Courses of Empire:The Thomas Chew Family of Orange …

1 I Despit e the bu rg eoning prosperity of his young Family in the emerging Virginia Piedmont, A mbrose Madison s murder in the summer o f 173 2 l eft hi s w idow Frances Taylor Madison and his child ren in a somewhat precarious position legally and fi na nc ia ll y. Hav in g dive st ed himself o f his hold ings in the Tidewater, Ambrose s Mount Pleasant estate was his ch ief capital h ol ding a nd in come so urce. However, this plantation, a joint pate nt to Ambrose and his brother-in-law Thomas chew , husband of his wif e s you nger a nd nearest- in-age sister Martha Taylor, had never been formally divided b etween them an d, on Ambrose s death, title to the 4,675 acre tract passed entirely to chew . Whatev er anxieti es, if a ny, a ttended this legal fact for Frances Taylor Madis on, they were resolved on May 26, 1737 when chew deed ed 2,850 acres o f the original patent to Franc es Maddison, widow and James Maddison, son and heir of Ambrose Mad ison, d ec eased.

2 This deed, recorded in the Orange County Virginia Deed Book 2, pa ge s 10-13, further recite s th at Ambr ose Maddison departed this life before an y l egal di vision of the land was made, b y which the whole was ves te d i n Thomas chew as survivor. Mirr or in g the provisions of Ambrose s will, chew s d ee d gave France s a l ife es ta te only with the title passing un encumbered o n her d eath to her s on, James Madiso n Sr. , the P resident s father. Although at his death Ambrose held a one-sixth interest in the 10,000-acre Brookeby patent about 11 miles to the west of Mount Pleasant and also held interest in another 6,000 acres of land wi th in 3 0 miles of th e Mount Pleasant tract, none of this latter acreage had been patented or substant ia ll y improved.

3 While she might not be described as unpr ovi ded for by an y means, the fact t hat her a ctua l h ome was n ot le gally he rs nor h er s on s ca nnot but hav e been the sou rc e o f some unease in that h ighly patri ar chal and male-d omin ated s ociety. Unpro vi ded widows in colonial Vi rgini a either subsisted on the char ity of r ela tives o r at t he charge of the Overse er s of th e Poor, and their sons were, if fortunate, apprenti ced o ut to trad es o r professions. With p lu ck and luck, t he se young men co uld e st ab li sh th emselves i n trade or professionally as did Frances and Martha Tayl or s cousin Edmund Pendleto n, one of col onial Virginia s premier lawyer s and states man, an or phan a t age 1 4 a nd, lat te rly , an intimate friend a nd cor re spondent of Thomas chew s oldest s on Joseph.

4 But James Madison Sr. was not to know this path in life as his u ncle Thomas de ed all owed Frances Taylor Madi son to continue her ex traordi nari ly successful development of the Mou nt Pleasant tract and nurtu re he r ol de st son to c arry on the energetic management of an estate which yielded profit s uffici en t fo r the Family t o eve ntually build one of the 18th centur y Vi rginia Pi ed mont s mos t substanti al and elegant mansi on homes wher e James Sr. s increasingly well-stocked library - with its English Whig -i nspi red texts l ike The Spectat or andThe Tatler -was t o for m the basi s of the fu tur e P res ident s early literary and intelle ctua l exposure in a Family climate of sound economic security.

5 There is no s urviv in g evide nce t ha t Fr ances Madison initiated any le gal process against her brother-in-law to settle the division of this land, and given Thomas legal experie nce and his judicial and political standing as county magi st ra te at t hat d ate, it w ould ha ve be en unli kely she co uld h ave ventured to do so. As whatever pressures may have b een a ppli ed among h is rel ati ves o r by his wife can only be speculativ e, Thomas chew s generosity in allowi ng the Moun t Pleasant property i ncluding "all and Si ngular house s, b uil din gs, Barns, Dovehouses, Yards, Orc ha rd s, Gardens, Woods, T imber, un derwoods, waters, Watercourses, Way s, Easements", to pass down une nc umber ed to James Madi son S r.

6 Woul d not be forgotten or unreciprocated when chew , a victim, as his son Joseph cla imed, of his own open-handedness, fell on hard times later in life. Born in St. Stephen s Parish, King & Queen County, Virginia in 1698 , Thomas chew was the second but oldest surv iv in g son of L arkin chew (1676-1729) and Hannah Roy (1680-1 734), d aug hter of John and Dorothy Roy of Port Roy al, V irgini a. Five children were born to Larkin and Hannah Roy chew : Joseph (died young), Thomas , Ann, John a nd La rk in Jr. The chew fa mily were among the earliest to settle Virginia, the immigrant J ohn chew , Larkin Sr. s grandfathe r, ar ri vi ng at J amestown fi rst in 1 618 an d more permanently in 1622 in the ship wife Sarah Gale arr ived with thei r son John the following year in the Seafl oure.

7 According to some sources, at the time of their immigration, th e fami ly had been reside nt in Che wt on Mendip, Somerset. Some fami ly his to ri es rela te that the Charitie belonged to the Family of Sarah Gale , and tha t John brought bricks for his i ntende d home a t Jamestown as ballast in that sh ip s hold. Born in Whalley Parish, Lancashire on July 16, 1587, the immigrant John chew s p ossibl e residence in Somerset (whi ch may have been the home coun ty of his moth er, Anne Broddyll C he w; in fa ct , some early histories and Courses of Empire: The Thomas chew Familyof Orange County and the Colonial Virginia Recessionalby Frederick Madison Smith, Secretary, NSMFD 2genealogies placed John s birth in Chewton Mendip) would have put him in contact w it h t he s ig ni fica nt promot ers of t he Virginia colony ba sed i n t he West Country of England.

8 According t o Thomas chew s son Joseph, Sir Willi am Berkeley , th e Somerset-born Royalist Governor whose administration molded colonial Vir gin ia in to i ts most lasti ng and d ef ining forms, had a particular regard for John who was described by a nothe r governor, Sir John Harvey, as o ne of the ab lest merchants in Virginia in 1624. Burgess for Hogg Islan d ( 16 23-39 ), Burgess from York County (1632 -4 4) a nd Justic e o f Yor k (1 634-52), J ohn s ris in g pro sp eri ty co incided with Berkel ey s promotion of Virginia as a Cava lie r r efu ge from Englan d s Civil War during hi s f ir st administr ati on of 1 64 2-5 2. An hi st or ic al marker pl aced in th e Jamestown National Historic Site r elat es that: John Che w, l ike several of hi s i mmediate neighbors, was a merc hant, one of the oldest i n t he Colo ny.

9 He acquired the small p lot her e backs treet in 1624, and put up a house b y hi m now erecte d and builded in Newt owne within the precinct s o f James C it y. The historia n Phil ip Bruce, in his The S oci al Life of Virgin ia in the Seventeent h Cent ur y, n otes tha t i n the early hi st ory of th e Colony, merchant planters in many instances had re sidences and st orehouses at Jamestown while holding and culti va ting la rg e estates elsewhere; this was the case with John chew who kept his pl antat io n home on Hogg Isl and: Among t hose engaged in b usiness i n Virginia, at a very early date .. were Geor ge Men if ie, John chew and Abraham Piersey.

10 All thr ee rose t o wealt h and prominence in t he Col ony an d at least one, chew , founded a f amily of disti nc ti on and infl uence. Following the death of his first wife, John remarried in 1651 to Rachel Cons ta bl e, you nger sist er of Anne Constable Lee, the wife of th e immigran t Richard Lee, founder of the Lee f amil y in V irginia and Rachel s guardian at the time of her marriage. According to some genealogis ts , Rachel Constable s Family were a lso fr om C he wton Mendip . Someti me a round 1644, at th e t ime of the Second Indian Uprisi ng, John removed his f amily to Ann Arundel Cou nty, Maryl and in spite o f B erk eley s attempts to dissuade him. Although Jo hn returned to Virginia after the de at h of his second wife, his oldest son Samuel (1634-76) remained in Mary la nd, residing a t his estate Herr in gto n a t Her ring Bay Calv er t County.