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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
Recollections of a Home, Past and Present
My mother had loving memories of her time at Long Branch. When she visited the house after moving back to Virginia in 1997, she was amazed at its transformation, following the Harry Isaacs restoration, from a state of disrepair to museum-quality luster. I think she had mixed feelings, stemming from her perspective dating back to the early 1930s. She used to say that Long Branch was first and foremost, a home.
Long Branch as it appeared in the mid 20th Century.
As Christopher Fordney aptly writes:
Although Long Branch is today furnished with elegant antiques and exudes the quiet dignity of a museum, it has above all else been a home. Its rooms have known the cries of newborn babies, the exuberant pounding of children’s feet, the roar of party conversation, and the solitary voices of its elders recounting the family legends, some verifiable, some not, that are so much a part of the history of an old home.[1]
As I walk through Long Branch today, the house still evokes the ambience of past generations. The views of the countryside from the windows are still the same, and as you wander along the original floors, you can almost sense the souls of the families who lived there. The view from Bordens Spring Rd. is just as compelling as it was when I visited the house in the 1950s –60s. Back in those days, finding it was always a challenge. You’d meander along a country road, probably Route 624, if you were lucky enough to find it, and then, suddenly, the house and cupola just appeared, perched magnificently on the hill—a breathtaking sight that I will never forget. Whenever I bring friends to see Long Branch, I insist they are treated to that amazing view.
[1] Fordney, Christopher R. Long Branch: A Plantation House in Clarke Country Virginia. Millwood: Harry Z. Isaacs Foundation, 1995.
