Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Elaine, Bellfield Plantation was located in York Co, VA and while no longer statnding, a marker on the parkway btwn Williamsburg and Yorktown clearly marks the former location. Captain John West, one of the four West brothers who came to Virginia early in the seventeenth century, received a grant of land from the Royal Council "in the right of his son being the first born Christian at Chischiack." That was in 1632, and two thousand acres of the land were on the York River. The place was called Bellfield, and was sold by John West to Edward Digges in 1650.
Edward Digges, son of Sir Dudley Digges, came to Virginia from Chilham, in England. Edward's father was important in the service of King Charles I, and was also a member of the London Company. In 1655 Edward Digges became Governor of Virginia, serving under Cromwell. He is probably best remembered in connection with his attempt to establish the silk industry in Virginia. The old, gnarled mulberry trees scattered through the Yorktown area, as well as those around Williamsburg and Jamestown, are survivors of this experiment.
Edward Digges turned out to be a good governor during his term in office. He is also remembered for his interest in, and development of, the tobacco trade. He had a trade-mark (E.D.) for his tobacco, and it always sold well in England, as well as in other countries. The plantation was called The E.D. Plantation, and became Bellfield in the 18th century. Edward Digges, after serving as Governor of Virginia, became Auditor General, and a member of the King's Council.
Ringfield, also on the York, was the next plantation to Bellfield. It was the home of the Rings.
Bellfield must have been quite a fine mansion. Excavations show the foundations were forty-seven by thirty-four feet, with walls twenty-eight inches thick. An inventory listing slaves, furniture, etc., made in 1692, describes the house as having "hall parlor, yellow passage, yellow roome, large roome against ye yellow roome, ye back rooms against ye large room, the red room, the garrets, the back roome, the sellar and the kitching."
The estate remained in the possession of the Digges family until 1787, when it was sold by William Digges, Jr. to William Waller. It was later owned by the Reverend Sarvant Jones.
The house has long since vanished, and the land of Bellfield, as well as the neighboring field, now belong to the United States Government and is part of the Colonial National Historic Park, while Ringfield belongs to the Navy Mine Depot.
Source: "Old Virginia Houses Along the James" by Emmie Ferguson Farrar, 1957, Bonanza Books, New York.
Will Jordan
Greensboro, NC
Followups:
|
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/diggs/messages/35.html | ||
 |
Agreement of Use Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|