Bellfield Plantation

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Bellefield Plantation
E.D. Plantation
Bellfield Cemetery, Digges Road vicinity, Yorktown, York County, VA HABS VA,100-YORK.V,4-1.tif
Bellfield Plantation
TypePlantation
Location York County, Virginia
Coordinates 37°16′22″N76°34′47″W / 37.27278°N 76.57972°W / 37.27278; -76.57972
Governing body National Park Service
Official nameBellefield Site & Cemetery
Reference no.Candidate Site 099-0002 [1]

Bellefield Plantation (or Bellfield, also called E.D. Plantation) is a historic plantation site located in York County, Virginia. In modern times, the former site is located off the Colonial Parkway next to the York River and abutts Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. [2]

Contents

In 1630, the Virginia Colony made the decision to plant a settlement on the York River:

"... for the securing & taking in of a tract of Land called ye fforest bordering uppon the cheife residence of ye Pamunkey King the most dangerous head of the Indian enemy ..." [3]

John West (governor) received a land grant for this purpose, 600 acres "on the east side of Felgates". [4] "Felgates" refers to Robert Felgate's 1632 grant of "350 acres lying at Kiskeyacke upon Pamunkey". [3] In 1635 after the "thrusting out" of Governor Sir John Harvey, John West was chosen as temporary replacement, [5] and served until 1637 when Harvey was restored to his position. In 1640, West was ordered to England, along with neighbor John Utie, Samuel Matthews (captain), and William Peirce (burgess) to answer charges in the Star Chamber. All four were eventually cleared, and returned to Virginia.

West sold the original 600 acres, along with adjoining land for a total of 1250 acres to Edward Digges in 1650. [6] [7] [8] [9] It became known as the "E.D." Plantation at this time, and using slave labor, grew in fame for producing luxury tobacco. [10] The plantation remained in the family until 1787, when it was sold. [11]

The Plantation was known as "Bellfield" by 1811, when it was advertised for sale as "Belfield, 1.000 acres in York Co., the only estate where the famous E.D. tobacco was raised, which never failed to bring in England one shilling when other tobacco would not bring three pence." [11] [8] The area would continue to be used for agriculture purposes up until 1918, when the US Navy purchased the land for establishment of Navy Mine Depot, Yorktown (in modern times called Naval Weapons Station Yorktown). In the 1930s as the Colonial Parkway was established, the land was transferred to the National Park Service.

Owners of Bellfield Plantation
Date of acquisitionOwnerNotes
1630 John West (governor) Virginia Colony land grant
1650 Edward Digges purchased. Buried in Bellfield's cemetery. [12]
1675 William Digges inherited
1697Edward Diggesinherited
September 21, 1699 Dudley Digges (burgess) purchased (from nephew). Buried in Bellfield's cemetery. [12]
January 18, 1710 Cole Digges (burgess) inherited. Buried in Bellfield's cemetery. [12]
1744 Edward Digges (burgess) inherited
1769 William Digges (patriot) inherited
June 19, 1787William Wallerpurchased
Dec 1815Scervant Jonespurchased
September 9, 1829Richard R. Corbinpurchased
March 2, 1830Robert McCandlishpurchased. Buried in Bellfield's cemetery. [12]
1878Robert McCandlish (Jr.)inherited
August 7, 1918 US Navy purchased
1930s National Park Service land transferred

See also

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Dudley Digges (1665–1711) was a Virginia merchant, planter and politician who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly, as well as agent of the Royal African Company and factor for British merchants John Jeffreys and Micajah Perry Sr. After his marriage, Digges twice represented Warwick County in the House of Burgesses before being appointed to the Virginia Governor's Council in 1698. Digges also served as auditor and surveyor-general of Virginia from 1705 until his death, and purchased the E.D. Plantation where he had been born from his nephew Edward upon the death of his brother William in Maryland. That property, renamed Bellfield plantation, is now part of Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. His sons Cole and Dudley Digges Jr. would also continue the family's planter and political traditions.

Dudley Digges (1694–1771) was a Virginia attorney, merchant, planter and politician who served in the House of Burgesses representing the newly created Goochland County (1730–1732). Possibly the least known of three related men of the same name who served in the Virginia legislature during the 18th century, this man was the son of Dudley Digges Sr. who served in both houses of the Virginia legislature and bought the family's historic E.D. plantation in York County from his cousin. Geneologist John Frederick Dorman found that although this Dudley Digges was appointed a justice of the peace in Goochland County in 1735, three years later he bought 600 acres and moved back to James City County.

Dudley Digges was a Virginia attorney, planter, military officer and politician who served in the House of Burgesses (1752-1776) and all the Virginia Revolutionary conventions representing York County. Possibly the most famous of three related men of the same name who served in the Virginia legislature during the 18th century, this man was the third son of Yorktown merchant Cole Digges who served in both houses of the Virginia legislature.

Cole Digges (1691-1744) was a Virginia merchant, planter and politician who helped establish Yorktown, Virginia, and served more than two decades on the Virginia Governor's Council after representing Warwick County in the House of Burgesses.

Cole Digges (1748–1788) was a Virginia planter, military officer and politician who represented now-defunct Warwick County, in the Virginia House of Delegates (1778–1784) and during the Virginia Ratification Convention of 1788. Possibly the most famous of three related men of the same name who served in the Virginia legislature during the 18th century, and despite genealogical disagreement this man was most likely the son of Dudley Digges of Yorktown and Williamsburg and his first wife, Martha Burwell Armistead. He served during the American Revolutionary War as a dragoon in the Continental Army, rising from the rank of cornet to lieutenant before resigning and starting his legislative career. The other two related men of the same name were his grandfather, Yorktown merchant Cole Digges who served in both houses of the Virginia legislature, and his cousin Cole Digges who briefly represented Warwick County in the House of Delegates before his death and this man's succession.

William Digges was a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia, who represented Warwick County, Virginia in the House of Burgesses from 1752 until 1771.

Edward Digges was a Virginia merchant, planter and politician who represented York County in the House of Burgesses.

William Digges was a Virginia planter and politician who represented now-defunct Warwick County, in the Virginia House of Delegates (1790-1802). Although genealogists disagree as to his father, he was the grandson of Cole Digges who helped found Yorktown. The other related men of the same name were:

References

  1. ↑ "York County 2035 Comprehensive Plan, Historic Resources". York County, Virginia.
  2. ↑ "Bellfield Plantation". The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on January 21, 2025. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
  3. 1 2 Virginia Land Office Patents (Report). Vol. 1 (1 & 2 ed.). 1623–1643. p. 105.
  4. ↑ "Extracts from the Records of York County". The William and Mary Quarterly. 26 (1) (1 ed.): 27–37. July 1917. doi:10.2307/1914574. JSTOR   1914574.
  5. ↑ Thornton, J Mills (January 1968). "The Thrusting out of Governor Harvey: A Seventeenth-Century Rebellion". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. 76 (1 ed.). pp. 11–26.
  6. ↑ Hatch, Charles E. Jr. (1970). Bellfield Estate General Study.
  7. ↑ Land Office Patents (Report). Vol. 2. 1643–1651. p. 316.
  8. 1 2 "Bellfield". The William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. Vol. 15 (1 ed.). 1906. pp. 36–39. JSTOR   1915735. Archived from the original on December 3, 2024. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  9. ↑ Lyon Gardiner Tyler, ed. (1915). Encyclopdia of Virginia Biography. United States: Lewis historical publishing Company. p. 48.
  10. ↑ "A Cradle of Slavery on the York". Daily Press. May 25, 2013. Archived from the original on June 3, 2023. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
  11. 1 2 Tyler, Lyon G., "Pedigree of a Representative Virginia Planter", William & Mary Quarterly Jan. 1893 Archived 2024-11-27 at the Wayback Machine also in Genealogies of Virginia Families: From the William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.) 1982) vol. II, p. 169 et seq.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Digges Family at Bellfield Plantation Memorials". Find a Grave . Archived from the original on December 3, 2024. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
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