The Stronghold: A Story of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia and Its PeopleHaynie, Miriam
History
The Stronghold: A Story of Historic Northern Neck of Virginia and Its People
Haynie, Miriam
Northern Neck (Va.)
Ambrose's son, Edward, came to Virginia from England, about 1687-88, to
take up his inheritance of three hundred twenty-five acres left him by
his father in 1675. His Northern Neck holdings were increased in 1695 by
the will of his "Uncle Edward" Fielding, a great merchant of Bristol,
England, who left him "500 acres at Wiccomocco in the County of
Northumberland, in the Country of Virginia beyond the seas." In the same
year Edward, by grant from Lady Culpeper and Lord Fairfax, acquired four
hundred twenty-five more acres on "Wicocomoco river ... near ye Mill Dam
of ye sd. Fielding, of Lee parish."
Edward owned a snuff box, marked with his initials, "E.F.," and the date
"1716." The portrait of a young woman was painted on the lid. It is
believed to have been his wife, or his daughter Sarah. The girl in the
picture wears a dress of satin, with white skirt, green stomacher and
plain colored bodice; the head-dress, which is like a scarf or loose
hood, is of white and green, and the flower held in her hand is blue, as
are the velvet cushions of the chair.
Edward's oldest son was born in 1689. Edward named him for his father,
Ambrose.
When Ambrose was about twenty-one years old he married the daughter of a
"chirugeon," Mark Attkins. After their marriage Ambrose and Catherine
moved to Lancaster County and settled on a plantation known as Broad
Neck Quarter.
The house of Ambrose Fielding II, was built like a small fort in the
wilderness, probably for defense against Indians. It was built of brick
with loop-holes in the walls. A brick wall surrounded the house, and it
too was pierced with loop-holes.
This house is said to have been located near the seat of the Carters at
Corotoman. This statement seems to have been borne out by the will of
King Carter, 1728, in which he mentions a "Fielding's Place." In 1749
the King's grandson, Robert Carter III, of Nomini Hall, owned about two
thousand acres in a tract in Northumberland called Fielding's Quarter.
_PIRATES_
In the time of King Carter of Corotoman, the Chesapeake was alive with
pirates. He wrote that they were "very bold and roguish ... miserable
case, the Crown takes no more care of so vast a fleet of ships as uses
this bay."
The pirates reaped a rich harvest from the unprotected ships that
traveled to and from foreign ports. In one year four ships bound back to
Virginia from England had been sunk.
There were three types of pirates--the "bloody pirate," who was simply a
robber on the high seas; the privateers, who commanded armed private
vessels commissioned to cruise against the commerce or war vessels of
the enemy; and buccaneers, who were freeholders who preyed upon Spanish
as well as American vessels and settlements.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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