Berkeley Plantation, one of the first plantations in America, comprises about 1,000 acres (400 ha) on the banks of the James River on State Route 5 in Charles City County, Virginia. Berkeley Plantation was originally called Berkeley Hundred, named after the Berkeley Company of England. In 1726, it became the ancestral home of the Harrison family of Virginia, after Benjamin Harrison IV located there and built one of the first three-story brick mansions in Virginia. It is the home to two presidents of the United States: William Henry Harrison, and his grandson Benjamin Harrison. It is now a museum property, open to the public.
Charles City County is a county located in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated southeast of Richmond and west of Jamestown. It is bounded on the south by the James River and on the east by the Chickahominy River.
William Edward Dodd was an American historian, author and diplomat. A liberal Democrat, he served as the United States Ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1937 during the Nazi era. Initially a holder of the slightly antisemitic notions of his times, he went to Germany with instructions from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to do what he could to protest Nazi treatment of Jews in Germany "unofficially," while also attempting to follow official State Department instructions to maintain cordial official diplomatic relations. Convinced from first hand observation that the Nazis were an increasing threat, he resigned over his inability to mobilize the Roosevelt administration, particularly the State Department, to counter the Nazis prior to the start of World War II.
Westover Plantation is a historic colonial tidewater plantation located on the north bank of the James River in Charles City County, Virginia. Established in c. 1730–1750, it is the homestead of the Byrd family of Virginia. State Route 5, a scenic byway, runs east–west to the north of the plantation, connecting the independent cities of Richmond and Williamsburg.
Charles Richard Crane was a wealthy American businessman, heir to a large industrial fortune and connoisseur of Arab culture, a noted Arabist. His widespread business interests gave him entree into domestic and international political affairs where he enjoyed privileged access to many influential power brokers at the top levels of government. His special arena of interest was Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
William Cabell Rives was an American lawyer, planter, politician and diplomat from Virginia. Initially a Jackson Democrat as well as member of the First Families of Virginia, Rives served in the Virginia House of Delegates representing first Nelson County, then Albemarle County, Virginia, before service in both the U.S. House and Senate. Rives also served two separate terms as U.S. Minister to France. During the Andrew Jackson administration, Rives negotiated a treaty whereby the French agreed to pay the U.S. for spoliation claims from the Napoleonic Wars. During the American Civil War, Rives became a Delegate to the Provisional Confederate Congress and the Confederate House of Representatives.
Colonel William Byrd III was an American planter, politician and military officer who was a member of the House of Burgesses.
Princeton Cemetery is located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It is owned by the Nassau Presbyterian Church. In his 1878 history of Princeton, New Jersey, John F. Hageman refers to the cemetery as "The Westminster Abbey of the United States."
Major John Bolling was an American planter, politician and military officer in the colony of Virginia. He was the great-grandchild of Pocahontas and her husband, John Rolfe.
Crane is a surname. The name is a derivative of "Cron" in Old English or is the English translation of the German "Krahn" or "Kranich." According to The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain & Ireland, "Cron," "Krahn" and "Kranich" all mean "crown" in both Old English and German respectively. According to the same source, "Crone" is also compared with "Crane", "Crown", "Cron" and "Crowne". In some places in Britain, "Crane", when used as a name, can also be a reference to a tall, slender man, similar to the bird, "Crane" or to someone with long legs. Both the modern English version of "Crane" and modern German versions of "Krahn" or "Kranich" are more commonly associated with the tall bird than with a crown and the Old English and Old German translations have become less common.
Richard Teller Crane I was the founder of R.T. Crane & Bro., a Chicago-based manufacturer, later Crane Co.
The Randolph family of Virginia is a prominent political family, whose members contributed to the politics of Colonial Virginia and Virginia after statehood. They are descended from the Randolphs of Morton Morrell, Warwickshire, England. The first Randolph in America was Edward Fitz Randolph, who settled in Massachusetts in 1630. His nephew, William Randolph, later came to Virginia as an orphan in 1669. He made his home at Turkey Island along the James River. Because of their numerous progeny, William Randolph and his wife, Mary Isham Randolph, have been referred to as "the Adam and Eve of Virginia". The Randolph family was the wealthiest and most powerful family in 18th-century Virginia.
William Corcoran Eustis was a captain in the United States Army and the personal assistant to General John J. Pershing during World War I. He was chairman of the inauguration committee for the first inauguration of Woodrow Wilson in 1913 and started the Loudoun Hunt in 1894.
Theodorick Bland, also known as Theodorick Bland of Westover, was a planter, merchant and politician in colonial Virginia who served as Speaker of the House of Burgesses, as well as in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. The founder of the Bland family of Virginia, his son and grandson of the same name also served in the Virginia General Assembly before the American Revolutionary War, and later descendants sharing the same name would become a federal judge and congressman.
Benjamin Harrison IV was a colonial American planter, politician, and member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. He was the son of Benjamin Harrison III and the father of Benjamin Harrison V, who was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the fifth governor of Virginia. Harrison built the homestead of Berkeley Plantation, which is believed to be the oldest three-story brick mansion in Virginia and is the ancestral home to two presidents: his grandson William Henry Harrison, and his great-great-grandson Benjamin Harrison. The Harrison family and the Carter family were both powerful families in Virginia, and they were united when Harrison married Anne Carter, the daughter of Robert "King" Carter. His family also forged ties to the Randolph family, as four of his children married four grandchildren of William Randolph I.
Thomas Randolph, also known as Thomas Randolph of Tuckahoe, was the first European settler at Tuckahoe, a member of the House of Burgesses, and the second child of William Randolph and Mary Isham, daughter of Henry Isham and Katherine Isham (Banks).
The Schönborn Palace in the Malá Strana district of Prague is the current home of the United States Embassy to the Czech Republic. The first United States Minister to Czechoslovakia was Richard Crane, the grandson of a Chicago plumbing millionaire. Crane, who had acquired the palace at the end of the First World War, sold the building in 1925 to the United States Government for $117,000.
Peter Augustus Jay was an American diplomat who served as U.S. General Consul to Egypt, U.S. Minister to El Salvador and Romania and U.S. Ambassador to Argentina.
