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Ties to a Founding Father – Part IV
Epilogue
In the early 1800s, Thomas Nelson, Jr.’s legacy took a new turn. A growing movement of American nationalism began to view historical accomplishments with pride, and a prevailing sentiment was that
Nelson was one revolutionary hero who had not only been slighted but had also received unwarranted injury. Not even the searching report of the auditors and treasurer in 1832, which denied that the state owed the family anything, destroyed this view.[1]
The nature of the society of the eighteenth-century gentry influenced Nelson’s commitment to public service. He lived within an aristocracy of “hospitable, gracious, and generous individuals”[2] who encouraged men like Nelson to help their country. Emory Evans writes,
Thomas Nelson was certainly among the best of the Virginia leadership. He epitomized much that was good in Virginia society, and as the Revolution approached and wore on he gave more and more time to public affairs.[3]
Evans reminds us, however, that
. . . it was not just the concept of public service that moved Nelson to devote an abnormal amount of time to the public. He also wanted to protect the political institutions that he considered the best in the world . . . that provided the foundation for a freer, better way of life.[4]
Nelson’s exceptional public service during the Revolution sets him apart from the collective elite. Ironically, his “achievements are obscured by the memory of his financial losses.”[5]
Nelson’s legacy remains shrouded, but the Commonwealth of Virginia has honored him by placing a bronze statue on the Washington Monument in Richmond’s Capitol Square.
Nelson Statue on Washington Monument in Richmond, erected February 12, 1858
J.A.C. Chandler observes, “Virginians will never forget the sacrifices that Nelson made for his country.”[6]. Nelson’s statue, labeled “Finance,” stands alongside the following Virginia patriots, whose roles in the Revolution are exemplified in this monument with allegorical figures depicting their individual contributions: George Washington (equestrian figure perched on top of the monument), Andrew Lewis (“Colonial Times”), Thomas Jefferson (“Independence”), Patrick Henry (“Revolution”), George Mason (“Bill of Rights”), and John Marshall (“Justice”).
In 1968 the National Park Service (NPS) acquired and continued to restore the Nelson House, signaling a renewed interest in the life of Thomas Nelson, Jr. At that time, the house was void of furnishings. However, in past decades the NPS has acquired several items, although not original to the house, to help restore the home to its eighteenth-century appearance. The NPS also offers tours of the Nelson House for the public. The Page-Nelson Society, The Virginia Historical Society, and the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Inc. also continue to play a major role in accelerating public interest by collecting and publishing Nelson letters and other important papers, publishing books, and conducting seminars and lectures. A number of filmmakers have expressed an interest in making a movie about Nelson, namely Frank Frost Productions Inc. and NutGraf Productions, LLC. Denise Kiernan and Joe D’Agnese from NutGraf are currently producing Revolutionary Road Trip—a documentary featuring the lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence.[7]
Below is a video presentation about Thomas Nelson
Compliments of the
The Revolutionary Road Trip website.
Please turn on your speakers and use the horizontal scroll bar to
center the presentation on your display.
To view the video, click on the Thomas Nelson picture/link
directly below the statement:
“A closer look at some of our stories…”
in the lower right hand corner of our preview window.
Use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars to center content.
With rekindled awareness, Nelson must take his place among the prominent American patriots.
Finally, I dedicate this blog series to my late mother, Mary Winston Nelson Fisher, who sparked my interest in Thomas Nelson, Jr.
[1] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Chandler, J.A.C., Makers of Virginia History. New York: Silver, Burdett and Company, 1904.
[7] Kiernan, Denise and Joe D’Agnese. Revolutionary Road Trip. NutGraf Productions, LLC, 2009 http://www.revolutionaryroadtrip.com/trailers.html.
Ties to a Founding Father – Part III
History has not dealt adequately with Thomas Nelson. He is not remembered as a major political figure in Virginia during the era of the American Revolution.[1]
Emory G. Evans, noted Nelson scholar and history professor, captures in the quotation above the correct assessment of Nelson’s legacy in his complete and thoroughly researched account of Nelson’s life entitled Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Evans argues:
He was one of the most important of Virginia’s revolutionary leaders; he has to be considered in the same category as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton.[2]
In the Summer 2004 edition of the Page-Nelson Society Newsletter, Mary Claycomb points out that recent scholars refer to Thomas Nelson, Jr. as:
the Signer, placing him among the founding fathers, and, thereby, . . . raising him above the military rank and civic function and confirming him as one of the more courageous visionaries of his time.[3]
As part of a family that amassed notable achievements, Thomas Nelson, Jr. was no exception. In my previous blog I described his many crucial contributions and sacrifices to support the Revolutionary War—both financial and personal. Yet, why he is not recognized in the same company as other well-known patriots and statesmen is a mystery that sparked my curiosity. On numerous trips to Williamsburg, Virginia to conduct research for my masters thesis on Nelson while at George Mason University, I was even more aware of this fact as I visited various museums and points of interest. When I inquired about material on Thomas Nelson, Jr., the response I most often met was “Who was he?”
Nelson’s legacy remains unclear. Many accounts describe how he is remembered, and how history evaluates and distorts his contributions and the strength of his commitment to freedom from Great Britain. After he resigned as governor in 1781, criticism that would lay the foundation for his memory began to surround Nelson, and would remain in his shadow until and after his death in 1789. The perception would not easily be absolved.
Simultaneously, accolades amassed, and when combined with controversy, further blurred the picture of a man whose life should have been commemorated solely on sacrifices made for the good of the country. Further complications lay in loss of wealth and an early death, which translated into reduced stature and hastened obscurity from the public. Evans suggests that the dwindling Nelson fortune helped create his misleading reputation. Loss of wealth equaled loss of prestige: “fortunes have been commonly shortlived in America”[4] and having been a very wealthy family “it was not easy, either economically or socially, to experience so rapid a decline.”[5]
The cause of the decline, they believed, was not a reflection of talent, but rather that “their distinguished forbear had been poorly used by an ungrateful country.”[6] Nelson heirs, Evans points out, petitioned the legislature for twenty years to receive compensation for Nelson’s financial sacrifices: “The family knew that an injustice of some sort had been committed.”[7] To redeem Nelson financially would not only restore his fame and bring him out of anonymity, but would also enhance the Nelsons’ fortune and restore their former status.
Notoriety from Scandal Surrounding Patrick Henry and the Decius Letters
An unfortunate situation tainted Nelson’s legacy following his attempts to obtain reimbursement for funds he spent from his own pocket to support the Revolutionary War. Evans explains that Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia from 1784-86, opposed the ratification of Virginia’s Constitution. His position was met with a “violent political attack” presented in correspondence published in Decius’s Letters on the Opposition to the New Constitution in Virginia. Henry was accused of profiting financially from his political position and appointing one of his friends (purportedly David Ross) as commissioner of public stores. The author claimed that Ross filed fraudulent claims to obtain state funds with the help of friends in the Assembly,
while one of the truest patriots in America, at the same time, was ruined for want of a bare reimbursement of what he had actually advanced out of his own private fortune for the promotion of our independence .[8]
In 1784 the Assembly recommended that both claims be paid. Ross was paid a sum of £6,000 but Nelson received nothing; furthermore, the state provided no explanation for its refusal to pay him. Evans cautions, however, about the validity of the circumstances, but underscores the crucial point that the damage to Nelson had been done:
. . . Ross was not in the Assembly at this time, nor is there any indication that his claim was fraudulent. And there is no evidence that Henry was involved in the affair. But the suspicion of collusion remains because none of Henry’s defenders, who answered a wide variety of other charges, denied it.[9]
Tributes
Nelson was the subject of glowing tributes from George Washington and Colonel James Innes (appointed to take temporary charge of Nelson’s militia forces when the general suffered a severe cold).[10] Shortly after the battle of Yorktown, which gave the finishing stroke to the war, Nelson received the following expression of thanks from General Washington:
The general would be guilty of the highest ingratitude, a crime of which he hopes shall never be accused, if he forgot to return his sincere acknowledgments to his excellency Governor Nelson, for the succours which he received from him, and the militia under his command, to whose activity, emulation, and bravery, the highest praises are due. The magnitude of the acquisition will be ample compensation for the difficulties and dangers which they met with so much firmness and patriotism.[11]
The following is an excerpt from a tribute authored by Colonel Innes after Nelson’s death in 1789:
He who undertakes barely to recite the exalted virtues which adorned the life of this great and good man, will unavoidably pronounce a panegyric on human nature. As a man, a citizen, a legislator, and a patriot, he exhibited a conduct untarnished and undebased by sordid or selfish interest, and strongly marked with the genuine characteristics of true religion, sound benevolence, and liberal policy. Entertaining the most ardent love for civil and religious liberty, he was among the first of that glorious band of patriots whose exertions dashed and defeated the machinations of British tyranny, and gave United America freedom and independent empire.[12]
Distorted Legacy
Evans agrees that Nelson’s image and legacy became distorted over time. He argues that Nelson fell into obscurity, as explained in the following quote:
The demands placed on Nelson by his private affairs and his persistent ill health meant that he did not devote so much time to public life after 1781—it was impossible for him to do so. His public exposure was limited and he was not involved, in a major way, in the completion of independence. Nelson faded from public view—a process that was probably hastened by his dwindling fortune. His comparatively early death completed the process.[13]
Nelson’s troubles with the government did not end with exculpation and accolades. Although the state indemnified Nelson, they refused to repay him, thus precluding a fuller understanding of the scope of Nelson’s sacrifices and the impact those sacrifices made on him financially and personally.
Historian Mark M. Boatner leaves no doubt about Nelson’s commitment to and financial support for the Revolution. He points out that Nelson’s skills were mandatory for conducting the campaign: the conflict may have produced a far different outcome without his leadership. Boatner writes:
. . . he was elected to succeed the militarily inept Thomas Jefferson and given emergency powers. . . . During the six months of his governorship Nelson was virtually a military dictator, which was precisely what the state needed at this period.[14]
Boatner further explains that despite the reap of Nelson’s personal fortune that ultimately left him poor,
he struggled to raise the men and supplies to support La Fayette’s Expedition, and when Washington and Rochambeau marched south the governor-general was in the field to join them for the kill.[15]
Nelson had been:
obliged to use all means and all possible resources, either to assist Monsieur de La Fayette . . . or to furnish George Washington with the horses, wagons, and provisions which he needed most urgently.[16]
Yet, despite Nelson’s personal commitment and monetary sacrifices, Boatner paints a more unfortunate picture of his legacy as shown in the following excerpt:
It does no honor to Virginia to add that the only recompense he earned by all his labors was the hatred of a great part of his fellow citizens, and that . . . he experienced neither the satisfaction of being freed from servitude, nor that emulation which success generally inspires; but instead . . . he found great dissatisfaction arising from the fact that their horses, wagons, and forage had frequently been “pressed.” Those laws and customs which would have been wiped out had the state been conquered were now invoked against the defender.[17]
Thomas Nelson was often remembered for his honesty and integrity. He was among many of the most influential leaders who risked everything, but insisted that private debts to British merchants be paid.[18] Historian T. R. Fehrenbach makes the following comparison between Nelson and George Wythe—a lawyer and one of the Virginia Signers of the Declaration of Independence:
The honor, and ethical force, of the dominant Signers, was outstanding. George Wythe, who would not take a dishonorable case, gave concepts of immense value to the Revolution—but Thomas Nelson, who was no scholar nor any sort of intellectual, gave equally invaluable service, just by being his honest self.[19]
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison remained vague about their knowledge of Nelson’s financial situation following the war, and what they said about Nelson helped create a distorted picture that Nelson’s primary contribution to the Revolution was political—not financial—despite the fact that he spent enormous sums of his own money to support it. Jefferson recalled:
that he first “heard mention of his losses by responsibilities for the public” when he returned from France in 1789, “and knowing his zeal, liberality and patriotism, I readily credited what I had heard, altho’ I knew nothing of the particulars or of their extent.”[20]
Madison was not in Virginia when Nelson made financial sacrifices for the Revolution but could confirm that:
General Nelson . . . was excelled by no man in the generosity of his nature, in the nobleness of his sentiments, in the purity of his Revolutionary principles, and in the exalted patriotism that answered every service and sacrifice that his country might need.[21]
The Signers were a remarkably long-lived group. Those not killed or injured in the war exceeded the normal life span. Following the war, half of all Signers served as president, state governors, state legislators, U.S. senators or representatives.[22] Nelson was one of the few Signers, however, who died young (age fifty-one) and “left public life or fell into obscurity.[23]
The news of Nelson’s death on January 4, 1789 was met with great sadness at the loss of this statesman and soldier. Nell Moore Lee presents Nelson’s newspaper-published obituary. Portions are shown below:
The illustrious General THOMAS NELSON, is no more! He paid the last great debt to nature, on Sunday the 4th day of the present month, at his estate in Hanover.
He who undertakes barely to recite the exalted virtues, which adorned this good and great man will unavoidable pronounce a panegyric on human nature. As a man, a citizen, a Legislator, and a Patriot—he exhibited a conduct unvarnished, and undebased . . . by selfish interests.
As a soldier, he was indefatigably active, and coolly intrepid. Resolute and undejected in misfortune, he towered above the distress, —and struggled with the manifold difficulties, to which his situation exposed him with constancy and courage.
He did not avail himself of this opportunity to retire into the rear of danger—but on the contrary to the field, at the head of his countrymen—and at the hazard of his life, his fame and individual fortune—by his decision and magnanimity he served not only this Country, but all America, from disgrace—if not total ruin—. . . . If after contemplating the splendid and heroic parts of his character—we shall enquire for the milder virtues of humanity, and seek for the man—we shall find the refined, beneficent, and social qualities of private life more thorough in all its forms, and combinations so happily modified, and united in him—that in the words of the darling poet of nature it may be said:
His life was gentle, and the elements, so mixed in him, that nature might stand up, and say to all the world, this was a man.[24]
Nelson went to his grave beloved, but he had lost a fortune that he was never able to recoup. Historian John Sanderson applauds Nelson’s immeasurable sacrifices, but points out that his country had let him down and would continue to do so for several generations:
He had spent a princely fortune in his country’s service; his horses had been taken from the plough, and sent to drag the munitions of war; his granaries had been thrown open to a starving soldiery, and his ample purse had been drained to its last dollar, when the credit of Virginia could not bring a sixpence into her treasury. Yet it was the widow of this man, who, beyond eighty years of age, blind, infirm, and poor, had yet to learn whether republics can be grateful.[25]
In my fourth and final blog in this series, I will discuss rekindled awareness and interest in the life of Thomas Nelson, Jr. and my hopes for his enduring legacy.
Photo courtesy of Ernest W. Robart
GEN. THOMAS NELSON JR.
PATRIOT SOLDIER CHRISTIAN-GENTLEMAN
BORN DEC. 18,[26] 1738 DIED JAN. 2, 1789
MOVER OF THE RESOLUTION OF MAY 16, 1776
IN THE VIRGINIA CONVENTION
INSTRUCTING HER DELEGATES IN CONGRESS
TO MOVE THAT BODY TO DECLARE THE COLONIES
FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES
SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
WAR GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA
COMMANDER OF VIRGINIA’S FORCES
HE GAVE ALL FOR LIBERTY
[1] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Claycomb, Mary. Page-Nelson Society Newsletter. Volume X, Number 2, Summer 2004. Warrenton, Virginia: The Page-Nelson Society, 2004.
[4] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Lee, Nell Moore. Patriot Above Profit: A Portrait of Thomas Nelson, Jr., Who Supported the American Revolution With His Purse and Sword. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988.
[11] Goodrich, Rev. Charles A. “Thomas Nelson Jr. 1738-1789.” Lives of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence. 12 November 2003 <http://www.colonialhall.com/nelson/nelson.asp>.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975.
[14] Boatner, Mark M. III. Encyclopedia of the American Revolution. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1994.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ibid.
[18] Fehrenbach, T. R. Greatness to Spare: The Heroic Sacrifices of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence. Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1968.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975.
[21] Ibid.
[22] Fehrenbach, T. R. Greatness to Spare: The Heroic Sacrifices of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence. Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1968.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Lee, Nell Moore. Patriot Above Profit: A Portrait of Thomas Nelson, Jr., Who Supported the American Revolution With His Purse and Sword. Nashville: Rutledge Hill Press, 1988.
[25] Sanderson, John. Robert T. Conrad, ed. Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia: William Brotherhead, 1865.
[26] Date of birth shown on gravesite is incorrect. Correct date is December 26, 1738.
Ties to a Founding Father – Part I
Long Branch boasts a long association with prominent historical figures:
Since the early 18th century, the rolling hills of the LONG BRANCH Historic House & Farm estate have been owned by a series of famous men: Lord Culpeper, Lord Fairfax, and Robert “King” Carter. A young George Washington helped to survey the property.[1]
The mansion was constructed “following the classical principles suggested by Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an architect of the U.S. Capitol.”[2]
He was responsible for rebuilding our nation’s capitol after it was damaged by the British in the War of 1812. Interior architectural elements of Long Branch consist of “elaborate woodwork designed by architect Minard Lafever.”[3]
However, the primary interest in Long Branch from the standpoint of America history is the mansion’s connection to a Signer of the Declaration of Independence—Thomas Nelson, Jr. His third son, Philip[4], was the first Nelson to occupy the mansion after migrating to Clarke County. He and his wife, Sarah Nelson Burwell, whose brother, Robert Carter Burwell, built Long Branch[5], raised a large family and operated a girl’s school there. Philip Nelson was a vestryman, justice of the peace, and owned up to 33 slaves.[6]
So who was Thomas Nelson, Jr.?
A founding father of the United States, he was one of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Elected governor of Virginia in 1781 (succeeding Thomas Jefferson) during the Revolutionary War, he participated in the siege of Yorktown, Virginia in October 1781 as commander of the Virginia militia.[7] Responsible for the dual roles of military commander and governor, he organized and provisioned troops mostly from his personal funds.
The final battle was marked by the surrender of Lord Charles Cornwallis.
On May 15, 1776, Virginia voted to instruct its delegates at the Continental Congress to raise the issue of freedom. Thomas Nelson, Jr.—at the forefront of this movement along with Patrick Henry—was one of the most outspoken advocates for American independence from Britain. Historian T. R. Fehrenbach writes that Nelson found himself
. . . hotly supporting Patrick Henry’s resolution to put the colony in a posture of defense in March, 1775. Nelson agreed with Henry’s words about liberty or death, which were then too radical for a majority of the older gentry. He argued for a well-regulated militia, composed of gentlemen and yeomen.[8]
Representing York County in the Virginia Convention of 1776, Nelson presented resolutions to the Continental Congress to declare the colonies free and independent from Britain. He proclaimed:
Having weighed the argument on both sides, I am clearly of the opinion that we must, as we value the liberty of America or even her existence, without a moment’s delay declare our independence.[9]
When Royal Governor Lord Dunmore refused to appoint Nelson to the Council of State in 1774, one critic who opposed the move for independence described the hot-headed Nelson’s response: “Young Tom Nelson . . . is as violent as any . . . Patriot of them all.”[10]
Nelson took any threats against Yorktown and to any family members very seriously. In 1775, when British sailors left their warship anchored off the coast and threatened to attack not only Yorktown but also Nelson’s uncle Thomas Nelson (the Secretary to the Executive Council) if the Royal Governor Lord Dunmore were harmed, Nelson flew into a tirade during a session of the House of Burgesses:
I am a merchant of Yorktown, but I am a Virginian first. Let my trade perish. I call God to witness that if any British troops are landed in the County of York, of which I am Lieutenant, I will wait no orders, but will summon the militia and drive the invaders into the sea![11]
These developments posed significant personal risks for Nelson and his family, living in the Nelson House and flanked by the British navy on the York River. Friends feared for their safety. They also knew that Nelson had enormous sums of money in notes in Great Britain. They warned him to cease; he was greatly putting himself and his wealth in peril: “The British flag still waved over the House of Burgesses this spring, and Nelson’s talk was as inflammatory as Henry’s.”[12]
Nelson grew more and more impatient with those who still held out hope that a reasonable settlement between the colonies and England could be reached. He accused some of being too timid. In 1776 he wrote to his close friend John Page:
They seize property wherever they find it . . . & we hesitate to retaliate because we have a few friends in England who have ships. Away with such squeamishness say I . . . .[13]
Emory G. Evans, noted Nelson scholar and history professor, points out that George Washington “expressed the commonly held opinion that Nelson suited ‘the times as well as any other person.’”[14] He inspired badly needed hope and confidence from his countrymen during America’s pivotal transition in the mid 1700s. Historian John Sanderson summarizes:
Combining the advantages of education with those of fortune; military skill and gallantry with legislative talents and patriotic virtues—affable, modest, and generous—Nelson was universally esteemed and beloved.[15]
Nelson’s financial support of the war was legendary. He frequently paid for military provisions out of his own pocket, when the state lacked sufficient funds plus the credibility upon which to expect loans from the public. He could have continued to enjoy the life of domestic bliss on his plantation a few miles from Yorktown, but ultimately his priority was to help secure the freedom of his country. In the end, “no Virginia patriot made as dramatic a sacrifice of his ease and wealth as did Thomas Nelson, Jr.”[16] Sanderson agrees:
The troubles of his country soon called him from these gentler and perhaps more congenial pleasures, to oppose at first the petty tyranny of a provincial governor [Lord Dunmore], and to array himself at last among the boldest champions of the nation in council and in war.[17]
In the Summer 2004 edition of the Page-Nelson Society Newsletter, Society President Mary H. Claycomb writes that recent scholars refer to Thomas Nelson, Jr. as
. . . the Signer, placing him among the founding fathers, and, thereby, . . . raising him above the military rank and civic function and confirming him as one of the more courageous visionaries of his time.[18]
Emory Evans agrees:
Nelson was one of the most important of Virginia’s revolutionary leaders; he has to be considered in the same category as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton.”[19]
In my next blog I will discuss the extent of Nelson’s sacrifice, both financial and personal, and try to explain his legacy, which has been an ongoing source of confusion.
[1] Long Branch Historic House & Farm, Millwood, Virginia. http://www.historiclongbranch.com/history.htm.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Page, Richard Channing Moore. Genealogy of the Page Family in Virginia: Also a Condensed Account of the Nelson, Walker, Pendleton, and Randolph Families. Harrisonburg, Virginia: C. J. Carrier Company, 1983.
[5] Warden, Page Laubach. The Kin Patch: A Path to the Past. White Stone, Virginia: Brandylane Publishers, 1997
[6] Historic Sites in Clarke County, Virginia: Long Branch (1805). http://www.bikepptc.org/node/989.
[7] Fisher, Katherine D. Distorted Legacy of a Virginia Patriot: Thomas Nelson, Jr. (1738-1789). Master’s Thesis, George Mason University: 2004.
[8] Fehrenbach, T. R. Greatness to Spare: The Heroic Sacrifices of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence. Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1968.
[9] Chandler, J.A.C. Makers of Virginia History. New York: Silver, Burdett and Company, 1904.
[10] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson and the Revolution in Virginia. Williamsburg: The Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1978.
[11] Fehrenbach, T. R. Greatness to Spare: The Heroic Sacrifices of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence. Princeton: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1968.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson and the Revolution in Virginia. Williamsburg: The Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1978.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Sanderson, John. Robert T. Conrad, ed. Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia: William Brotherhead, 1865.
[16] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson and the Revolution in Virginia. Williamsburg: The Virginia Independence Bicentennial Commission, 1978.
[17] Sanderson, John. Robert T. Conrad, ed. Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Philadelphia: William Brotherhead, 1865.
[18] Claycomb, Mary H. Page-Nelson Society Newsletter. Volume X, Number 2, Summer 2004. Warrenton, Virginia: The Page-Nelson Society, 2004.
[19] Evans, Emory G. Thomas Nelson of Yorktown: Revolutionary Virginian. Williamsburg: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1975.
Portrait of a “Grand Dame”
I’ve mentioned Sallie Page Nelson in previous blogs, but thought it appropriate to dedicate this one to her because she lived at Long Branch for so many years. She died the year I was born; I never got the chance to meet her.
Wedding, March 1943: Page Huidekoper to Frazer Dougherty. Standing next to the bride is her grandmother, Sallie Page Nelson.
What kind of person was she? I’ve always wanted to learn more about the woman I heard so much about from my mother, growing up in California so far away and detached from the history that surrounds me here.
Sallie Page Nelson lived at Long Branch for a total of 66 years.[1] We know that she, along with her husband Hugh Nelson, Jr. (they married in 1885) established a reputation for hospitality and entertaining.
Recalling the occasion of the Nelsons’ tenth wedding anniversary celebration, Christopher Fordney cites Stuart Brown’s description of the party in The Annals of Clarke County:
. . . their baronial residence, where culture, refinement, and the most genial hospitality ever keep high carnival, was elaborately and tastefully decorated for the occasion with a profusion of the rarest flowers . . .
The music soft and gentle, which echoed from the spacious rooms like siren voices . . . was conducted exclusively by Mr. Nelson himself, with inimitable skill and harmony . . .
Towards the wee hours of the morning, when the truant moon should have stood high in the heavens in her greatest splendor, to illuminate us on our homeward way, the guests reluctantly took their departure, with a fervent prayer in their hearts that the Long Branch Reception of the 22 of April 1895, which would ever be remembered as one of the pleasantest episodes of their lives, might be repeated in the coming years without end.[2]
Proud wife and mother of their two children, Sallie struggled to keep Long Branch going after Hugh’s death in 1915, during difficult economic times in the region. She attempted to maintain the farm and orchard, but subsequently began to lease those fields.[3] Carolyn Nelson Henderson, granddaughter of Carolyn Peyton Nelson Britton (sister of Sallie Page Nelson), and her relatives “spent many holidays at Long Branch with Aunt Page officiating as the “grand dame.”[4] She recalls:
Aunt Page had little money so the place was quite run down. The back stairs were missing many of their square pickets, their dark green paint was peeling, and it was “off limits.” In the “New Room” on the other side of the house there was a piano very much out of tune with some of the ivory gone. The cats were fed in the “New Room.”[5]
Granddaughter Page Huidekoper Wilson recounts that almost all food consumed at Long Branch was produced on the farm, which included a very large vegetable garden. She also remembers her grandmother’s wit and charm. She had “a vast capacity for friendship. She was a remarkable, resilient spirit.”[6]
Traditional in her beliefs, Sallie initially did not support universal suffrage. But when women were granted the right to vote, she cast her ballot in the election of 1920.[7]
One of only a few free-flying staircases with no visible means of support. A significant engineering feat.
Family always came first for Sallie Page Nelson. During the Depression, she often took in women relatives who lived at Long Branch for many years (see my blog entitled “Need an Excuse to Lark in the Countryside?”). She used Long Branch as collateral to borrow money to help her daughter and son-in-law when their business declined in the 1920s and 1930s.[8]
She entertained less in her later years, but relatives and grandchildren often traveled to Long Branch to stay for several weeks during the summer and enjoy large Sunday afternoon dinners. In addition to the farm animals, “Aunt Page” kept a number of ponies for children and young adults, including my mother, to ride.
Sallie continued to attend church at Old Chapel, where Henry Johnson, who worked at Long Branch, would push her to her pew in a wheelchair.[9]
After her death in 1951, her estate revealed considerable assets such as silver, china, antique furniture, jewelry, and Gilbert Stuart portraits of some family members—but little cash. Ironically, Long Branch electricity was not added until after World War II because Sallie did not have the money to pay for the work.[10]
I would have loved to have known her. Nonetheless, her spirit lives on in the photographs, family memories, and the halls and rooms of Long Branch.
[1] Fordney, Christopher R. “The Saga of Long Branch: Civil War Realities Take Away a Family Home.” 1995.
[2] Fordney, Christopher R. Long Branch: A Plantation House in Clarke Country Virginia. Millwood: Harry Z. Isaacs Foundation, 1995.
[3] Ibid.
[4]Henderson, Carolyn Nelson. “Long Branch in the Forties Through a Child’s Eyes.” Clarksburg, MD: 1995.
[5]Ibid.
[6] Wilson, Page Huidekoper. Lecture Notes: Long Branch. February 11, 2007.
[7] Fordney, Christopher R. Long Branch: A Plantation House in Clarke Country Virginia. Millwood: Harry Z. Isaacs Foundation, 1995.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid.
The Cemetery at Old Chapel: A Step Back in Time
The Old Chapel Marker
What better way is there to revisit family history than to stroll through the Old Chapel Cemetery in Millwood? The lovely, serene grounds make you feel like you’ve stepped back in time to the Revolutionary and Civil War eras.
Hugh Nelson Gravesite. Click the image above to view headstone inscriptions.
Gray, moss‑covered headstones, worn by the elements over many generations, mark your path as you wander among some of the resting places of the Nelson, Page, and Randolph families, and other notable kin. Politicians Edmund Jenings Randolph (1753-1813) and Robert Page (1765-1840)[1] are buried there. Sallie Page Nelson of Long Branch, along with her husband Hugh Nelson, Jr.—both buried at Old Chapel—can count as their ancestors a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Nelson, Jr., of Yorktown. A pew at Old Chapel still marks Sallie’s name.
Edmund Jenings Randolph was an American attorney, Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State under George Washington, and the first United States Attorney General. He was selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1779, and served there until 1782. During this period he also remained in private law practice, handling legal issues for George Washington. Randolph was elected Governor of Virginia in 1786, when he also led a delegation to the Annapolis Convention.
Robert Page served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. He was an attorney, a planter, a member of the Virginia State House of Delegates in 1795, and later a U.S. Representative from Virginia.
Whether you have relatives buried there or not, Old Chapel Cemetery is a fascinating outing for those seeking an adventure into the past in a setting that has not changed since the 1700s.
[1] The Political Graveyard. http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/VA/CK.html#RAZ0VIAL5
