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{{short description|Socially prominent families in colonial Virginia}}
{{For|the hereditary society|Order of the First Families of Virginia}}
{{For|the hereditary society|Order of the First Families of Virginia}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
[[File:Stratford Hall .entrance Westmoreland Virginia.jpg|thumb|View of the main facade, ''[[Stratford Hall (plantation)|Stratford Hall]]'', [[Westmoreland County, Virginia|Westmoreland County]], ancestral home of the Lee family of [[Virginia]]. Along with the [[William Byrd I|Byrds]], the [[Robert Carter I|Carters]], the [[Lawrence Washington (1659–1698)|Washingtons]], and other FFVs, the [[Lee family]] was at the core of Virginia's [[aristocracy]] for centuries.]]
[[File:Stratford Hall .entrance Westmoreland Virginia.jpg|thumb|upright=1|View of the main façade of [[Stratford Hall (plantation)|Stratford Hall]] in [[Westmoreland County, Virginia|Westmoreland County]], the ancestral home of the [[Lee family]] of [[Virginia]]. Along with the [[William Byrd I|Byrds]], [[Robert Carter I|Carters]], [[Lawrence Washington (1659–1698)|Washingtons]], [[Harrison family of Virginia|Harrisons]] and others, these families were at the core of Virginia's [[plantocracy]] for centuries.]]
'''First Families of Virginia''' (FFV) were those families in [[Colonial Virginia]] who were European, socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers.<ref name="Tyler">{{cite journal |date=April 1915 |title=The F. F. V.'s of Virginia |journal=William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine |volume=23 |series= |issue=4 |page=277 |at= |chapter= |location=Richmond, Virginia |publisher=Whittet & Shepperson |editor1-first=Lyon Gardiner |editor1-last=Tyler |editor1-link=Lyon Gardiner Tyler |id= |isbn= |issn= |oclc= |pmid= |pmc= |bibcode= |accessdate=February 11, 2011 |url=http://files.usgwarchives.org/va/schools/wmmary/ffv.txt |laysource= |laysummary= |laydate= |quote= |ref= |separator= |postscript= }}</ref> They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]], and along the [[James River (Virginia)|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.

'''First Families of Virginia''' were families in the British [[colony of Virginia]] who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers.<ref>[[Lyon Gardiner Tyler|Tyler, Lyon Gardiner]], ed. (April 1915). "The F. F. V.'s of Virginia". William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson. page 277.</ref> They descend from European colonists who primarily settled at [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], [[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]], the [[Northern Neck]] and along the [[James River (Virginia)|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.


The American Revolution cut ties with Britain but not with its social traditions. While some First Family members were loyal to Britain, others were Whigs who not only supported but led the Revolution.<ref>Kevin R. C. Gutzman, ''Virginia's American Revolution: From Dominion to Republic, 1776-1840'' (2007)</ref> Many of the Loyalists suffered losses after the Revolution, but many of the new American planters flourished until the Civil War prohibited their ownership of African slaves. The Civil War also disrupted agriculture which increased the financial devastation of civil conflict. Nevertheless, they kept their traditions and much of their political power. Fishwick says that by the 1950s, "the Old-time Aristocracy has not given up, or sunk into decadence as the Southern novelists suggest." They adopted modern technology and co-opted rich "Yankees" into their upper-class, rural horse-estate society.<ref>Fishwick, (1959)</ref>
The [[American Revolution]] cut ties with Britain but not with its social traditions. While some First Family members were loyal to Britain, others were Whigs who not only supported, but led the Revolution.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gutzman |first=Kevin R. C. |title=Virginia's American Revolution: From Dominion tor Republic, 1776–1840 |location=Lanham |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7391-2131-3 }}</ref> Most First Families remained in Virginia, where they flourished as tobacco planters, and from the sale of slaves to the cotton states to the south. Indeed, many younger sons were relocated into the cotton belt to start their own plantations. With the emancipation of slaves during the Civil War and the consequential loss of slave labor, Virginia plantations struggled to turn a profit. The First Families, albeit poorer than before, maintained social and political leadership. [[Marshall Fishwick]] says that by the 1950s, "the old-time aristocracy [had] not given up, or sunk into decadence as Southern novelists suggest." They adopted modern agricultural technology and co-opted rich "Yankees" into their upper-class, rural horse-estate society.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fishwick |first=Marshall |title=F. F. V.'s |journal=American Quarterly |year=1959 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=147–156 |doi=10.2307/2710671 |jstor=2710671 }}</ref>


==English heritage, second sons==
==English heritage, second sons==
[[File:Mann Page II of Virginia Charles Bridges.jpeg|thumb|Mann Page II of [[Rosewell (plantation)|Rosewell]], painted by Charles Bridges. The Rosewell planation was called one of the finest homes in colonial America and built of brick imported from England.]]
[[File:Mann Page II of Virginia Charles Bridges.jpeg|thumb|upright=1|Mann Page II of [[Rosewell (plantation)|Rosewell]], painted by Charles Bridges. The Rosewell plantation was called one of the finest homes in colonial America and built of brick imported from England.]]
English colonists who formed the FFV emigrated to the new [[Colony of Virginia]]. Their migration took place from the settlement of Jamestown through the [[English Civil War]] and [[English Interregnum]] period (1642–1660). Some royalists left England on the accession to power of Oliver Cromwell and his Parliament. Because most of Virginia's leading families recognized [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] as King following the execution of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in 1649, Charles II reputedly called Virginia his "Old Dominion" – a nickname that endures today. The affinity of many early Virginia settlers for the Crown led to the term "distressed Cavaliers", often applied to the Virginia [[plantocracy]]. Some Cavaliers who served under King Charles I fled to Virginia. FFVs often refer to Virginia as "Cavalier Country". These men were offered land or other rewards by King Charles II, but most who had settled in Virginia stayed in Virginia.


Many such early settlers in Virginia were called Second Sons. [[Primogeniture]] favored the first sons' inheriting lands and titles in England. Second or third sons went out to the colonies to make their fortune, or entered the military and the clergy. Tidewater Virginia evolved as a society descended from second or third sons of Englishmen who inherited [[land grant]]s or land in Virginia. They formed part of what became the Southern elite in Colonial America.
English colonists considered members of the First Families of Virginia emigrated to the new [[Colony of Virginia]]. Their migration took place from the settlement of Jamestown through the [[English Civil War]] and [[English Interregnum]] period (1642–1660). Some royalists left England on the accession to power of Oliver Cromwell and his Parliament. Because most of Virginia's leading families recognized [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] as King following the execution of [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] in 1649, Charles II reputedly called Virginia his "Old Dominion" – a nickname that endures today. The affinity of many early supposedly aristocratic Virginia settlers for the Crown led to the term "distressed Cavaliers", often applied to the Virginia oligarchy. Some Cavaliers who served under King Charles I fled to Virginia. FFVs often refer to Virginia as "Cavalier Country". These men were offered rewards of land, etc., by King Charles II, but most who had settled in Virginia stayed in Virginia.


In some cases, longstanding ties among families in England were carried to the new colony, where they were reinforced by marriage and other relations. For instance, there were ancestral ties between the [[Nicholas Spencer|Spencer]] family of Bedfordshire and the [[Washington (name)|Washington]] family; a Spencer secured the land grant later purchased by the Washingtons, where they built their [[Mount Vernon]] home. These sorts of ties were common in the early colony, as families shuttled back and forth between England and Virginia, maintaining their connections with the mother country and with each other.
Many of such early settlers in Virginia were so-called "Second Sons". [[Primogeniture]] favored the first sons' inheriting lands and titles in England. Second or third sons went out to the colonies to make their fortune, or entered the military and the clergy. Tidewater Virginia evolved as a society descended from second or third sons of English gentry who inherited [[land grant]]s or land in Virginia. They formed part of what became the southern elite in America.


A thin network of increasingly interrelated families made up the planter elite and held power in colonial Virginia. "As early as 1660, every seat on the ruling Council of Virginia was held by members of five interrelated families," writes British historian [[John Keegan]], "and as late as 1775, every council member was descended from one of the 1660 councillors."<ref>{{cite book |title=The American Civil War |page=[https://archive.org/details/americancivilwar00keeg/page/334 334] |first=John |last=Keegan |author-link=John Keegan |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-307-26343-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/americancivilwar00keeg/page/334 }}</ref>
In some cases, longstanding ties among families of the English gentry were carried to the new colony, where they were reinforced by marriage and other relations. For instance, there were ancestral ties between the [[Nicholas Spencer|Spencer]] family of Bedfordshire and the [[Washington (name)|Washington]] family; a Spencer secured the land grant later purchased by the Washingtons, where they built their [[Mount Vernon]] home. These sorts of ties were common in the early colony, as families shuttled back and forth between England and Virginia, maintaining their connections with the mother country and with each other.

A thin network of increasingly interrelated families made up the planter elite and held power in colonial Virginia. "As early as 1660 every seat on the ruling Council of Virginia was held by members of five interrelated families," writes British historian [[John Keegan]], "and as late as 1775 every council member was descended from one of the 1660 councillors."<ref>''The American Civil War'', p. 334, [[John Keegan]], Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2009</ref>


The ties among Virginia families were based on marriage. In a pre-Revolutionary War economy dependent on the production of tobacco as a commodity crop, the ownership of the best land was tightly controlled. It often passed between families of corresponding social rank. The Virginia economy was based on slave labor as the colony became a slave society. The landed gentry could keep tight rein on political power, which passed in somewhat orderly fashion from family to family. (In the more modern mercantile economy of the north, social mobility became more prominent. The power of the elite was muted by newcomers who gained wealth in the [[market economy]].)
The ties among Virginia families were based on marriage. In a pre-Revolutionary War economy dependent on the production of tobacco as a commodity crop, the ownership of the best land was tightly controlled. It often passed between families of corresponding social rank. The Virginia economy was based on slave labor as the colony became a slave society. The landed gentry could keep tight rein on political power, which passed in somewhat orderly fashion from family to family. (In the more modern mercantile economy of the north, social mobility became more prominent. The power of the elite was muted by newcomers who gained wealth in the [[market economy]].)


==Pocahontas ==
== Pocahontas ==
[[File:Pocahontas by Simon van de Passe 1616.jpg|thumb|Powhatan, father of Pocahontas by [[Van de Passe family|Simon de Passe]]]]
[[File:Pocahontas by Simon van de Passe 1616.jpg|thumb|upright=1|''[[Pocahontas]]'' by [[Van de Passe family|Simon de Passe]]]]
[[Pocahontas]] (1595–1617), a [[Native Americans of the United States|Native American]], was the daughter of [[Chief Powhatan]], founder of the [[Powhatan Confederacy]]. According to [[Mattaponi]] and [[Patawomeck]] tradition, Pocahontas was previously married to a Patawomeck ''[[weroance]]'', Kocoum, who was murdered by Englishmen when [[Samuel Argall]] abducted her on April 13, 1613.<ref name="tides">{{cite journal |last=Deyo |first=William "Night Owl" |date=5 September 2009 |title=Our Patawomeck Ancestors |url=http://patawomeckindians.org/Patawomeck%20Tides%202009.pdf |journal=Patawomeck Tides |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=2–7 |access-date=6 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714145119/http://patawomeckindians.org/Patawomeck%20Tides%202009.pdf |archive-date=July 14, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Educated among the English of Virginia and converted to Christianity during her captivity in [[Henricus]], Pocahontas married colonist [[John Rolfe]] at a church in Jamestown on April 5, 1614. Rolfe had become prominent and wealthy as the first to successfully develop an export [[cash crop]] for the colony with new varieties of tobacco. Their only child, [[Thomas Rolfe]], was born on January 30, 1615. He married and had a family: his descendants married into other elite families.


Pocahontas was much celebrated in London, where she was welcomed with great ceremony at the Royal Court. She died young but became legendary as the first Indian from Virginia to become Christian, marry an Englishman, and have a known child from such a marriage (there were no doubt mixed-race children born to lower-class colonists and [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] women, although they may have been neither married nor Christian). She became an important symbol of friendly Native American-English relations of the Jamestown colony. By virtue of many fictional accounts, her marriage was romanticized and became part of the mythology of early American history.<ref>[[Camilla Townsend]], ''Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma'' (2007)</ref><ref>F. W. Gleach, ''Powhatan's world and colonial Virginia'' (1997)</ref>
Many of the First Families of Virginia can trace their ancestry to [[Pocahontas]] (1595–1617), [[Native Americans of the United States|Native American]]. She was the youngest daughter of Nonoma Winanuske Matatiske and [[Chief Powhatan]], founder of the [[Powhatan Confederacy]]. According to [[Mattaponi]] and [[Patawomeck]] tradition, Pocahontas was previously married to a Patawomeck ''[[weroance]]'', Kocoum, who was murdered by Englishmen when [[Samuel Argall]] abducted her on April 13, 1613.<ref name="tides">{{cite journal |last=Deyo |first=William "Night Owl" |date=5 September 2009 |title=Our Patawomeck Ancestors |url=http://patawomeckindians.org/Patawomeck%20Tides%202009.pdf |journal=Patawomeck Tides |publisher= |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=2–7 |doi= |accessdate=6 July 2014}}</ref> Educated among the English of Virginia and converted to Christianity during her captivity in [[Henricus]], Pocahontas married colonist [[John Rolfe]] at a church in Jamestown on April 5, 1614. Rolfe had become prominent and wealthy as the first to successfully develop an export [[cash crop]] for the Colony with new varieties of tobacco. Their only child, [[Thomas Rolfe]], was born on January 30, 1615. He married and had a family: his descendants married into other elite families.

Pocahontas was much celebrated in London where she was welcomed with great ceremony at the Royal Court. She died young but became legendary as the first Indian from Virginia to become Christian, marry an Englishman, and have a known child from such a marriage. (There were no doubt mixed-race children born to lower-class colonists and Algonquian women, although they may have been neither married nor Christian.) She became an important symbol of friendly Native American-English relations of the Jamestown colony. By virtue of many fictional accounts, her marriage was romanticized and became part of the mythology of early American history.<ref>Camilla Townsend, ''Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma'' (2007)</ref><ref>F. W. Gleach, ''Powhatan's world and colonial Virginia'' (1997)</ref>


==Organizing the FFV==
==Organizing the FFV==
In 1887, following the [[Reconstruction era (United States)|Reconstruction era]] after the [[American Civil War]], Virginia Governor [[Wyndham Robertson]] wrote the first history of Pocahontas and her descendants, delineating the ancestry of FFV families including the Bollings, Clements, Whittles, Blands, Skipwiths, Flemings, Catletts, Gays, Jordans, Randolphs, Tazewells, and many others.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=LHDnCl5T-70C&dq=%22wyndham+robertson%22+pocahontas&printsec=frontcover&source=web&ots=PJmJMVRAwY&sig=E6veqNhRKpkpJK2dOjqZ5awsh1g&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result Wyndham Robertson, ''Pocahontas, alias Matoaka, and Her Descendants''], Richmond VA: J. W. Randolph & English, 1887</ref> Excluded from this history were 'natural children', [[mixed-race]] descendants of unions with slaves, potentially such as President [[Thomas Jefferson]]'s alleged four surviving children by his slave concubine, [[Sally Hemings]]. They would have shared his Randolph ancestry if in fact they were his children.
In 1887, following the [[Reconstruction era (United States)|Reconstruction era]] after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Virginia Governor [[Wyndham Robertson]] wrote the first history of Pocahontas and her descendants, delineating the ancestry of FFV families including the Bollings, Clements, Whittles, Blands, Skipwiths, Flemings, Catletts, Gays, Jordans, Randolphs, Tazewells, and many others.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/pocahontasalias00robegoog <!-- quote="wyndham robertson" pocahontas. --> Wyndham Robertson, ''Pocahontas, alias Matoaka, and Her Descendants''], Richmond VA: J. W. Randolph & English, 1887</ref> Excluded from this history were 'natural children', mixed-race descendants of unions with slaves.


Families often used surnames as given names; for instance, incorporating a mother's maiden name as a "middle name", to document their ancestry. For example, Lt. Col. Powhatan Bolling Whittle of the [[38th Virginia Infantry]], [[Confederate States Army]] was an uncle of Matoaka Whittle Sims.<ref>[http://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/history/whittle_pb/index.htm Lt. Col. Powhattan Bolling Whittle], Victorian Villa: Sims-Mitchell history</ref>
Families often used surnames as given names, as in the "Johns" of [[Johns Hopkins University]], or where a surname might die out because the last holder only had daughters, [[Cole Digges (burgess)|Cole Digges]] was the grandson of [[William Cole (burgess)|William Cole]]. A mother's maiden name might also be used as a middle name, to document that part of the person's ancestry; or even middle and first as is the case with [[John Tayloe Lomax]], John Tayloe Washington,<ref>https://archivesweb.vmi.edu/rosters//record.php?ID=152 {{bare URL inline|date=February 2024}}</ref> and [[John Tayloe Corbin]]. For example, Lt. Col. Powhatan Bolling Whittle of the [[38th Virginia Infantry]], [[Confederate States Army]] was an uncle of Matoaka Whittle Sims.<ref>[http://www.victorianvilla.com/sims-mitchell/history/whittle_pb/index.htm Lt. Col. Powhattan Bolling Whittle], Victorian Villa: Sims-Mitchell history</ref>


In 1907, the [[Jamestown Exposition]] was held near Norfolk to celebrate the tricentennial of the arrival of the first English colonists and the founding of Jamestown. [[Preservation Virginia]], formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, was founded in Williamsburg in 1889 to memorialize Virginia history.<ref>David Blight, ''Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory'', Belknap Press (paperback), 2002</ref> In the 20th century, Preservation Virginia emphasized patriotism by highlighting the Founding Fathers that hailed from Virginia.<ref>James M. Lindgren, "Virginia Needs Living Heroes": Historic Preservation in the Progressive Era," ''Public Historian,'' Jan 1991, Vol. 13 Issue 1, pp 9–24</ref>
In 1907, the [[Jamestown Exposition]] was held near Norfolk to celebrate the tricentennial of the arrival of the first English colonists and the founding of Jamestown. [[Preservation Virginia]], formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, was founded in Williamsburg in 1889 to memorialize Virginia history.<ref>{{cite book |first=David |last=Blight |title=Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory |publisher=Belknap Press |edition=Paperback |year=2002 |isbn=0-674-00332-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/racereunion00davi }}</ref> In the 20th century, Preservation Virginia emphasized patriotism by highlighting the Founding Fathers that hailed from Virginia.<ref>{{cite journal |first=James M. |last=Lindgren |title='Virginia Needs Living Heroes': Historic Preservation in the Progressive Era |journal=Public Historian |volume=13 |issue=1 |year=1991 |pages=9–24 |doi=10.2307/3378156 |jstor=3378156 }}</ref>
To commemorate the 350th anniversary of the first settlement at Jamestown, the Order of First Families of Virginia published genealogies compiled by F.A.S.G. Annie Lash Jester and Martha Woodroff Hiden in 1956. The same pair published a second addition in 1964 (also during Virginia's [[Massive Resistance]] crisis). The third edition was compiled and edited by Virginia M. Meyer (1974-1981) and John Federick Dorman (1981-1987). The fourth and current edition, in three volumes published between 2004 (vol.1) and 2007 (vol.3)by Baltimore's Genealogical Publishing Company in collaboration with the Order of First Families of Virginia.<ref>front matter of 4th edition, isbn of vol. 1=0-8063-1744-2, of vol.2=0-8063-1763-9, of vol.3=978-0-8063-1775-5</ref>


==Notable families==
==Notable families==
{{see also|Category:First Families of Virginia}}
{{see also|Category:First Families of Virginia}}
Some notable family names include:
Some notable family names include:
{{Div col|colwidth=15em}}
{{columns-list|3|
*[[Isaac Allerton|Allerton]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Fischer">{{cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=David Hackett |authorlink1=David Hackett Fischer |last2= |first2= |authorlink2= |editor1-first= |editor1-last= |editor1-link= |others= |title=Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_gd63RFlXIMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false |type= |edition= |series= |year=1991 |origyear=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780195069051 |oclc= |id= |pages=219–220 |at= |trans_chapter= |chapter=The South of England to Virginia: Distressed Cavaliers and Indentured Servants, 1642–75 |chapterurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=_gd63RFlXIMC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA207#v=onepage&q&f=false |quote=Another unlikely 'FFV' was the wayward Pilgram Isaac Allerton, a London tailor's son who emigrated in the ''Mayflower'' to Plymouth Colony and resettled in Virginia, ca. 1655, where he married into Berkeley's ruling elite. |ref= |bibcode= |laysummary= |laydate= |separator= |postscript= |lastauthoramp=}}</ref>
*[[Isaac Allerton|Allerton]]<ref name="Tyler">{{cite journal |date=April 1915 |title=The F. F. V.'s of Virginia |journal=William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine |volume=23 |issue=4 |page=277 |location=Richmond, Virginia |publisher=Whittet & Shepperson |editor1-first=Lyon Gardiner |editor1-last=Tyler |editor1-link=Lyon Gardiner Tyler |access-date=February 11, 2011 |url=https://archive.org/details/williammarycolle19141915tyle}}</ref><ref name="Fischer">{{cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=David Hackett |author-link1=David Hackett Fischer |title=Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_gd63RFlXIMC |year=1991 |orig-year=1989 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780195069051 |pages=219–220 |chapter=The South of England to Virginia: Distressed Cavaliers and Indentured Servants, 1642–75 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_gd63RFlXIMC&pg=PA207 |quote=Another unlikely 'FFV' was the wayward Pilgram Isaac Allerton, a London tailor's son who emigrated in the ''Mayflower'' to Plymouth Colony and resettled in Virginia, ca. 1655, where he married into Berkeley's ruling elite. }}</ref>
*[[College_Creek#17th_century:_anchoring_the_palisade|Archer]]<ref name="Meade">{{cite journal | date=February 1989 |title=Questions and Answers |journal=Notes and Queries |volume=VI |series= |issue=2 |pages=244–245 |at= |chapter= |location=Manchester, New Hampshire |publisher=S. C. & L. M Gould |editor1-first= |editor1-last= |editor1-link= |id= |isbn= |issn= |oclc= |pmid= |pmc= |bibcode= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=VeARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA244#v=onepage&q&f=false |laysource= |laysummary= |laydate= |quote= |ref= |separator= |postscript= }}</ref><!-- progenitor was Gabriel Archer http://books.google.com/books?id=555CzPsGLDMC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false -->
* [[College Creek#17th century: anchoring the palisade|Archer]]<ref name="Meade">{{cite journal | date=February 1989 |title=Questions and Answers |journal=Notes and Queries |volume=VI |issue=2 |pages=244–245 |location=Manchester, New Hampshire |publisher=S. C. & L. M Gould |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VeARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA244 }}</ref><!-- progenitor was Gabriel Archer https://books.google.com/books?id=555CzPsGLDMC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA13#v=onepage&q&f=false -->
*Ashford
*[[Baskerville]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Nathaniel Bacon (Virginia colonist)|Bacon]]
*[[Berkeley family|Berkeley]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
*[[Robert Beverley, Jr.|Beverley]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* Baskerville<ref name="Meade"/>
* Belcher
*[[James Blair (Virginia)|Blair]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* Bentley
*[[Richard Bland|Bland]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis">{{cite book |last1=Purvis |first1=Thomas L. |authorlink1= |last2= |first2= |authorlink2= |editor1-first= |editor1-last= |editor1-link= |others= |title=A Dictionary of American History |trans_title= |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=556-YcjJYhkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false |type= |edition= |series= |year=1997 |origyear=1995 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Malden, Massachusetts |isbn=9781577180999 |oclc= |id= |page=136 |at= |trans_chapter= |chapter=First families of Virginia |chapterurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=556-YcjJYhkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA136#v=onepage&q&f=false |quote=Among the most prominent of these lineages are those of the Bland, Braxton, Byrd, Carter, Corbin, Fitzhugh, Harrison, Lee, Ludwell, Nelson, Randolph, Washington, and Wormley families. |ref= |bibcode= |laysummary= |laydate= |separator= |postscript= |lastauthoramp=}}</ref>
*[[Robert Bolling|Bolling]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Berkeley family|Berkeley]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
*[[Christopher Branch|Branch]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Robert Beverley Jr.|Beverley]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* Billingsley
*[[Braxton family of Virginia|Braxton]]<ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
*[[Four Mile Tree|Browne]]<ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Tyler"/>
* [[James Blair (Virginia)|Blair]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Richard Bland|Bland]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis">{{cite book |last1=Purvis |first1=Thomas L. |title=A Dictionary of American History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=556-YcjJYhkC |year=1997 |orig-year=1995 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers |location=Malden, Massachusetts |isbn=9781577180999 |page=136 |chapter=First families of Virginia |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=556-YcjJYhkC&pg=PA136 |quote=Among the most prominent of these lineages are those of the Bland, Blackwell Braxton, Breckenridge, Byrd, Carter, Chapman, Corbin, Fitzhugh, Harrison, Lee, Lindsey, Ludwell, Nelson, Randolph, Washington, and Wormley families. }}</ref>
*[[Lewis Burwell|Burwell]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
*[[William Byrd I|Byrd]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Robert Bolling|Bolling]]<ref name="Meade"/>
*[[Landon Carter|Carter]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Christopher Branch|Branch]]<ref name="Meade"/>
*[[Archibald Cary|Cary]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Carter Braxton|Braxton]]<ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Four Mile Tree|Browne]]<ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Tyler"/>
*[[Walter Chiles|Chiles]]
*[[William Fairfax|Fairfax]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* Buckner <ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
*[[William Fitzhugh|Fitzhugh]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Burwell family of Virginia|Burwell]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
*[[Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet|Gooch]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* [[William Byrd I|Byrd]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
*[[Captain Thomas Graves|Graves]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[William Capps|Capps]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
*[[Harrison family of Virginia|Harrison]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Landon Carter|Carter]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
*[[Stephen Hopkins (settler)|Hopkins]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Archibald Cary|Cary]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Walter Chiles|Chiles]]
*[[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* Christian<ref>The [[William and Mary Quarterly]]</ref>
*[[Rippon Hall|Jenings]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* [[Moncure D. Conway|Conway]]
*[[Lee family|Lee]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[John Custis Sr. (burgess)|Custis]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/custis-family/ | title=Custis Family }}</ref>
*[[Mathews family (Virginia)|Mathews]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* Dalton
*[[Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson|Nelson]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* Dameron/Damron
*[[John Page (Middle Plantation)|Page]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* [[John Dandridge|Dandridge]]
*[[Randolph family of Virginia|Randolph]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Eldridge (disambiguation)|Eldridge]]
*[[John Robinson (Virginia)|Robinson]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Scadding">{{cite book |last1=Scadding |first1=Henry |authorlink1=Henry Scadding |last2= |first2= |authorlink2= |editor1-first=Frederick H. |editor1-last=Armstrong |editor1-link= |others= |title=Toronto of Old |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xJq1Nr8sFbMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false |type= |edition= |series= |year=1987 |origyear=1873 |publisher=J. Kirk Howard/Dundern Press Limited |location=Toronto, Canada |isbn=9781550020274 |oclc= |id= |page=376 |at= |trans_chapter= |chapter=Biographies |chapterurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=xJq1Nr8sFbMC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA376#v=onepage&q&f=false |quote=The Robinsons were one of the first families of Virginia where they settled about 1670, before becoming one of the first families of Upper Canada. |ref= |bibcode= |laysummary= |laydate= |separator= |postscript= |lastauthoramp=}}</ref>
* [[William Fairfax|Fairfax]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
*[[John Rolfe|Rolfe]]
* [[William Farrar (settler)|Farrar]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Bruce1894">{{cite journal|title= Mutiny in Virginia, 1635|editor= Bruce, Philip A. |url=https://archive.org/details/virginiamagazine01virguoft/page/418|journal=Virginia Magazine of History and Biography|volume=1|year=1894|issue=4|pages=419, 2nd footnote}}</ref>
*[[Nicholas Spencer|Spencer]]<ref name="Meade"/>
*[[John Stith|Stith]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[William Fitzhugh|Fitzhugh]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
*[[Taliaferro]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet|Gooch]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
*[[Benjamin Waller|Waller]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Captain Thomas Graves|Graves]]<ref name="Meade"/>
*[[Augustine Warner|Warner]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* [[Harrison family of Virginia|Harrison]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Edward Hill (Virginian politician)|Hill]]
*[[:Category:Washington family|Washington]]<ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
*[[Francis West|West]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Stephen Hopkins (settler)|Hopkins]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* Howell<ref>{{cite web|author=Lexington, Eleanor|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-arkansas-gazette-howell-family-his/131972880/|title=Castle in Wales|work=Daily Arkansas Gazette|page=10|date=29 May 1921}}</ref>
}}
* [[John Jameson (Colonel)|Jameson]]
* [[Thomas Jefferson|Jefferson]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Rippon Hall|Jenings]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* Kennon
* [[Lee family|Lee]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[James Madison|Madison]]
* [[John Marshall#Early years (1755 to 1782)|Marshall]]
* [[Mathews family|Mathews]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* McLean
* [[Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson|Nelson]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Hugh Norvell|Norvell]]
* [[Richard Pace (planter)|Pace]]
* [[Page family of Virginia|Page]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* Payne<ref>{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Brooke |title=The Payne's of Virginia |date=1937 |publisher=W. Byrd Press |location=Richmond, Va |isbn=9780598483539 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89069611630;view=1up;seq=7 |access-date=26 June 2018 |ref=Payne}}</ref>
* [[Randolph family of Virginia|Randolph]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[John Robinson (Virginia politician, born 1705)|Robinson]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Scadding">{{cite book |last1=Scadding |first1=Henry |author-link1=Henry Scadding |editor1-first=Frederick H. |editor1-last=Armstrong |title=Toronto of Old |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJq1Nr8sFbMC |year=1987 |orig-year=1873 |publisher=J. Kirk Howard/Dundern Press Limited |location=Toronto, Canada |isbn=9781550020274 |page=376 |chapter=Biographies |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJq1Nr8sFbMC&pg=PA376 |quote=The Robinsons were one of the first families of Virginia where they settled about 1670, before becoming one of the first families of Upper Canada. }}</ref>
* [[Thomas Rolfe|Rolfe]]
* Saunders<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Matthew Scrivener|Scrivener]]
* [[Selden family|Selden]]
* Sharp
* Shifflett
* Skillern
* [[Nicholas Spencer|Spencer]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* Stagner
* Starnes
* [[John Stith|Stith]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Taliaferro]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[William Tayloe (the immigrant)|Tayloe]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Richard Taylor (colonel)|Taylor]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* Terrell
* [[William Tucker (Jamestown immigrant)|Tucker]]
* [[Benjamin Waller|Waller]]<ref name="Meade"/>
* [[Augustine Warner|Warner]]<ref name="Tyler"/>
* Warren<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ir6kljPPONgC&q=thomas+warren+&pg=PA48|title=Colonial Surry|last=Boddie|first=John Bennett|date=1974|publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com|isbn=9780806300269|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Washington family|Washington]]<ref name="Meade"/><ref name="Purvis"/>
* [[Francis West|West]]<ref name="Tyler"/><ref name="Meade"/>{{div col end}}
* Wise

==Portrait gallery==
<gallery class="center packed">
File:James Blair.jpg|[[James Blair (clergyman)]]
File:Richard Bland.jpg|[[Richard Bland]]
File:Robert Bolling (1690).jpg|[[Robert Bolling]]
File:William Byrd II.jpg|[[William Byrd II]] of [[Westover Plantation]]
File:Landon Carter I.jpg|[[Landon Carter I]]
File:Robert Carter I, Portrait at Shirley Plantation.png|[[Robert Carter I|Robert Carter]], Portrait at [[Shirley Plantation]]
File:Robertcarteriii.jpg|[[Robert Carter III]] by [[Thomas Hudson (painter)|Thomas Hudson]]
File:Col. John Dandridge Jr.jpg|[[John Dandridge|Col. John Dandridge Jr]]
File:Colonel William Fairfax (1691–1757).jpg|Colonel William Fairfax (1691–1757)
File:William Fitzhugh.jpg|[[William Fitzhugh]]
File:Sir William Gooch.jpg|[[Sir William Gooch, 1st Baronet|Sir William Gooch]]
File:Benjamin Harrison V Portrait.jpg|Benjamin Harrison V Portrait
File:William Henry Harrison by James Reid Lambdin, 1835 crop.jpg|William Henry Harrison by [[James Reid Lambdin]]
File:Official Presidential portrait of Thomas Jefferson (by Rembrandt Peale, 1800)(cropped).jpg|Official Presidential portrait of Thomas Jefferson (by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1800)
File:Colonel_John_Jameson_(1751-1810).jpg
File:Col. Richard Lee I.JPG|Col. [[Richard Lee I]] "The Immigrant"
File:ThomasLEE.JPG|Thomas Lee of Stratford Hall
File:Francis_Lightfoot_Lee.jpg|[[Francis Lightfoot Lee]], signer of the [[U.S. Declaration of Independence]]
File:Charles Willson Peale - Richard Henry Lee - NPG.74.5 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg|[[Richard Henry Lee]] by [[Charles Willson Peale]], signer of the [[U.S. Declaration of Independence]]
File:HenryLee.jpeg|[[Henry Lee III|Light-Horse Harry Lee]] by [[Gilbert Stuart]]
File:Warner Lewis II and Rebecca Lewis John Wollaston.jpeg|Warner Lewis II and Rebecca Lewis, [[John Wollaston (painter)|John Wollaston]]
File:James Madison(cropped)(c).jpg|[[James Madison]] by [[John Vanderlyn]]
File:Col. John Page by Peter Lely.jpeg|Col. John Page by Peter Lely
File:John Page Rosewell Gloucester County Virginia.jpg|[[John Page (Virginia politician)|John Page]] of [[Rosewell (plantation)|Rosewell]], Gloucester County, Virginia
File:Mann Page Elizabeth Page John Wollaston.jpg|''Mann Page and His Sister Elizabeth'', [[John Wollaston (painter)|John Wollaston]]
File:EdRand.jpg|[[Edmund Randolph]]
File:PeytonRandolph.jpeg|Peyton Randolph
File:Peyton Randolph Virginia Governor.jpg|[[Peyton Randolph (governor)|Peyton Randolph]]
File:Thomas Mann Randolph.jpg|[[Thomas Mann Randolph Jr.]]
File:William Randolph III.jpg|[[William Randolph III (son of William)|William Randolph III]] of [[Wilton House Museum|Wilton House]] circa 1755, [[John Wollaston (painter)|John Wollaston]]
File:SPEAKER JOHN ROBINSON (1704-1766).jpg|Speaker [[John Robinson (Virginia politician, born 1705)|John Robinson]]
File:John Tayloe I.jpg|[[John Tayloe I]] of the Old House
File:John Tayloe II.jpg| [[John Tayloe II]] of [[Mount Airy, Richmond County, Virginia]], [[John Wollaston (painter)|John Wollaston]]
File:John Tayloe III (Stuart).png|[[John Tayloe III]] ([[Gilbert Stuart|Stuart]]) of [[The Octagon House]]
</gallery>

==Estate Gallery==
<gallery class="center packed">
File:BaconCastle.jpg|Bacon Family, [[Bacon's Castle]] [[Surry County, Virginia]], oldest documented brick dwelling in the United States
File:Blandfield, U.S. Route 17 & State Route 624, Caret vicinity (Essex County, Virginia).jpg|Beverley Family, [[Blandfield]], [[Caret, Virginia|Caret]], [[Essex County, Virginia]]
File:Fmt main house.jpg|Browne Family, [[Four Mile Tree]], [[Surry, Virginia]]
File:CartersGrove.jpg|Burwell Family, [[Carter's Grove]], [[James City County, Virginia|James City County]], Virginia
File:WestoverPlantationSEGL.jpg|Byrd Family, [[Westover Plantation]], [[Charles City County]], [[Virginia]]
File:Nomini Hall Westmoreland County Virginia.jpg|Carter Family, Nomini Hall, [[Westmoreland County, Virginia]]
File:Sabine Hall (Richmond, Virginia).jpg|Wellford-Carter Family, [[Sabine Hall (Warsaw, Virginia)|Sabine Hall]], Richmond Co, Virginia
File:Shirley Plantation 2006.jpg|Hill-Carter Family, [[Charles City County]], Virginia
File:Stratfordpotomacfront2011.JPG|Lee Family, [[Stratford Hall (plantation)|Stratford Hall]], [[Westmoreland County, Virginia|Westmoreland County]], Virginia
File:Belle Grove, Rappahannock River, Port Royal, Caroline County, VA.jpg|Madison Family, [[Belle Grove Plantation (Port Conway, Virginia)|Belle Grove]], [[Caroline County, Virginia|Carolina County]], Virginia
File:Rosewell.VA.Jpg|Page Family, [[Roswell (plantation)]], [[Gloucester County, Virginia|Gloucester County]], Virginia
File:Mount Airy HABS Color.jpg|Tayloe Family, [[Mount Airy Plantation|Mount Airy]], Richmond Co, Virginia
File:Front Side of Burgh Westra.jpg|Taliaferro - Wellford - [[Burgh Westra]], Gloucester, Va
</gallery>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Colonial families of Maryland]]
* [[Colonial families of Maryland]]
* [[American gentry]]


==References==
==References==
Line 83: Line 179:


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
* [[David Hackett Fischer|Fischer, David Hackett]], ''[[Albion's Seed]]'', Oxford University Press, 1989
* {{cite book |last=Fischer |first=David Hackett |author-link=David Hackett Fischer |title=[[Albion's Seed]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1989 |isbn=0-19-503794-4 }}
* Fishwick, Marshall. "F. F. V.'s," ''American Quarterly'' (1959) 11#2 pp. 147-156 [http://www.jstor.org/stable/2710671 in JSTOR]
* {{cite journal |last=Fishwick |first=Marshall |title=F. F. V.'s |journal=American Quarterly |year=1959 |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=147–156 |doi=10.2307/2710671 |jstor=2710671 }}
* Gutzman, Kevin R. C. ''Virginia's American Revolution: From Dominion to Republic, 1776-1840'' (2007)
* {{cite book |last=Gutzman |first=Kevin R. C. |title=Virginia's American Revolution: From Dominion to Republic, 1776–1840 |location=Lanham |publisher=Lexington Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7391-2131-3 }}
* [[George F. Willison|Willison, George F.]] ''Behold Virginia: the fifth crown. Being the trials, adventures & disasters of the first families of Virginia, the rise of the grandees & the eventual triumph of the common & uncommon sort in the Revolution'' (1951), popular history by a scholar
* [[George F. Willison|Willison, George F.]] ''Behold Virginia: the fifth crown. Being the trials, adventures & disasters of the first families of Virginia, the rise of the grandees & the eventual triumph of the common & uncommon sort in the Revolution'' (1951), popular history by a scholar


Line 95: Line 191:


==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.vahistorical.org/sva2003/virginians.htm "Becoming Virginians, The Story of America: A Virginian Experience", ''Virginia Historical Society''], vahistoricalsociety.org
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130506100401/http://vahistorical.org/sva2003/virginians.htm "Becoming Virginians, The Story of America: A Virginian Experience", ''Virginia Historical Society''], vahistoricalsociety.org

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:First Families Of Virginia}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:First Families Of Virginia}}
[[Category:Lineage societies]]
[[Category:Massie family of Virginia|Massie]]
[[Category:First Families of Virginia| ]]
[[Category:First Families of Virginia| ]]
[[Category:History of Virginia]]
[[Category:History of Virginia]]
[[Category:Lineage societies]]
[[Category:Pocahontas]]

Latest revision as of 23:46, 5 September 2024

For the hereditary society, see Order of the First Families of Virginia.

View of the main façade of Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, the ancestral home of the Lee family of Virginia. Along with the Byrds, Carters, Washingtons, Harrisons and others, these families were at the core of Virginia's plantocracy for centuries.

First Families of Virginia were families in the British colony of Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers.[1] They descend from European 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.

The American Revolution cut ties with Britain but not with its social traditions. While some First Family members were loyal to Britain, others were Whigs who not only supported, but led the Revolution.[2] Most First Families remained in Virginia, where they flourished as tobacco planters, and from the sale of slaves to the cotton states to the south. Indeed, many younger sons were relocated into the cotton belt to start their own plantations. With the emancipation of slaves during the Civil War and the consequential loss of slave labor, Virginia plantations struggled to turn a profit. The First Families, albeit poorer than before, maintained social and political leadership. Marshall Fishwick says that by the 1950s, "the old-time aristocracy [had] not given up, or sunk into decadence as Southern novelists suggest." They adopted modern agricultural technology and co-opted rich "Yankees" into their upper-class, rural horse-estate society.[3]

English heritage, second sons

[edit]
Mann Page II of Rosewell, painted by Charles Bridges. The Rosewell plantation was called one of the finest homes in colonial America and built of brick imported from England.

English colonists who formed the FFV emigrated to the new Colony of Virginia. Their migration took place from the settlement of Jamestown through the English Civil War and English Interregnum period (1642–1660). Some royalists left England on the accession to power of Oliver Cromwell and his Parliament. Because most of Virginia's leading families recognized Charles II as King following the execution of Charles I in 1649, Charles II reputedly called Virginia his "Old Dominion" – a nickname that endures today. The affinity of many early Virginia settlers for the Crown led to the term "distressed Cavaliers", often applied to the Virginia plantocracy. Some Cavaliers who served under King Charles I fled to Virginia. FFVs often refer to Virginia as "Cavalier Country". These men were offered land or other rewards by King Charles II, but most who had settled in Virginia stayed in Virginia.

Many such early settlers in Virginia were called Second Sons. Primogeniture favored the first sons' inheriting lands and titles in England. Second or third sons went out to the colonies to make their fortune, or entered the military and the clergy. Tidewater Virginia evolved as a society descended from second or third sons of Englishmen who inherited land grants or land in Virginia. They formed part of what became the Southern elite in Colonial America.

In some cases, longstanding ties among families in England were carried to the new colony, where they were reinforced by marriage and other relations. For instance, there were ancestral ties between the Spencer family of Bedfordshire and the Washington family; a Spencer secured the land grant later purchased by the Washingtons, where they built their Mount Vernon home. These sorts of ties were common in the early colony, as families shuttled back and forth between England and Virginia, maintaining their connections with the mother country and with each other.

A thin network of increasingly interrelated families made up the planter elite and held power in colonial Virginia. "As early as 1660, every seat on the ruling Council of Virginia was held by members of five interrelated families," writes British historian John Keegan, "and as late as 1775, every council member was descended from one of the 1660 councillors."[4]

The ties among Virginia families were based on marriage. In a pre-Revolutionary War economy dependent on the production of tobacco as a commodity crop, the ownership of the best land was tightly controlled. It often passed between families of corresponding social rank. The Virginia economy was based on slave labor as the colony became a slave society. The landed gentry could keep tight rein on political power, which passed in somewhat orderly fashion from family to family. (In the more modern mercantile economy of the north, social mobility became more prominent. The power of the elite was muted by newcomers who gained wealth in the market economy.)

Pocahontas

[edit]
Pocahontas by Simon de Passe

Pocahontas (1595–1617), a Native American, was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, founder of the Powhatan Confederacy. According to Mattaponi and Patawomeck tradition, Pocahontas was previously married to a Patawomeck weroance, Kocoum, who was murdered by Englishmen when Samuel Argall abducted her on April 13, 1613.[5] Educated among the English of Virginia and converted to Christianity during her captivity in Henricus, Pocahontas married colonist John Rolfe at a church in Jamestown on April 5, 1614. Rolfe had become prominent and wealthy as the first to successfully develop an export cash crop for the colony with new varieties of tobacco. Their only child, Thomas Rolfe, was born on January 30, 1615. He married and had a family: his descendants married into other elite families.

Pocahontas was much celebrated in London, where she was welcomed with great ceremony at the Royal Court. She died young but became legendary as the first Indian from Virginia to become Christian, marry an Englishman, and have a known child from such a marriage (there were no doubt mixed-race children born to lower-class colonists and Algonquian women, although they may have been neither married nor Christian). She became an important symbol of friendly Native American-English relations of the Jamestown colony. By virtue of many fictional accounts, her marriage was romanticized and became part of the mythology of early American history.[6][7]

Organizing the FFV

[edit]

In 1887, following the Reconstruction era after the Civil War, Virginia Governor Wyndham Robertson wrote the first history of Pocahontas and her descendants, delineating the ancestry of FFV families including the Bollings, Clements, Whittles, Blands, Skipwiths, Flemings, Catletts, Gays, Jordans, Randolphs, Tazewells, and many others.[8] Excluded from this history were 'natural children', mixed-race descendants of unions with slaves.

Families often used surnames as given names, as in the "Johns" of Johns Hopkins University, or where a surname might die out because the last holder only had daughters, Cole Digges was the grandson of William Cole. A mother's maiden name might also be used as a middle name, to document that part of the person's ancestry; or even middle and first as is the case with John Tayloe Lomax, John Tayloe Washington,[9] and John Tayloe Corbin. For example, Lt. Col. Powhatan Bolling Whittle of the 38th Virginia Infantry, Confederate States Army was an uncle of Matoaka Whittle Sims.[10]

In 1907, the Jamestown Exposition was held near Norfolk to celebrate the tricentennial of the arrival of the first English colonists and the founding of Jamestown. Preservation Virginia, formerly known as the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, was founded in Williamsburg in 1889 to memorialize Virginia history.[11] In the 20th century, Preservation Virginia emphasized patriotism by highlighting the Founding Fathers that hailed from Virginia.[12] To commemorate the 350th anniversary of the first settlement at Jamestown, the Order of First Families of Virginia published genealogies compiled by F.A.S.G. Annie Lash Jester and Martha Woodroff Hiden in 1956. The same pair published a second addition in 1964 (also during Virginia's Massive Resistance crisis). The third edition was compiled and edited by Virginia M. Meyer (1974-1981) and John Federick Dorman (1981-1987). The fourth and current edition, in three volumes published between 2004 (vol.1) and 2007 (vol.3)by Baltimore's Genealogical Publishing Company in collaboration with the Order of First Families of Virginia.[13]

Notable families

[edit]
See also: Category:First Families of Virginia

Some notable family names include:

  • Wise
    • [edit]
    [edit]

    See also

    [edit]

    References

    [edit]
    1. ^ Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. (April 1915). "The F. F. V.'s of Virginia". William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson. page 277.
    2. ^ Gutzman, Kevin R. C. (2007). Virginia's American Revolution: From Dominion tor Republic, 1776–1840. Lanham: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-2131-3.
    3. ^ Fishwick, Marshall (1959). "F. F. V.'s". American Quarterly. 11 (2): 147–156. doi:10.2307/2710671. JSTOR 2710671.
    4. ^ Keegan, John (2009). The American Civil War. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 334. ISBN 978-0-307-26343-8.
    5. ^ Deyo, William "Night Owl" (September 5, 2009). "Our Patawomeck Ancestors" (PDF). Patawomeck Tides. 12 (1): 2–7. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2014.
    6. ^ Camilla Townsend, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma (2007)
    7. ^ F. W. Gleach, Powhatan's world and colonial Virginia (1997)
    8. ^ Wyndham Robertson, Pocahontas, alias Matoaka, and Her Descendants, Richmond VA: J. W. Randolph & English, 1887
    9. ^ https://archivesweb.vmi.edu/rosters//record.php?ID=152 [bare URL]
    10. ^ Lt. Col. Powhattan Bolling Whittle, Victorian Villa: Sims-Mitchell history
    11. ^ Blight, David (2002). Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Paperback ed.). Belknap Press. ISBN 0-674-00332-2.
    12. ^ Lindgren, James M. (1991). "'Virginia Needs Living Heroes': Historic Preservation in the Progressive Era". Public Historian. 13 (1): 9–24. doi:10.2307/3378156. JSTOR 3378156.
    13. ^ front matter of 4th edition, isbn of vol. 1=0-8063-1744-2, of vol.2=0-8063-1763-9, of vol.3=978-0-8063-1775-5
    14. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Tyler, Lyon Gardiner, ed. (April 1915). "The F. F. V.'s of Virginia". William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine. 23 (4). Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson: 277. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
    15. ^ Fischer, David Hackett (1991) [1989]. "The South of England to Virginia: Distressed Cavaliers and Indentured Servants, 1642–75". Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 219–220. ISBN 9780195069051. Another unlikely 'FFV' was the wayward Pilgram Isaac Allerton, a London tailor's son who emigrated in the Mayflower to Plymouth Colony and resettled in Virginia, ca. 1655, where he married into Berkeley's ruling elite.
    16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai "Questions and Answers". Notes and Queries. VI (2). Manchester, New Hampshire: S. C. & L. M Gould: 244–245. February 1989.
    17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Purvis, Thomas L. (1997) [1995]. "First families of Virginia". A Dictionary of American History. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers. p. 136. ISBN 9781577180999. Among the most prominent of these lineages are those of the Bland, Blackwell Braxton, Breckenridge, Byrd, Carter, Chapman, Corbin, Fitzhugh, Harrison, Lee, Lindsey, Ludwell, Nelson, Randolph, Washington, and Wormley families.
    18. ^ The William and Mary Quarterly
    19. ^ "Custis Family".
    20. ^ Bruce, Philip A., ed. (1894). "Mutiny in Virginia, 1635". Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 1 (4): 419, 2nd footnote.
    21. ^ Lexington, Eleanor (May 29, 1921). "Castle in Wales". Daily Arkansas Gazette. p. 10.
    22. ^ Payne, Brooke (1937). The Payne's of Virginia. Richmond, Va: W. Byrd Press. ISBN 9780598483539. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
    23. ^ Scadding, Henry (1987) [1873]. "Biographies". In Armstrong, Frederick H. (ed.). Toronto of Old. Toronto, Canada: J. Kirk Howard/Dundern Press Limited. p. 376. ISBN 9781550020274. The Robinsons were one of the first families of Virginia where they settled about 1670, before becoming one of the first families of Upper Canada.
    24. ^ Boddie, John Bennett (1974). Colonial Surry. Genealogical Publishing Com. ISBN 9780806300269.

    Further reading

    [edit]
    • Fischer, David Hackett (1989). Albion's Seed. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-503794-4.
    • Fishwick, Marshall (1959). "F. F. V.'s". American Quarterly. 11 (2): 147–156. doi:10.2307/2710671. JSTOR 2710671.
    • Gutzman, Kevin R. C. (2007). Virginia's American Revolution: From Dominion to Republic, 1776–1840. Lanham: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-2131-3.
    • Willison, George F. Behold Virginia: the fifth crown. Being the trials, adventures & disasters of the first families of Virginia, the rise of the grandees & the eventual triumph of the common & uncommon sort in the Revolution (1951), popular history by a scholar

    Notes on sources

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    • Note: Source 1: Captain William Tucker / Author: Barbara Jennifer Benefield / Publication: RootsWeb.com, May 12, 2004
    • Note: Source 2 / Author: Doug Tucker / Publication: GenForum, Jan 16, 2006
    • Note: Source 3 / Author: Marie Moore / Publication: RootsWeb.com, Nov 29, 2004 / "Note: died at sea"
    • Note: Source 4 / Author: Phillip Judson Clark / Title: Royal Families and Others & also their Famous Descendants / Publication: rootsweb.com, Jan 1, 2008
    [edit]
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