Westmoreland County is a county located in the Northern Neck of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census,the population sits at 18,477. Its county seat is Montross.
The Northern Neck is the northernmost of three peninsulas on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in the Commonwealth of Virginia(along with the Middle Peninsula and the Virginia Peninsula). The Potomac River forms the northern boundary of the peninsula;the Rappahannock River demarcates it on the south. The land between these rivers was formed into Northumberland County in 1648,prior to the creation of Westmoreland County and Lancaster County.
First Families of Virginia (FFV) are the families in colonial Virginia who are socially prominent and wealthy,but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descend from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown,Williamsburg,the Northern Neck and along the James River and other navigable waters in Virginia during the 17th century. These elite families generally married within their social class for many generations and,as a result,most surnames of First Families date to the colonial period.
Thomas Fairfax,6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron,was a Scottish peer. The only resident peer in late colonial-era America,Fairfax owned a vast territory of land in Virginia known as the Northern Neck Proprietary,which his ancestors had acquired in 1649 by a land grant from King Charles II of England. The proprietary originally spanned roughly 5 million acres,and Fairfax administered it from his wilderness estate in Greenway Court,Virginia. He owned several hundred slaves on some 30 farms and derived much of his income from their labor.
John Washington was an English-born merchant,planter,politician and military officer. Born in Tring,Hertfordshire,he subsequently emigrated to the English colony of Virginia and became a member of the planter class. In addition to serving in the Virginia militia and owning several slave plantations,Washington also served for many years in the House of Burgesses,representing Westmoreland County. He was the first member of the Washington family to live in North America and was the paternal great-grandfather of George Washington,the first president of the United States.
Augustine Washington Sr. was an American planter and merchant. Born in Westmoreland,Virginia,he was the father of ten children,among them the first president of the United States,George Washington,soldier and politician Lawrence Washington,and politician Charles Washington. Born into the planter class of the British colony of Virginia,Washington owned several slave plantations,from which he derived the primary source of his wealth. He also speculated in land development and owned an iron mine. Although Washington never sat in the House of Burgesses,as did his own father and son,he served in various government positions in the counties where he owned land.
Col. Isaac Allerton Jr. was planter,military officer,politician and merchant in colonial America. Like his father,he first traded in New England,and after his father's death,in Virginia. There,he served on the Governor's Council (1687-1691) and for many years in the House of Burgesses,representing Northumberland County and later Westmoreland County.
Colonel Thomas Lee was a planter and politician in colonial Virginia,and a member of the Lee family,a political dynasty. Lee became involved in politics in 1710,serving in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly,and also held important positions as Naval Officer for the Northern Potomac Region and agent for the Northern Neck Proprietary. After his father died,Lee inherited thousands of acres of land as well as enslaved people in then-vast Northumberland and Stafford Counties in Virginia as well as across the Potomac River in Charles County,Maryland. These properties were developed as tobacco plantations. Northumberland County was later subdivided,so some of Lee's properties were in modern Fairfax,Fauquier,Prince William and Loudoun Counties as well as the counties in the modern Northern Neck of Virginia.
John Augustine Washington Sr. was an American planter and politician best known as the younger brother of George Washington and the father of Supreme Court Justice Bushrod Washington.,he was also the grandfather of John Augustine Washington Jr
Cople is a village and civil parish in the English county of Bedfordshire. The name Cople is derived from the phrase Cock Pool,a place where chickens were kept,that was mentioned in the Domesday Book.
John Mottrom,or Mottram,was one of the first,if not the first,white settlers in the Northern Neck region of Virginia between 1635 and 1640.
Architect John Ariss (1725–1799) was born in Westmoreland County,Virginia to a family long settled in the Old Dominion. Several houses now considered National Historic Landmarks have been attributed to him. One of the best documented surviving examples of his work is Traveller's Rest in Kearneysville,West Virginia,which he designed as a farmstead home for American Revolutionary War General Horatio Gates. Ariss is also believed to have designed the Neo-Palladian estate Mount Airy,located in Richmond County,Virginia on Virginia's Northern Neck. In the 1930s,Harewood,a home constructed for Samuel Washington and also now a National Historic Landmark,was also attributed to Ariss,who lived nearby.
Popes Creek is a small tidal tributary stream of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County,Virginia. The George Washington Birthplace National Monument lies adjacent to Popes Creek estuary.
William Fairfax (1691–1757) was a political appointee of the British Crown in several colonies as well as a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia. Fairfax served as Collector of Customs in Barbados,Chief Justice and governor of the Bahamas;and Customs agent in Marblehead,Massachusetts,before being reassigned to the Colony of Virginia.
Lawrence Washington was a colonial-era Virginia planter,slave holder,lawyer,soldier and politician. He also was the paternal grandfather of George Washington.
Bushrod Washington was an American attorney and politician who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1798 to 1829. On the Supreme Court,he was a staunch ally of Chief Justice John Marshall.
Bushfield,also known as Bushfield Manor,is a historic 2+1⁄2-story Flemish bond,18th century brick Colonial Revival mansion located in Mount Holly,Westmoreland County,Virginia.
The Washington family is an American family of English origins that was part of both the British landed gentry and the American gentry. It was prominent in colonial America and rose to great economic and political eminence especially in the Colony of Virginia as part of the planter class,owning several highly valued plantations,mostly making their money in tobacco farming. Members of the family include the first president of the United States,George Washington (1732–1799),and his nephew,Bushrod Washington (1762–1829),who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
William Augustine Washington was a Virginia planter and officer who served one term in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Westmoreland County,as well as terms as colonel of the county militia and as the county sheriff,before moving to the newly established District of Columbia. The son of the half-brother of President George Washington,he was also one of the seven executors of the former President's estate.
Sir Henry Chicheley was a lieutenant governor of Virginia Colony who also served as Acting Governor during multiple periods in the aftermath of Bacon's Rebellion. Having first visited the Virginia colony as a Royalist in exile,where he served in the House of Burgesses in violation of his probation,Lt. Gov. Chicheley wielded power during a period of sociopolitical turmoil and change,and later in his career was increasingly troubled by England's growing aggression and control over the colony.
