Names of Families in Westmoreland County Genealogy, Wills, Estates, Marriages, Deeds

Westmoreland County Virginia was formed in 1653 from Northumberland County. The county seat is Montross, Virginia. Some well-remembered residents of the county were President George Washington, President James Monroe and Robert E. Lee as well as Robert Carter, Henry Lee, Richard Lee, Daniel McCarty, George Turbeville and John Turbeville. A bloody naval battle occurred on July 14 1813 at the mouth of the Yeocomico River when a British force with a five-to-one advantage attacked an American vessel, leaving no survivors.

All the Ladies Wear a Red Cloak during Voyage to Maryland

December 13, 1773. "Mr Carter is preparing for a Voyage in his Schooner, the Hariot, to the Eastern Shore in Maryland, for Oysters: there are of the party, Mr Carter, Captain Walker, Colonel Richard Lee, and Mr. Lancelot Lee. With Sailors to work the vessel, I observe it is a general custom on Sundays here, with Gentlemen to invite one another home to dine, after Church; and to consult about, determine their common business, either before or after Service. It is not the Custom for Gentlemen to go into Church til Service is beginning, when they enter in a Body, in the same manner as they come out; I have known the Clerk to come out and call them in to prayers. They stay also after the Service is over, usually as long, sometimes longer, than the Parson was preaching. Almost every Lady wears a red Cloak; and when they ride out they tye a white handkerchief over their Head and face, so that when I first came into Virginia, I was distressed whenever I saw a Lady, for I thought She had the Tooth-Ach! The People are extremely hospitable, and very polite both of which are most certainly universal Characteristics of the Gentlemen in Virginia; some swear bitterly, but the practise seems to be generally disapproved. I have heard that this Country is notorious for Gaming, however this be, I have not seen a Pack of Cards, nor a Die, since I left home, nor gaming nor Betting of any kind except at the Richmond-Race. Almost every Gentleman of Condition, keeps a Chariot and Four; many drive with six Horses. I observe that all the Merchants and shopkeepers in the Sphere of my acquaintance and I am told it is the case through the Province, are young Scotch-Men; Several of whom I know, as Cunningham, Jennings, Hamilton, Blain; And it has been the custom heretofore to have all their Tutors, and Schoolmasters from Scotland, tho' they begin to be willing to employ their own Countrymen. Evening Ben Carter and myself had a long dispute on the practice of fighting. He thinks it best for two persons who have any dispute to go out in good-humour and fight manfully, and says they will be sooner and longer friends than to brood and harbour malice. Mr Carter is practising this Evening on the Guittar He begins with the Trumpet Minuet. He has a good Ear for Music; a vastly delicate Taste; and keeps good Instruments, he has here at Home a Harpsichord, Forte-Piano, Harmonica, Guittar, Violin, and German Flutes, and at Williamsburg, has a good Organ, he himself also is indefatigable in the Practice." Source: A Plantation Tutor of the Old Dominion by Philip Vickers Fithian 1773-1774: The Journal of Schoolteacher at Nomini Hall.

The Suffering of Prisoners Imposed by the British

During the Revolutionary War, when an American was taken into the hands of the British as a prisoner, his fate was sealed. Unlike the patriots who showed compassion for British prisoners, the British administered cruel treatment, not only in battle, but particularly to their captives. The patriots were treated more like felons than as honorable enemies, or cousins. Despite the fact that they spoke the same language and shared the same blood, the British excused their cruelty by saying that their prisoners were deserters of the King, and were to be dealt with accordingly. The patriotic seamen of the Virginia Navy were no exceptions to the rule when they fell into the hands of the more powerful lords of the ocean. They were carried in numbers to Bermuda, and to the West Indies, and cast into loathsome and pestilential prisons, from which a few sometimes managed to escape, at the peril of their lives. Respect of position and rank found no favor in the eyes of their ungenerous captors, and no appeal could reach their hearts except through the promises of bribes. Many patriots languished and died in those places, away from country and friends,whose fate was not known until many years after they had passed away. But it was not altogether abroad that they were so cruelly maltreated. The record of their sufferings in the prisons of the enemy, in our own country, is left to testify against these relentless persecutors. Researchers might examine the records in Barbadoes and other islands in the West Indies.