Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth CenturyJester, Annie Lash
History
Domestic Life in Virginia in the Seventeenth Century
Jester, Annie Lash
Plantation life; Virginia -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
With a great deal of pride in family background, those Englishmen in
Virginia, whose families were entitled to bear arms, invariably had
these cut upon the stones along with the lengthy inscriptions. The
stones were ordered from England. As previously mentioned, Mrs. Sarah
Yeardley, in 1657, directed that her executor sell her jewels and
purchase in England stones for herself and her second husband. Her son,
by the first husband, Adam Thoroughgood II of Lower Norfolk County, was
equally zealous that proper memorials be placed and directed his
executrix (wife), in his will, dated 1679, to have his body interred in
the Church at Lynnhaven, and "cause a tombstone of marble to be sent
for, with coat of arms of Sir George Yeardley [his wife's father] and
myself." Unfortunately, these tombs together with the site of the old
Lynnhaven Church, have been washed beneath the waters of Lynnhaven Bay.
The tombstones bearing coats of arms of George Read deceased, 1671 and
his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Nicolas Martiau, uncovered during
excavations at Yorktown in 1931 were removed to the graveyard
surrounding Christ Church. The inscriptions, badly worn, were recut with
information then in hand; however, the dates since have been found to be
slightly in error. The tombstone of William Cole II, Secretary of State
for the Colony, 1690, erected after his death, 1694, at "Bolthrope,"
bore the Cole coat of arms, accompanied by a lengthy inscription,
reciting in part that the deceased was "unspotted on the bench,
untainted at the bar." Unfortunately, when the graveyard lay neglected
for many years and overgrown with vines, other ancient stones, placed
there, were broken and portions of them, from time to time, carried away
by fishermen to be used as mooring stones for their boats.
Theodorick Bland, deceased, 1671, was buried in the old churchyard now
adjacent to the garden at "Westover." The inscription in Latin on his
tombstone recites that it was erected "by his most disconsolate widow, a
daughter of Richard Bennett Esq." Lewis Burwell, deceased 1653, was
buried at his plantation, "Fairfield," in Gloucester County, and the
tombstone erected to his memory, bearing arms, recited that he was
descended from the ancient family of Burwell of Bedford and Northampton,
England.
The tomb of Alice (Lukin) Page, wife of Colonel John Page, stands facing
the west entrance to Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg and is unique
in that it bears the Lukin arms alone, indicating that the deceased was
the sole heir of her father and thus entitled to his arms. Otherwise,
the arms cut upon her stone would have been quartered with those of her
husband.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account