love was lost between Cole and Washington, the former calling the latter, one of the “companie of Caterpillar fellowes” who “live upon my bills of export.” This is the same Cole who declared "he had formerly a better man (than Gov. Berkeley) for his pimpe.” [Tyler, 30]

The aforementioned will of John Washington who died in 1677 gave four thousand weight of tobacco to the rector of the church with orders that a tablet of the Ten Commandments be set up as his memorial stone. [Harland, 31] John had followed his father’s religious upbringing and was elected to the parish vestry in 1661. In May of 1664 the name of the parish was changed from Appomattox to Washington in his honor, being bounded from “upper Marchoticke downward to ye foote of ye westernmost side of Mr. Popes Cliffes.” [Hatch, 3] Augustine Washington moved from his Bridges Creek inheritance to Popes Creek in 1718 according to the February 18 deed of lease that described his new property as: “all that one hundred & fifty acres of land situate in the said County of Westmoreland aforesd and bounded viz. Beginning at a marked hickory on the head of the dancing marsh and so running down the said line to Popes Creek thence up the said Creek to the line of Nathaniel Washington and then up that line to include the aforesd One hundred & fifty acres of land which was given [by Henry Brookes] to Lawrence Abbington & his daughter Lydia together.” [Hudson, 12]

George Washington only lived at Pope’s Creek to age 3, but returned in his teenage years to stay with his half-brother Austin after the death of their father and made an early survey drawing of the area when only 15 years old. The first stake inland of the Berry survey in 1742 to clarify land lines on Popes Creek was reportedly in the adjacent cornfield of John Muse. On the opposite side of the creek at the point directly across from Longwood Swamp is the area now called Muses Beach. On May 24, 1768, George Washington wrote in his notes: “Came up to Popes Creek and staid there all day” and the next day went to “Brother Sam’s” for dinner. On May 26, 1771, he “proceeded to Mrs. Washington’s of Popes Creek in the afternoon.” On the 27th he “stayd there all day,” visiting with Austin’s widow and family. The first use of the name, Wakefield, for the family mansion is recorded in 1773 in a letter from Richard Henry Lee to his brother William in December stating, “Mrs. Washington of Wakefield” was dead. An advertisement in the Virginia Gazette of June 2, 1774 read: "To be SOLD at the plantation of the late Mrs. Anne [Aylett] Washington, of Popes creek on Wednesday the 6th of June next. The personal estate thereunto belonging, consisting of considerable stocks of horses, cattle, hogs, and sheep; likewise all the household and kitchen furniture. Twelve months credit will be allowed, on giving bond, with approved security, to Burdit Ashton, executor. At the same time and place will be sold, a very good CHARIOT, with a new set of harness for four horses, belonging to the said estate."

According to family tradition, Mrs. Washington's son, "Colo. W. Aug W. ...was living at the birthplace in 1779 that on Christmas Day he had a company of neighbors and he with others returning from a ride at midday was first to discover the roof in a blaze, that the contents of the house were for the most part saved, a severe frost prevailing at the time enabled him to haul the furniture with oxen across Popes Creek on the ice to be sheltered in a house on Smiths Hill then owned by Daniel Macarty; and that the supposition as to the origin of the fire was that a spark from the chimney had blown through the garret window to a pile of cotton in the seed drying in the garret." Wakefield was never rebuilt and in William Augustine's will of July 12, 1810, the property was described as "the Burnt house plantation and the Islands and Marsh in the Creek belonging to me." [Hatch, 40,55,61,62,63]

Other Families

*Indentured PersonsThe Virginia Gazette for June 9, 1738, carried an advertisement that read: “Ran away from Capt. McCarty’s Plantation, on Popes Creek, in Westmoreland County, a servant man belonging to me [Augustine Washington] , the Subscriber, in Prince William County; his Christian name is John, but Sir-name forgot, is pretty tall, a Bricklayer by Trade, and is a Kentishman; he came into Potomack, in the Forward, Capt. Major, last year… whoever will secure the said Bricklayer, so that he may be had again, shall have Five Pounds Reward, besides what the Law allows paid by Augustine Washington.” [Hatch, 35]
*Bowdens of Popes CreekAccording to Afro-American genealogist Anita Wills, Mary and Patty, mother and daughter, were a family of Mulattoes who served 30 year indentures under the laws of Colonial Virginia. The laws were aimed at the mixed-race children of white women. Mary or Mol was connected to the Monroe and Chilton families and may have been forced into court and indenture in 1737 at age seven by Augustine Washington, Sr. [Wills, 124] The Washington Plantation also housed about seventy-five slaves. Like slavery, Mary and Patty's indentures as Free Persons of Color were forced, different from the voluntary indentures served by Europeans. Mary ran away several times after the birth of Patty circa 1750 and was retrieved by Augustine Jr. according to the 1758 court records: “Mary Bowden a Molatto Servant was brought to face the Court & Ordered to Serve her Master Augustine Washington Gent. his heirs and assigns four Years Six Months & The? days for two years Runaway time & two fees? to be Expended in taking of her up after her Indented time is expired.” [ Westmoreland County Orders 1758-1761 29 August 1758 p.1a]

*Spencers of Cople Parish, WestmorelandCol. Nicholas Spencer, member of the House of Burgesses, Secretary and President of the Council and later acting Governor (1683-1684) of the Virginia colony, was the first settler of the name in Westmoreland County. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=9jASAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA55&dq=%22cople+parish%22+westmoreland+spencer&ei=sd7KSOHtF5qktAPRwcDXDA William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. XVII, Richmond, 1909] ] Spencer was an agent for his cousins, the Lords Culpepper, owners of extensive grants in the colony. Westmoreland's Cople Parish, the Anglican parish which embraced half the county, was named in honor of Spencer and his birthplace, Cople, Bedfordshire, England. Spencer purchased the land that is now Mount Vernon with his friend Lt. Col. John Washington of Westmoreland. In his will of April 1688, Spencer styles himself "of Nominy in Westmoreland Co. in Virginia." [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=hkwwKWvozdQC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=%22nicholas+spencer%22+nomini&source=web&ots=OTEAljDpYn&sig=6SFHz0yIKc7UXAFBmz-OqmAnUFI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA67,M1 Will of Nicholas Spencer, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, H.F. Waters, The New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1891] ]

Wills of Westmoreland County
*Lawrence Pope was the son of Humphrey Pope who was a transported immigrant from England engaged by Major John Washington and Thomas Pope who received convert|1200|acre|km2 on 5 September 1661, for transplanting 24 such persons, [Nugent, 449] 50 acres per headright.

Pope, Lawrence, 23 March 1723; 10 May 1723, Washington Parish.Land I live on to sons Humphrey, Thomas, and John; Thomas land in CopleParish; John land at Pope’s Creek; dau. Elizabeth 1 negro and furniture; dau. Ann1 negro and furniture; dau. Mary 1 negro and furniture; dau Jemima Spence1 negro woman; dau. Penelope 1 negro etc. dau. Catherine 1 negro; James son ofBenj. Waddey; godson John son of Nicholas Minor 1 mare; wife Jemima; bro.Humphrey Pope and bro. Nicholas Minor 33 shillings gold for rings; wife and sonHumphrey exrs; to children horses, cattle, household goods. [Fothergill, 74]

*Steel, John, 16 March 1735; 28 July 1736.Son John; Sarah Steel; sons Richard and Thomas; daus. Margaret, Mary,Elizabeth; son Charles; wife Margaret. Land on Popes Creek. [Fothergill, 102]

*Robert Vaulx’s father, also Robert, had a large holding of convert|6000|acre|km2, often called Vaulxland. [Tyler, 42]

Vaulx, Robert Capt., 39 Nov. 1721; 5 Dec. 1721.Land to sons Robert and James; my wife and three children (third childun-named) residue of estate; land at head of Popes Creek; my wife, AugustineWashington and Richard Kenner exrs. [Fothergill, 75]

*Field, Daniel, 17 April 1720; * * July 1720.2 plantations and 1 negro to dau. Joyce Hudson; Emma Price; sons Abrahamand Henry my still and worm; son Henry 50 acres of land and the land in thefork of Rappahannock River to Abraham and Henry; son John Wheeler exr; EvanPrice land in Stafford county; son Daniel Field land on Popes Creek. [Fothergill, 71]

*Worden, John, Physician, 17 Jan. 1714; 31 October 1716.½ estate to Godson Worden Pope; friend Nathaniel Pope and Joseph Weeksother half of estate; Jane wife of Nathaniel Pope. [Fothergill, 59]

*Hemmings, Joseph, (Nuncupative) 25 June 1718; 10 July 1718.To godson John Jones a suit of clothes and a hat; Mrs. Jane Pope a reading glass;wife Elizabeth residue of estate. [Fothergill, 66]

Postscript

Burial Ground: Jane Butler Washington; b. 24 October 1699, d. 24 September 1729.
Here lyes ye Body of JANE
Wife of Augustine Washington
Born at Popes Creek Virginia
Westmorelnd ye 24th Xber
1699 & died ye 24th of 9ber 1729
Who left behind her two sons & one daughter. [Hatch, 75]
The land comprising the Popes Creek plantation was sold by the Washington family on October 13, 1813, but returned in a sense in 1867 when John E. Wilson who married Betty, the granddaughter of William Augustine, took possession. [Paullin, 75] Dr. F.O. St. Clair’s investigations and survey of a proposed memorial site in 1882 was an effort to secure the “entire neck of land bounded by Pope’s Creek on two sides and a marsh on the third side” – 11 acres and a convert|100|ft|m|sing=on right-of-way “to Bridge Creek Landing,” including the "Burying Ground and Potomac River beyond." The result was 21 acres purchased from John E. Wilson on July 10, 1883, by the federal government. The sustained effort for a national monument on Pope’s Creek had begun to take shape. [Hatch, 72]


See also

*List of Virginia rivers

Notes

References

*cite book|last=Fothergill|first=Augusta|title=Wills of Westmoreland County 1654-1800|year=1925|publisher=Clearfield|location=Richmond, VA|pages=229 (1973)|isbn=0806305789
*cite book|last=Harland|first=Marion|title=The Story of Mary Washington|year=1893|publisher=The Riverside Press|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=171|isbn=
*cite book|last=Hatch|first=Charles|title=Popes Creek Plantation, Birthplace of George Washington|year=1979|publisher=National Park Service|location=Washington's Birthplace, VA 22575|pages=173|isbn=0-934146-00-4
*cite book|last=Hudson|first=Paul|title=George Washington Birthplace National Monument Virginia|year=1956|publisher=National Park Service Historical Handbook Series No. 26|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=44|isbn=
*cite book|last=Humphries|first=John|title=Georgia Descendants of Nathaniel Pope of Virginia, John Humphries of South Carolina and Allen Gay of North Carolina|year=1934|publisher=Atlanta GA|location=|pages=pp. 5-8|isbn=
*cite book|last=Nugent|first=Nell|title=Cavaliers and Pioneers. Abstracts of Virginia Land Patents and Grants, 1623-1666. Vol. 1|year=1934|publisher=The Library of Virginia|location=Richmond, VA 23219|pages=767|isbn= 9780806302645
*cite book|last=Paullin|first=Charles|title=The Birthplace of George Washington|year=1933|publisher=Carnegie Institution of Washington, News Service Bulletin—School Edition, Volume III, No. 10|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=74-75|isbn=
*cite book|last=Steiner|first=Bernard|title=Maryland During the English Civil Wars, Part II|year=1907|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Studies, XXV, Nos. 4-5|location=Baltimore, MD|pages=118|isbn=
*cite book|last=Tyler|first=Lyon|title=Washington and His Neighbors|year=1895|publisher= William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 4, No. 1.|location=Williamsburg, VA|pages=pp. 28-43|isbn=
*cite book|last=Wills|first=Anita|title=Notes and Documents of Free Persons of Color |year=2003|publisher=|location=|pages=292|isbn=1411603338

External links

* [http://www.nps.gov/gewa/index.htm George Washington Birthplace National Monument official website]
* [http://www.northernneck.com/northernneck.asp History of the Northern Neck]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pope's Creek (Virginia) — For Pope s Creek in Charles County, Maryland, see Pope s Creek, Maryland. Popes Creek is a small tidal tributary stream of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The George Washington Birthplace National Monument lies in Popes Creek… …   Wikipedia

  • Pope's Creek (Maryland) — For Pope s Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia, see Pope s Creek, Virginia. Pope s Creek is a stream in Charles County, Maryland a tributary of the Potomac River. Power Plant The Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) built the two coal units… …   Wikipedia

  • List of rivers of Virginia — This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Virginia.By Drainage BasinThis list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries alphabetically indented under each larger stream s name. =Eastern Shore= *Pocomoke River *Machipongo… …   Wikipedia

  • History of Georgia (U.S. state) — The History of Georgia spans Pre Columbian time to the present day.PrehistoryBefore European contact, Native American cultures are divided into four time periods: Paleoindian, Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian. The Mississippian culture,… …   Wikipedia

  • History of North Carolina — This article is about the history of the U.S. state of North Carolina. For information on the state today, see North Carolina. Map of the coast of Virginia and North Carolina, drawn 1585–1586 by Theodor de Bry, based on map by John White of the… …   Wikipedia

  • History of Louisville, Kentucky — The history of Louisville, Kentucky spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the area s unique geography and location.Pre settlement history (pre 1778)Although Kentucky was inhabited by Native Americans in prehistoric times, when white …   Wikipedia

  • History of the United States (1849–1865) — The History of the United States (1849 1865) included the American Civil War and the turbulent years leading up to it, which included many events that were critical in its origins.The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought the issues raised by the… …   Wikipedia

  • History of Minnesota — Fort Snelling played a pivotal role in Minnesota s history and in development of nearby Minneapolis and Saint Paul The history of the U.S. state of Minnesota is shaped by its original Native American residents, European exploration and settlement …   Wikipedia

  • Alexandria, Virginia — City of Alexandria   Independent city   Alexandria s skyline as seen from the parking deck of the Huntington Metro station …   Wikipedia

  • John Pope (General) — John Pope (* 16. März 1822 in Louisville, Kentucky; † 23. September 1892 in Sandusky, Ohio) war General der United States Army. Während des Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieges führte Pope im ersten Kriegsjahr Truppen auf dem westlichen Kriegsschauplatz… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”