Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian: A Plantation Tutor of the Old Dominion, 1773-1774.

Footnote_24_24

Four of the seventeen Carter children were born after Fithian had left the family.

Footnote_25_25

Some extracts from the Journal were published in the American Historical Review of January, 1900.

Footnote_26_26

Cf. Philip Fithian's Journal, edited by John Rogers Williams, p. xiv.

Footnote_27_27

Philip Vickers Fithian had left his home at Cohansie, New Jersey, in 1770, at the age of twenty-three, to enter the College of New Jersey at Princeton. Nassau Hall was the principal structure of the college, and the institution was often familiarly referred to by that name. Fithian was graduated there in September 1772. His parents had both died suddenly during the previous February. Andrew Hunter, Jr., of Cohansie, who wrote this letter, was the nephew of the Reverend Andrew Hunter, Sr., of Greenwich, New Jersey, under whom Philip was at this time studying Hebrew in connection with his preparation for the ministry.

Footnote_28_28

Dr. John Witherspoon (1723-1794), a Scottish Presbyterian clergyman, served as president of the College of New Jersey at Princeton intermittently from 1768 until his death in 1794. A staunch Calvinist, Witherspoon exerted a strong influence on American educational, religious, and political development. Owing largely to the labors of his former students, a number of whom went as clergymen and tutors to the Southern colonies, his influence was very extensive in that region.

Footnote_29_29

John Debow, Oliver Reese, Samuel McCorkle and Moses Allen, and Andrew Bryan. With the exception of Andrew Bryan of Baltimore who was admitted to the bar, all of these young men were licensed as Presbyterian ministers.

Footnote_30_30

Elizabeth Beatty, Fithian's "Laura," frequently visited in the home of her brother, Dr. John Beatty, who lived at Princeton. Fithian had known Elizabeth earlier in the home of her sister, the wife of the Reverend Enoch Green, a Presbyterian minister of Deerfield, New Jersey, under whom he had prepared for college. Cf. Williams, John, ed., The Journals and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian, 1767-1774, p. 55, fn. 3.

Footnote_31_31

The Reverend Enoch Green.

Footnote_32_32

Mrs. Peck was the mother of Fithian's friend, John Peck of Deerfield. The two boys had studied together under the Reverend Enoch Green, and had later been classmates at Princeton. John Peck succeeded Fithian as tutor of the Carter children at Nomini Hall in 1774, and later married Anne Tasker or "Nancy" Carter, and settled in Richmond County, Virginia.

Footnote_33_33

The Reverend Andrew Hunter.

Footnote_34_34

The American Whig Society and the Cliosophic Society were rival literary organizations at the College of New Jersey at Princeton.

Footnote_35_35

William R. Smith, who was one of Fithian's classmates, was afterwards ordained as a Presbyterian minister. Cf. Williams, ed., Fithian, p. 34, fn. 2.

Footnote_36_36

Fithian was studying theology in Deerfield under the supervision of the Reverend Enoch Green, at the same time he was being taught Hebrew by Andrew Hunter, Sr., in nearby Greenwich.

Footnote_37_37

William Eugene Imlay was graduated at Princeton in 1773. Cf. Williams, ed., Fithian, p. 41.

Footnote_38_38

Probably Samuel Fithian, the brother of Philip's father. Philip refers to him as "Uncle Fithian" on other occasions.

Footnote_39_39

Henry Lee (1729-1787) of "Leesylvania," in Prince William County, Virginia (known later as "Light Horse Harry" Lee) was a student at Princeton at this time. He was a brother of "Squire" Richard Lee of "Lee Hall" in Westmoreland County. Henry Lee later became the father of Robert E. Lee.

Footnote_40_40

Dr. John Beatty had been graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1769. Cf. Williams, ed., Fithian, p. 90, fn. 1.

Footnote_41_41

John McCalla, Jr., was a friend of Fithian who lived in Philadelphia.

Footnote_42_42

Joel Fithian was the cousin of Philip Fithian, who married Elizabeth Beatty Fithian after the latter's death. Cf. Williams, ed., Fithian, p. xv.

Footnote_43_43

Patapsco River.

Footnote_44_44

Bladensburg, Maryland.

Footnote_45_45

Georgetown, then a small town in Maryland, was later incorporated in the District of Columbia.

Footnote_46_46

Alexandria, Virginia.

Footnote_47_47

Colchester was a thriving shipping center on the Occoquan River, now called Occoquan Creek, in Fairfax County, Virginia, near where this creek empties into the Potomac. The town had been incorporated by an act of the Assembly in 1753 to promote "trade and navigation."

Footnote_48_48

Dumfries, a town on Quantico Creek, had been settled by a group of Scotch merchants, who traded in the colony. Quantico Creek empties into the Potomac. Dumfries had been incorporated by Act of Assembly in 1749. The town had prospered owing to its advantageous position as a center of trade in the western section of the Northern Neck.

Footnote_49_49

Aquia had originated as a Catholic settlement on Aquia Creek about the middle of the eighteenth century. A short distance from the town were located the celebrated Aquia stone quarries which had been opened as early as 1683.

Footnote_50_50

Stafford Court House, the seat of government of Stafford County.

Footnote_51_51

Thomas Ludwell Lee (1730-1778) of "Bellevue" in Stafford County was the fourth son of Thomas Lee of "Stratford" in Westmoreland County, who had served as president of the Council of Virginia.

Footnote_52_52

The Chilton family owned plantations in Westmoreland and Fauquier Counties. Cf. William and Mary College Quarterly, second series, Vol. 10 (January 1930), pp. 56-63.

Footnote_53_53

Benjamin Tasker Carter.

Footnote_54_54

The Fauntleroy family owned extensive holdings and occupied a high social position in Richmond County and other sections of the Tidewater. "Mars Hill" and "Crandall" were two seats of the family on the Rappahannock River in Richmond County, and in the vicinity of the modern towns of Warsaw and Tappahannock. A third manor plantation of the Fauntleroys' was "The Cliffs," also on the Rappahannock, some miles north of the other two. The name of the family was pronounced variously as "Fantleroy," "Fantilroy" and "Fauntleroy." Aphia, Samuel and Henry or "Harry" Fauntleroy were the daughter and sons of Moore Fauntleroy (1716-1791) of "The Cliffs." Information supplied by Miss Juliet Fauntleroy of Altavista, Virginia.

Footnote_55_55

Francis Christian held his dancing classes in rotation in a number of the manor houses of the Northern Neck at this period. After the pupils had been instructed an informal dance was usually enjoyed on such occasions.

Footnote_56_56

Nomini Church, one of the two Anglican houses of worship in Cople Parish, stood on the bank of the Nomini River some five miles from Carter's home.

Footnote_57_57

Isaac William Giberne, an English clergyman, thought to have been a nephew of the Bishop of Durham, was licensed to preach in Virginia in 1758. The following year he had arrived in the colony and was serving as the minister in Hanover Parish in King George County. Possessing a high tempered and somewhat contentious nature, Giberne was involved in numerous sharp controversies. An exceptionally sociable and convivial man, he spent much of his time in visiting and gambling and tippling. Admitted by his enemies at that time to be the most popular and admired preacher in the colony, he had been invited shortly after his arrival in Virginia to preach a sermon before the Burgesses. This sermon was later printed at their request. In 1760 Giberne married a wealthy widow, Mary Fauntleroy Beale of Richmond County, a daughter of Moore Fauntleroy of "Crandall." She had previously been the wife of Charles Beale. Removing to her plantation, "Belle Ville," he was two years later chosen as minister of Lunenburg Parish, and served in that capacity until 1795. He is mentioned in numerous diaries and letters of the period. Cf. Goodwin, Edward Lewis, The Colonial Church in Virginia, pp. 271-272; Jonathan Boucher, Reminiscences of an American Loyalist, passim; letter of Miss Juliet Fauntleroy of November 21, 1941 in Department of Research and Record, Colonial Williamsburg, Inc.

Footnote_58_58

Benjamin Tasker.

Footnote_59_59

Robert Bladen or "Bob."

Footnote_60_60

Henry or "Harry" Willis.

Footnote_61_61

Priscilla.

Footnote_62_62

Ann Tasker or "Nancy."

Footnote_63_63

Frances or "Fanny."

Footnote_64_64

Betty Landon.

Footnote_65_65

Harriot Lucy.

Footnote_66_66

Benedict Pictete had first published his Teologia Christiana in 1696.

Footnote_67_67

Priscilla, "Nancy," and "Bob." This school was conducted in rotation at a number of manor plantations of the region by Francis Christian, a dancing master.

Footnote_68_68

The banks of the Potomac River could be seen in the distance from the upper floor of "Nomini Hall."

Footnote_69_69

Yeocomico Church, one of the two Anglican churches in Cople Parish in Westmoreland County. Built in 1706, this structure still stands.

Footnote_70_70

Thomas Smith was the rector of Yeocomico Church at this period. Smith was a man of large means. He had been sent as a youth to be educated in the mother country. He first attended a school at Wakefield in Yorkshire and later entered Cambridge University, where he was graduated in 1763. His son, John Augustine Smith, later became president of the College of William and Mary.

Footnote_71_71

Captain Walker was a friend of Robert Carter and often visited "Nomini Hall." Fithian frequently dined at Walker's home.

Footnote_72_72

Stadley was a German music master who visited "Nomini Hall" regularly at this period to instruct the Carter children. He also taught in a number of other homes in the Northern Neck. Before coming to Virginia, Stadley had taught music in New York and Philadelphia. In one of Carter's account books the musician's name is entered as "Strader." Cf. Waste-Book, No. 2, September 27, 1773 to December 31, 1773, p. 45.

Footnote_73_73

Carter was doubtless returning from attendance as a member of the General Court at this time.

Footnote_74_74

Fithian was preparing for his examination before the Presbytery at Philadelphia at this time.

Footnote_75_75

"Hickory Hill," the manor house of John Turberville (1737-1799) was about a mile distant from "Nomini Hall." Turberville had married his first cousin, Martha Corbin. One of their ten children, Letitia Corbin Turberville, later became the wife of Major Catesby Jones. Their youngest son, George Richard Turberville, married his first cousin, Martha Corbin, only daughter of Gawin Corbin of "Peckatone." Their eldest son, George Lee Turberville, married Betty Tayloe Corbin. The Turbervilles were connected with the Lees of Westmoreland County in a number of ways and possessed large landed properties.

Footnote_76_76

Jane or "Jenny" Corbin was a sister of Mrs. John Turberville of "Hickory Hill."

Footnote_77_77

Cunningham was one of a number of young Scotch merchants who had settled in the Northern Neck. He was apparently a member of a firm referred to in the account books of Robert Carter of "Nomini Hall" as "Messrs. Fisher and Cunningham."

Footnote_78_78

See fn. 51.

Footnote_79_79

Lancelot Lee was the son of George Lee of "Mount Pleasant" in Westmoreland County who had died in 1761. Lancelot's brother, George Fairfax Lee, had inherited their father's manor plantation. Lancelot and George Fairfax Lee were cousins of the Lees at "Stratford," "Lee Hall," and at "Chantilly."

Footnote_80_80

"Nomini Hall" was some ten miles distant from the seat of government in Westmoreland County, which is situated in the present town of Montross.

Footnote_81_81

Richmond Court House, the seat of government in Richmond County, now called Warsaw, is some ten or twelve miles distant from "Nomini Hall." There were a number of enthusiastic turfmen in Richmond County during the eighteenth century.

Footnote_82_82

Colonel John Tayloe (1721-1779) was one of the wealthiest men in the Northern Neck. His manor house, "Mount Airy," was located near Richmond Court House, and overlooked the Rappahannock River, some two miles in the distance. Tayloe was a noted fancier of fine horses.

Footnote_83_83

Dr. William Flood lived at "Kinsail," a plantation in Westmoreland County. He frequently combined the pleasures of horse racing with the practice of his profession. Cf. Blanton, Wyndham B., Medicine in Virginia in the Eighteenth Century (Richmond, 1931), p. 379.

Footnote_84_84

Since it was often difficult to secure a sufficient number of clergymen for the parishes in Virginia, young English schoolmasters and tutors were frequently induced to return to the mother country and take orders so that they might fill such vacancies.

Footnote_85_85

Robert Carter's account books reveal that he sometimes had business transactions with one George C. Gordon of Westmoreland County.

Footnote_86_86

See catalogue of Robert Carter's library in Appendix, pp. 221-229.

Footnote_87_87

Hobb's Hole, the present town of Tappahannock, is situated on the Rappahannock River in Essex County. The town was a lively center of trade and shipping at this period.

Footnote_88_88

John Warden was a young Scotsman. While a student in Edinburgh, Warden had been engaged by Dr. Walter Jones of Virginia to serve as a tutor in the family of his brother, Colonel Thomas Jones of Northumberland County. In the Jones home Warden had enjoyed exceptional advantages and he appears to have read law after coming to the colony. He later became a distinguished member of the Virginia bar.

Footnote_89_89

Both Richard Lee (1726-1795), commonly called "Squire" Lee, and his cousin, Richard Henry Lee (1732-1794), who was known as "Colonel" Lee, lived on estates on the Potomac River in Westmoreland County. "Squire" Richard Lee's manor plantation was called "Lee Hall." The home of Colonel Richard Henry Lee was known as "Chantilly." A second Richard Lee, also known as "Squire Lee," and a cousin of the above mentioned persons, lived on the Potomac in Charles County, Maryland.

Footnote_90_90

This schooner had been named for Carter's daughter, Harriot Lucy.

Footnote_91_91

Carter described the harmonica as "the musical glasses without water, framed into a complete instrument, capable of through bass and never out of tune." Quoted in Williams, ed., Fithian, p. 59, fn. 1.

Footnote_92_92

The Yeocomico River.

Footnote_93_93

Yeocomico Church.

Footnote_94_94

Grigg, the captain of an English vessel, often mingled with the plantation families of the Northern Neck when he was in the colony.

Footnote_95_95

Letitia Corbin Turberville.

Footnote_96_96

William Booth, who was a planter of considerable means in Westmoreland County at this time, was probably the father of this youth.

Footnote_97_97

"County-dances" were English dances of rural or native origin, especially those in which an indefinite number of couples stood face to face in two long lines. Country dances had been popular on greens and at fairs in England long before they were introduced into polite society. When the country dance was imported into France the name became contre-dance, and it has been erroneously assumed that "country-dance" is a corruption of the French term.

Footnote_98_98

Goodlet was apparently a tutor in the Fauntleroy family of "The Cliffs."

Footnote_99_99

Philip Ludwell Lee (1727-1775) was the eldest son of Thomas Lee, who had served as president of the Council. He had inherited his father's manor plantation, "Stratford," on the Potomac River in Westmoreland County. Like Robert Carter, Philip Ludwell Lee was now a member of the Council.

Footnote_100_100

Probably Elizabeth Lee, daughter of John Lee of Essex County, a nephew of Thomas Lee of "Stratford."

Footnote_101_101

Matilda Lee was the daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee of "Stratford." She later married "Light Horse Harry" Lee.

Footnote_102_102

One Joseph Lane was a prominent planter in Westmoreland County at this time.

Footnote_103_103

This song occurs in an opera, Artaxerxes, by Thomas Augustine Arne, which was first performed in London in 1762. The libretto of Arne was an adaptation of an Italian drama, Artaserse, by Metastasio (Pietro Antonia Domenico Bonaventura). Metastasio was born in 1698 and died in 1782.

Footnote_104_104

Dr. Walter Jones of "Hayfield" in Lancaster County, was known as "the luminary of the Northern Neck." He was the son of Colonel Thomas Jones, a planter-businessman of Williamsburg and Hanover County. His mother, Elizabeth Cocke, was a niece of Mark Catesby, the well-known English naturalist. Dr. Jones had been educated at the College of William and Mary and he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. At the former institution he became a fast friend of Thomas Jefferson and of Bathurst Skelton, whose widow Jefferson later married. Jones achieved distinction both in the field of medicine and in politics. In 1777 he was appointed physician-general of the Middle Department, but declined the office, which was later filled by Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia. Jones was made a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1774. He served as a member of Congress for a number of years. Dr. Jones' wife was Alice Flood, the daughter of William Flood, the well-known physician and turfman of Richmond County.

Footnote_105_105

The custom of firing powder during the Christmas season is one that persists in the South today in various forms.

Footnote_106_106

John Lowe (1750-1798), a Scotsman, was the tutor of the children of Colonel John Augustine Washington, a brother of George Washington, at this period. John Augustine Washington's manor plantation, "Bushfield," was located on the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, a short distance from "Nomini Hall" and "Hickory Hill." Lowe was the author of a number of ballads which are still popular in Scotland today. After serving for some time as a tutor and conducting an academy at Fredericksburg, he was ordained an Anglican clergyman, and appears to have served as minister in both St. George's and Hanover Parishes. An unhappy marriage is believed to have led to a dissipation which resulted in his early death. Cf. Meade, Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia, Vol. II, p. 185; Virginia Magazine of History, Vol. 29 (January 1921), pp. 102-105.

Footnote_107_107

Dr. Henry Francks of Westmoreland County.

Footnote_108_108

Dr. Moore Fauntleroy (1743-1802) was the son of William Fauntleroy of Naylor's Hole in Richmond County. Fauntleroy, who had studied medicine in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, practiced in Essex County after his return to Virginia in 1770.

Footnote_109_109

Richard Lee of "Lee Hall."

Footnote_110_110

The account books of Robert Carter show that William Taylor was at this period overseer of three of Carter's plantations or "quarters," called Dicks, Morgans and Rutters.

Footnote_111_111

Thomas Thompson was a well known physician of Westmoreland County. Robert Carter retained the services of Thompson for the blacks on his plantations for a number of years.

Footnote_112_112

Probably James Balendine of the firm referred to in the Carter account books as "Messrs. James Balendine & Co."

Footnote_113_113

"Dotterell" was an English blooded horse that had been bred by Sir John Pennington. He was regarded as the swiftest in that country with the exception of one, called "Eclipse." Dotterell had been imported into the colony in 1766 by Philip Ludwell Lee of "Stratford" in Westmoreland County.

Footnote_114_114

Miss Sarah Stanhope was the housekeeper at "Nomini Hall."

Footnote_115_115

Colonel Henry Lee of "Leesylvania."

Footnote_116_116

Apparently George Fairfax Lee of "Mount Pleasant."

Footnote_117_117

Parson Giberne was not so fortunate in escaping criticism on other occasions. Fithian, himself, notes his gambling several times, and the Reverend Jonathan Boucher, Landon Carter and Robert Wormeley Carter all comment upon it in their journals.

Footnote_118_118

See this valentine in Appendix, pp. 230-233.

Footnote_119_119

Francis Lightfoot Lee (1734-1797) of "Menokin" in Richmond County was the fourth son of President Thomas Lee of "Stratford." His wife was Rebecca Tayloe, a daughter of Colonel John Tayloe of "Mount Airy." Lee served as a member of the House of Burgesses from Loudoun County and later from Richmond County.

Footnote_120_120

Frances Ann Tasker Carter died in 1787 and was buried in the family graveyard at "Nomini Hall." Her husband, who died seventeen years later, was buried in Baltimore.

Footnote_121_121

Samuel Griffin Fauntleroy (1759-1826) was the son of Moore Fauntleroy of "The Cliffs" in Richmond County.

Footnote_122_122

Leedstown was a thriving center of trade and shipping. It had been incorporated in 1742.

Footnote_123_123

John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, served as Governor of the colony from 1771 to 1775. Lady Dunmore did not arrive in Virginia to join him until the latter part of February of 1774.

Footnote_124_124

The Virginia Gazette was founded by William Parks at Williamsburg in 1736. This journal continued to issue until 1778. In 1766 a rival sheet bearing the same name was established and was published in Williamsburg until 1776. In 1775 a third Virginia Gazette had been established which continued to issue until 1780.