VIDEO: The Bower and its Families Part 2 (with bibliography) TRT: 29:30 followed by sources to 51:33
youtu.be/Qb8UmrO58Dw
POST: The Bower and its Families Part 2 (with bibliography)
civilwarscholars.com/2021/02/the-bower-and-its-families-p… 4557 words
The Bower and its Families Part 2 (with bibliography)
Made possible with the generous, community-minded support of American Public University System (apus.edu). This video and all videos in this channel as well as the million words of posts at the corresponding source, civilwarscholars.com – are intended to encourage fact-based discussion to heighten better understanding of the foundational events of our country. Sentiments included in these productions, even if commendable, do not in any way reflect the 21st century policies of the University.
This is the second of about four videos.
I am working with Charles Fox, whose family descended from the remarkable John H. Fox, the owner/operator of three different farms and community leader, revered upon his death and who was born enslaved at the Bower.
I was absorbed in the question of how could and why did those enslaved sang,laughed and danced and even stayed up without sleeping and still working long days in the fields. And yes it is true as a consistent fact of life in Virginia in the early 19th century. I found the same observations in five different diaries in this immediate region. And I came to realize a great truth in this fact which will be explored in the third video. We have been served terribly with descriptions of enslaved peersons as being "child-like and pathetic" ignoring the obvious reality that they received their almost superhuman strength coming from their faith and African musical tradition. That African Americans routinely become the best in any athletic field they enter and the worldwide influence of their musical talents – gospel blues swing jazz motown etc. just underscore these earlier daily practices so long ago.
Glamorous and famous for its visitors (Washington Irving, Robert E. Lee, Jeb Stuart’s entire staff lived there for a month), the pre-Civil War owners practiced people-owning on a large scale – usually about sixty enslaved persons who kept up production there from day to day. A close reading of daily accounts reveals just how much the deepest, knowledge of hunting, cooking, horses etc resided in the most experienced persons of color.
It became famous as the place John Pendleton Kennedy, a relative from Baltimore who also supported Edgar Allan Poe, based his widely read book: "Swallow Barn: A Sojourn in the Old Dominion," that was published in 1832 and 1850.
It was a divided family, with regard to the Civil War, with author Kennedy opposing secession, the Dandridges at the Bower strongly supporting, or as Philip Kennedy put it – Adam Dandridge ate a strong "allowance of the insane root" to quote from Macbeth.
It might include a tragic love story. When John Fox was born in 1845 Adam Stephen Dandridge II was the only adult white male at The Bower.
It circles around Adam Dandridge II and Charles Fox’s great great grandmother "Mary" who was killed at the Bower.
It also follows the incredibly impressive John Fox, one of Mary’s five surviving children and culminates with Charles Fox’s powerfully impressive, of-the-earth, wisdom-dispensing grandfather, Charles Washington Fox.
We’ll leave it at that.
Care is taken to stay consistent with all information in official records (death certificates, Census, marriage records, deeds, and wills) in addition to the Fox family oral tradition, first transmitted by John Fox, with his eye-witness knowledge.
BEGIN
NOTE: “*” indicates source material; “**” and BOLDFACE indicates narrative text; “***” indicates music and sound effects showing where in the video they begin and end.
911 words
CF2 beginning 0:0-5:08
***
0:00 – the Heights by vandaliariver.com over images 1-8 to :33
Bertha Fox Jones’ grave site at Johnsontown Cemetery by Jim Surkamp
2-4. Bertha Fox Jones in an interview in 2002 with Jim Surkamp – Taylor, Evelyn M. E. (1999). “African American Congregations 1859-1994, ” p. 38
**
Our people was at the Bower. See? We learned this. And, all we know that our grandmother – her first name was Mary.
5. “Mary” (semblancec only) David Hunter Strother, Sketches of “contrabands,” enslaved African Americans who crossed into the federal lines, 1862. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia.
southernspaces.org
***
:33 – Soldier Song by Shana Aisenberg and 23rd USCT regiment, July, 1864 over images 8-17 to 2:30.
**
6. TITLE The Secrets of the Bower – JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD – commons.wikimedia.org
***
1:00 – fx summer night woods sounds over images 7-17 to 2:23
7. The Bower
8. “Mary” (semblance only)
David Hunter Strother, Sketches of “contrabands,” enslaved African Americans who crossed into the federal lines, 1862. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia. southernspaces.org
9. Montage
9a. freepik.com, 9b. Charles Fox from video by Jim Surkamp, 9c. “Mary” by David Hunter Strother, Sketches of “contrabands,” enslaved African Americans who crossed into the federal lines, 1862. Courtesy of the Library of Virginia. southernspaces.org
**
10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
**
My great great grandmother,
Mary.
She is spoken of as though
she really walked
in the Bower’s autumn oak leaves;
across the wooden planks
of its winter floors;
and whispers
reminders of compassion
from a distant world
that holds no memory of her.
Did she really exist?
Maybe not on paper,
but I remember her
in my rear view mirror
warning me
to break away
from a relationship
that might enslave me.
After all,
she gave her life
so that I would be free.
17. TITLE The Bower was given Life in 1752 by a man named Adam – Bower aerial Google Maps google.com/maps
***
2:31 – fx seagulls, Campbell’s Farewell (trad.) on bagpipe played by Rob Mitchell over images 18-22 to 2:57;
2:40 – Haul Away Joe Shantey (trad.) loc.gov over images 21 -22 to 2:57;
2:45 – fx oceanic waves over images 21-22 to 2:57
18. TITLE 1748
Crovie, Scotland – September 2013 by Cord von Limburg
familysearch.org
19. TITLE Aberdeenshire Scotland
20. Map of Scotland and route to the United States – APPLE MAPS
21. SHIPS AT SEA – ADAMSFAMILYDNA.COM
22. Adam Stephen (semblance only)
Howard Pyle’s book of the American Spirit
***
2:57 – Cam Millar (cammillar.com) – Waterdogs 1 over images 23-28 to 3:23
23. Shipping on the Thames off Rotherhithe by Samuel Scott 1740 – commons.wikimedia.org
24.
**
Dr. Adam Stephen 1721-1784 hungrily descends on his fresh Oyster – America.
25. Girl Eating Oysters, by Jan Steen – Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, The Hague Gift of Sir Henri Deterding, frick.org
**
HE SNAPS UP 332 ACRES AND CALLS IT “ADAM’S BOWER”
26. & 27. – Bower farm – google.com/maps.com
28. Land Grants Jefferson County . Va. – wvgeoexplorer.org
***
3:23 – easy-going banjo by Shana Aisenberg (shanasongs.com) over images 29-49 to 4:50
29. Adam’s Bower (hunting lodge, first structure pre-1807) – Book of the Royal Blue Sept 1905 p. 13, General Stephen’s Home on the Opequon – babel.hathitrust.org
**
Images of people with names are semblances only, unless otherwise stated.
30. **
Phebe Seamon, Adam’s housekeeper and. later, mother to their child. Adam sets Phebe up at Adam’s Bower for the next forty years, likely with enslaved persons Chloe and her children.
31. TITLE Phebe Seamon – 1770s woman’s outfit with mixed print fabrics – silhouettescostumes.com
NO #32.
33. 34.
35. Dinah, Portrait of a Negress (African-American), by Eastman Johnson, late 1860s Eastman Johnson Carbone, Teresa A. (1999), “Eastman Johnson: painting America” archive.org
p. 154
36. Eastman Johnson; girl by David Hunter Strother West Virginia and Regional History Collection. wvu.edu
37. The Pumpkin Patch by Winslow Homer – winslow-homer.com
38.
39. & 42.
40-41 & 44-47 – Ann, dtr. of Cate, Eliza, Serina, Joe, Jack, Alfred – The Old Plantation (Slaves Dancing on a South Carolina Plantation), ca. 1785-1795. watercolor on paper, attributed to John Rose, Beaufort County, South Carolina. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. between circa 1785 and circa 1795 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum – wikipedia.org
40.
41.
43. Miss Breme Jones by John Rose, 1785-1787 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum – nytimes.com
44. 45. & 46
47.
**
and Mary who was part of Adam’s dower to his daughter, Ann, in 1780 after she married Alexander Spotswood Dandridge in 1779 and during Adam’s long absences fighting the French, and, other times, the British – all winning him vast land holdings further west.
48. “MARY” – The Highest Bidder by Harry Herman Roseland – jubiloemancipationcentury.wordpress.com
49. “ANNE STEPHEN” –
Self Portrait in a Straw Hat by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun – 1782 the collection of the baronne Edmond de Rothschild – nationalgallery.org.uk
50. “ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD DANDRIDGE” – “I am the daughter of the unfortunate Captain Kitt” – Howard Pyle Book of Pirates – 1903 Harper & Brothers Publishers
New York & London gutenberg.org p. 244
51. They most likely lived with Anne’s mother Phebe at The Bower during Gen. Adam Stephen’s absences fighting wars and obtaining lands. – Adam’s Bower – Book of the Royal Blue, Sept 1905 p. 13 babel.hathitrust.org
**
52. TITLE – Have we eaten on the insane root / That takes the reason prisoner?
“insane root” Macbeth Act 1 Scene 3 Lines 70-85 – Historical Reference
Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 70-85 myshakespeare.com
The Cotton Pickers by Winslow Homer – 1876 – Acquisition made possible through Museum Trustees: Robert O. Anderson, R. Stanton Avery, B. Gerald Cantor, Edward W. Carter, Justin Dart, Charles E. Ducommun, Camilla Chandler Frost, Julian Ganz, Jr., Dr. Armand Hammer, Harry Lenart, Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, Mrs. Joan Palevsky, Richard E. Sherwood, Maynard J. Toll, and Hal B. Wallis – collections.lacma.org
53.
54. General Stephen’s Home on the Opequon
Book of the Royal Blue Sept 1905 p. 13 babel.hathitrust.org
***
5:08 – FX whiplash over images 54-56 to 5:28
5:08 – mournful singing by Alice Bort, Ardyth Gilbertson, Laura First over images 54-56 to 5:13
5:11 – Gandy dancer singing over images 55 to 60 to 5:30
Railroad Gandydancers
Columbia, SC (April 18, 1929) — Fox Movietone News — Courtesy of the USC Newsfilm Library. youtube.com
5:22 – FX cicadas over images 522-530 to 5:30
55. the whipper (Tim Longbow) by D. H. Strother Harper’s August, 1855 p. 289 hathitrust.org
**
John Seamon, Phebe’s brother, oversaw the Bower’s enslaved people.
56 & 57. – Woman being whipped in a field with child nearby – Child, Lydia Maria. (1840). “Anti- Slavery Almanac.” Boston: Webster & Southard. page 17 archive.org
58 & 59. – Virginian Luxuries – The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
A well-dressed white man, presumably a slaveholder, kisses an enslaved woman and, in a parallel scene, a white man canes a male slave in a painting titled “Virginian Luxuries.”
encyclopediavirginia.org
(On the reverse side of the canvas is a portrait of an unidentified man.) This painting was made about 1825, probably in New England, by an unknown artist. Courtesy of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – Original Author: Unidentified artist – virginiahumanities.org
60. woman with bonnet looking worried
The Cotton Pickers by Winslow Homer – 1876 – Acquisition made possible through Museum Trustees: Robert O. Anderson, R. Stanton Avery, B. Gerald Cantor, Edward W. Carter, Justin Dart, Charles E. Ducommun, Camilla Chandler Frost, Julian Ganz, Jr., Dr. Armand Hammer, Harry Lenart, Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, Mrs. Joan Palevsky, Richard E. Sherwood, Maynard J. Toll, and Hal B. Wallis – collections.lacma.org
**
as many as 34 in 1783 as they maintained the cattle, horses, hogs,
***
5:31 – FX horses trot, neigh over image 61 to 5:38
5:38 FX cows, chickens, dogs, hogs squeal over images 62-63 to 5:48
61. young black men riding horses in a circle to break down wheat chaff – Kennedy, John Pendleton, (1856) “Swallow barn, or, A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” New York, G.P. Putnam & Company. – hathitrust.org riding horses facing p. 136 (actual page number)
62.
63.
62. & 63. – the main barn at Swallow Barn (The Bower) – Kennedy, John Pendleton, (1856) “Swallow barn, or, A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” New York, G.P. Putnam & Company.swallow barn p. 17 – babel.hathitrust.org
***
5:46 – FX cutting wheat with a scythe over images 64 & 65 to 5:54;
5:46 – FX common raven over images 64 & 65 to 5:52;
5:54 – FX pouring wheat and millstones’ sound over images 66 & 67 to 6:00;
5:59 – FX wagons in motion over images 67-69 to 6:04
6:04 – FX seagulls over image 69 to 6:12
6:08 – Vox Spiritus by Shana Aisenberg over images 69-107 to 10:22
**
planted wheat,
64. Life of George Washington–The farmer / painted by Stearns, Junius Brutus – circa 1853 – loc.gov
65. Lithograph depicting George Washington the farmer (by Nathaniel Currier, 1852) – hiddencityphila.org
**
The grain was ground in Stephens’ own mills,
66 & 67.
Winnowing Grain by Eastman Johnson – about 1873–79 Credit Line: Bequest of Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815-1865
collections.mfa.org
**
and taken to Alexandria on his own wagons.
68.
La folie des deux partis, où vue politique de l’etat et de la nation Anglaise, avec les senateurs en personnes – Created / Published – [1778?] loc.gov
69. A Virginia Plantation Wharf from In Washington’s Day by Woodrow Wilson Originally published in Harper’s Magazine, January 1896 facing page 36
Howard Pyle’s book of the American spirit; the romance of American history, pictured by Howard Pyle, comp. by Merle Johnson, with narrative descriptive text from original sources, edited by Francis J. Dowd. – New York, Harper & brothers, 1923. hathitrust.org
**
Beginning In 1754 Stephen would go away for a year or several and come back promoted to a higher rank in the Virginia militia;
*
facebook.com – 8th Virginia Regiment who fought in the French and Indian War with Adam Stephen and George Washington
70. Adam Stephen refuses to formally accept a surrender to the French forces at Fort Necessity – Damn the Capitulations by John Buxton buxtonart.com
**
or when the American Revolution broke out in 1775, fighting in the Continental Army and his immediate boss was always George Washington.
71. Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John Trumbull 1820 – Rotunda of the US Capitol Washington D.C. – commons.wikimedia.org
72. General George Washington at Trenton on the night of January 2, 1777, after the Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton, and before the Battle of Princeton by John Trumbull – Yale University Art Gallery – wikipedia.org
FORT NECESSITY – GREAT MEADOW July 3, 1754:
**
Major Stephen and Lieutenant Colonel Washington surrendered their 400 Virginia Militia, rain-soaked, starving and many wounded dead or drunk – to the French, starting The Seven Years’ War at Great Meadow – July 3, 1754.
***
6:30 – FX martial drums over image 73 to 6:31 (Fort Necessity/Great Meadow)
6:58 – FX martial drums over image 76 to 7:00 (JULY 6, 1755 – BATTLE OF MONONGAHELA)
73. Man reading a newspaper by Stephens, H. L. 1863 loc.gov – with headline, “Presidential Proclamation, Slavery,” which refers to the Jan. 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.
by Stephens, H. L. (Henry Louis) – [ca. 1863] – loc.gov
74 & 75. Battle of Fort Necessity. Photograph Source: Public Domain – thoughtco.com
*
Uniform waistcoat worn by Lieutenant Colonel Adam Stephen during the French and Indian War. Stephen was George Washington’s Second-in-Command of the Virginia Regiment.
Physical Description: Red wool waist coat with gold lace and guilded civilian buttons. Gilt brass gorget. The gorget is engraved with the British royal crest and the initials “GR” for Georgeus Rex or King George. Credit: Division of Military History and Diplomacy, National Museum of American History – amhistory.si.edu
76. Man reading a newspaper by Stephens, H. L. 1863 loc.gov – with headline, “Presidential Proclamation, Slavery,” which refers to the Jan. 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.
by Stephens, H. L. (Henry Louis) – [ca. 1863] – loc.gov
77. Major-General Braddock’s death at the Battle of the Monongahela 1903 by Edwin Willard Deming MPI gettyimages.com
**
Stephen had two bullet wounds and Washington’s coat and hat had four bullet holes from fighting in British Gen. Edwin Braddock’s disastrous Battle of Monongahela – July 6, 1755 .
*
SOURCE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON’S CLAIM
George Washington himself in a letter dated July 18, 1755, to his younger brother, John Augustine Washington, described his clothing after the battle:
“As I have heard since my arriv’l at this place [Fort Cumberland], a circumstantial acct. of my death and dying speech, I take this early oppertunity [sic] of contradicting both, and of assuring you that I now exist and appear in the land of the living by the miraculous care of Providence, that protected me beyond all human expectation; I had 4 Bullets through my Coat, and two Horses shot under me, and yet escaped unhurt.” – mountvernon.org
SOURCE OF ADAM STEPHEN’S CLAIM
Adam Stephen’s letter to John Hunter, 7/18/1755, re Braddock’s Defeat at the Battle of Monongahela:
Note: Stephen’s letter was published in England and came to the attention of the Prime Minister, the earl of Newcastle. Braddock lost over 900 of his some 1700 men, a high percentage of whom were killed, based on doctors’ examinations of the types of bullets taken from wounds, by “friendly fire” from British and American troops.
July the 9th: about two o’clock in the Afternoon. The first Division of our forces consisting of about 1300 effective chosen Men & Officers under the immediate Command of General Braddock was attacked by a Party of French and Indians near to the River Monongahela about 8 Miles from Fort Du Quesne.
The Private Men of the two Regiments were entirely at a loss in the Woods. The Savages and Canadians kept on their Bellies in the Bushes and behind the Trees, and took particular Aim at Our Men, and Officers especially, most of whom are killed or wounded: The British Troops were thunderstruck to feel the Effect of a heavy Fire, & see no Enemy; they threw away their Fire in a most indiscreet Manner, and shamefully turned their Backs on a few Savages and Canadians.
General Braddock strove most incessantly to rally them, and make the proper Dispositions, but all was in vain. They kept in a mere huddle in spire of the most ardent Endeavours of many brave officers, and tho’ our Numbers were sufficient to have surrounded them, fought them in their own way, and pursued our March. Shame unto the infamous Dogs! Their Numbers only served to increase the Number of the killed. They were infatuated to such a pitch, that they would obey no Orders, killed one another & deserted their Colours; and after about 3 1/2 hours – (Shame! That it should be ever heard of) run from a small number of French and Savages, leaving them an easy Prey of a most valuable Train, a Stock of Ammunition, Provisions and Baggage.
In short, the Enemy obtained an easy and compleat Victory. The few independents and Virginians that were engaged behaved better and suffered much. There were but few of them engaged, as General Braddock had unhappily placed his confidence and whole Dependence on the Regiments. But his Excellency found to his woeful Experience, what had been frequently told him, that formal attacks & Platoon-firing never would answer against the Savages and Canadians. It ought to be laid down as a Maxim to attack them first, to fight them in their own way, and go against them light and naked. As they come against Us, creeping near and hunting Us as they would do a Herd of Buffaloes or Deer; whereas you might as well send a Cow in pursuit of a Hare as an English Soldier loaded in their way with a Coat, Jacket &c.; &c.; &c.; after Canadeans in their Shirts, who can shoot and run well, or Naked Indians accustomed to the Woods. I escorted a Convoy of 100 Bullocks, the General’s which was 50 Miles.
I had only 100 Men, and was dogged night and day by the Indians; but by Vigilance, which is the only thing can secure one against such an Enemy, joined the General four Days before the Engagement without the loss of a Man or Bullock. We beat them out of their Ambushes, & always had the first Fire on them. The British Gentlemen were confident they never would be attacked, and would have laid any Odds, that they never should, until they came before the Fort, yea, some went further, and were of opinion, that We should hear the Explosion of the French Fort blown up and deserted, before We approached it.
These Notions which were very ill-grounded, served to lull them into a fatal Security which contributed not a little to the fatal Event which has lately happened.
I always declared openly & at the time was not the better of for it, that they would be attacked before they arrived at the Fort. My Reasons were, that the French must lose the Use of their Indians, if they did not. They had collected a Body of them, and they would not be cooped up in the Fort; and the character of the People We had to deal with would not permit Us to think but the French would take all Advantages.
I had the Honour to receive the General’s Thanks for my Services in the Field; and if he had lived a Week, I should have been provided for. Twelve Virginia Officers were engaged, six of whom were killed. I have two Bullet Holes in my Body at this instant. Lieutenant (Walter) Stewart is wounded. Sr. Peter Halket fell in the beginning of the Day. Secretary Shirley & thirteen Officers of the Regiment are killed. Almost all wounded.
*
britannica.com
battlefields.org
Braddock, Edward: march on Fort Duquesne
British commander Edward Braddock and his troops preparing to march on the French-held Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) during the French and Indian War.
MPI/Hulton Archive/Getty Images – britannica.com
78. Man reading a newspaper by Stephens, H. L. 1863 loc.gov – with headline, “Presidential Proclamation, Slavery,” which refers to the Jan. 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.
by Stephens, H. L. (Henry Louis) – [ca. 1863] – loc.gov
79. Montage – Stephen and Washington 79a. Damn the Capitulations by John Buxton buxtonart.com; 79b. General George Washington at Trenton on the night of January 2, 1777, after the Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton, and before the Battle of Princeton by John Trumbull – Yale University Art Gallery – wikipedia.org
**
George Washington wrote Stephen:
I did not let the Anniversary of the 3d of this Instt. Pass of without a grateful remembrance of the escape we had at the Meadows and on the Banks of Monongahela, the same Providence that protected us upon those occasions will, I hope, continue his Mercies, and make us happy Instruments in restoring Peace & liberty to this once favour’d, but now distressed Country. GW to AS July 20, 1776
80. Man reading a newspaper by Stephens, H. L. with headline, “Presidential Proclamation, Slavery,” which refers to the Jan. 1863 Emancipation Proclamation – loc.gov
81. Montage – Stephen and Washington 81a. Damn the Capitulations by John Buxton buxtonart.com; 81b. General George Washington at Trenton on the night of January 2, 1777, after the Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton, and before the Battle of Princeton by John Trumbull – Yale University Art Gallery – wikipedia.org
**”
“You almost ruined my plan!” Stephen’s rowdy advance brigade almost blows Gen. Washington’s successful surprise attack on the Hessians near Trenton, N.J. — December 26 1776 Stephens becomes a Major General the next February.
*
SOURCE:
Washington and his troops soon came across around 50 previously unaccounted for American soldiers. They had been sent by a general named Adam Stephen to fire on the Hessians, as revenge for the death of one of his men several days earlier.
Hearing this, Washington summoned Stephen immediately. “You, sir!” he bellowed. “You, sir, may have ruined all my plans by having put them on their guard!” – Chernow, Ron. (2010). “Washington: A Life.” New York: Random House. p. 275. books.google.com
John Ferling, author of “Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence” – global.oup.com
82. Man reading a newspaper by Stephens, H. L. with headline, “Presidential Proclamation, Slavery,” which refers to the Jan. 1863 Emancipation Proclamation – loc.gov
***
7:54 – FX many muskets over images 82-83 to 8:01
83. The Attack upon the Chew House by Howard Pyle (detail) – 1898 Delaware Art Museum artsandculture.google.com
83a.
**
Stephen’s brigade veered off-course and collided with Wayne’s brigade, and mistook them for redcoats. The two American brigades opened fire on each other in the fog, causing both to flee. Washington approved Major General Stephen’s dismissal for “four months” of misbehavior and drunkenness. – December 4, 1777 – Germantown, PA
*
Ward, Harry M. Major General Adam Stephen and the Cause of American Liberty. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989.
**
Stephen returns to his Bower
84. image of barn – Kennedy, John Pendleton, (1856) “Swallow barn, or, A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” New York, G.P. Putnam & Company. catalog.hathitrust.org
swallow barn p. 17 – babel.hathitrust.org
85. A Virginia Planter in Retirement on His Estate
In Washington’s Day by Woodrow Wilson Originally published in Harper’s Magazine, January 1896 p. 37 hathitrust.org
**
to “Miss Phebe Seamon” as he called her, his daughter and son-in-law, overseer Seamon
86. Phebe Seamon
silhouettescostumes.com
87. nationalgallery.org.uk
88. gutenberg.org
89. virginiahumanities.org
**
and to the many focused brown and black hands that kept The Bower on its daily courses.
90. Montage – begin upper left-hand corner and moving clockwise around the outside then clockwise into four inner images.
90a.
The Power of Music – William Sidney Mount – 1847 Cleveland Art Museum clevelandart.org
90b.
Eel Spearing at Setauket (also known as Recollections of Early Days – “Fishing Along Shore”) by William Sidney Mount – 1845 collections.fenimoreartmuseum.org
90c.
The Bone Player by William Sidney Mount – 1856 Museum of Fine Arts collections.mfa.org
90d.
The Banjo Player – W.S. Mount – 1856 Long Island Museum artsandculture.google.com
90e.
Negro Life at the South by Eastman Johnson – 1859 New-York Historical Society nyhistory.org
90f.
Two Negros by Rembrandt van Rijn – 1661 Mauritshuis Royal Picture Gallery mauritshuis.nl
90g.
The Cotton Pickers by Winslow Homer – 1876 Los Angeles County Museum of Art collections.lacma.org
90h.
Dinah, Portrait of a Negress by Eastman Johnson, late 1860s Gibbes Museum of Art artsandculture.google.com
90i.
(detail) The Old Plantation by John Rose – circa 1785-circa 1795 Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, Williamsburg, Virginia – wikipedia.org
90j.
The Busy Bee – Winslow Homer – 1875 winslow-homer.com
90k.
Head of a Negro – John Singleton Copley – 1777-1778 dia.org
90l.
The Chimney Corner – Eastman Johnson – 1863 wahooart.com
**
“We are about to determine whether we should be one with the United States or not.”
91. Rocky Road to Nationhood – civilwarscholars.com & youtube (below)
**
His (Adam Stephen’s) last hurrah in 1788, Stephen saves from defeat the United States Constitution at the Virginia Ratifying Convention leading fifteen western Virginia delegates to cast the margin of victory.
92.
***
The Rocky Road to Nationhood: The Conventions, George Washington & Adam Stephen
302 views
•Feb 15, 2019
34:41
**
93. young man in late 18th century dress – Howard Pyle Book of Pirates – 1903 Harper & Brothers Publishers New York & London p. 244 gutenberg.org
**
His son-in-law dies.
94. A woman the age and of the time period of Adam Stephen’s daughter – Self Portrait in a Straw Hat Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun – nationalgallery.org.uk
**
Daughter Ann remarries and
95 & 96. lands of Adam Stephen in today’s Jefferson COunty going to his daughter – Land Grants wvgeo-explorer.org
**
likely re-settles on another 600 acres her dad had already given her.
97 & 98.. A Virginia Planter in Retirement on His Estate “In Washington’s Day” by Woodrow Wilson Originally published in Harper’s Magazine, January 1896. p. 37 hathitrust.org
**
Stephen dies in 1791. A neighbor wrote a friend: “Publick Papers report the death of Gen. Stephen Same says no mourners except Phebe and the Negroes.”
*
Neighbor John Mark writes Horatio Gates, “Publick Papers report the death of Gen Stephen Same report no mourners except Phebe and the Negroes.” John Mark to Horatio Gates Harry M. Ward “Adam Stephen and the Cause of American Liberty” p. 243; Aug. 20, 1791 Gates Papers New York Historical Society.
*
Adam Stephen Dandridge I (1782-1821)
Kennedy, Mary S. (1911). “Seldens of Virginia and allied families.” Vol. 2. New York: Frank Allaben Genealogical Company pp. 28-29 babel.hathitrust.org
99. Portrait of Adam Stephen Dandridge, Sr. (1782-1821) 1799-1800 by Charles Peale Polk (1767-1822) – Gift of Edmund P. Dandridge, Jr., and Mrs. Elizabeth Dandridge McDonald
emuseum.history.org
**
He leaves almost all his material wealth and things in 1791 to his grandson.
100-102 .
Adam Stephen
Phebe Seamon
Alexander Spotswood Dandridge
**
No evidence exists to confirm that Stephen, Phebe or his son-in-law were buried anywhere other than at Adam’s Bower.
*
1,174 memorials listed at Norbourne Parish Cemetery
www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1584742/memorial-search?page=…
Norbourne Parish Cemetery
South side of South Street
Established 1772 —
www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=134028
103.
**
Mary Selden Kennedy, who married a great grandson of Adam Stephen and who compiled the two -volume definitive work called “The Seldens of Virginia and allied families” wrote as late as 1911, (the year of the book’s publication), that Adam Stephen was indeed buried at the Bower.
104.
105.
*
Adam Stephen died in 1791 and “was buried on his own plantation “The Bower”
The Seldens of Virginia (Dandridge) – vol 2 p. 423 babel.hathitrust.org
Mary Selden Kennedy who married a great grandson of Adam Stephen
Birth 3 Oct 1847 Jefferson County, West Virginia, USA Death 23 Jan 1928 (aged 80) Washington, District of Columbia, District of Columbia, USA findagrave.com
**
He wills that for Phebe there be built at The Bower a new house with enough land for a garden.
(One might speculate that Stephen’s Willing of a garden at the Bower, together with stated burials of the family members there, further supported by the fact his Adam Stephen’s long-living daughter-in-law and A.S. Dandridge 1st’s widow, Sarah Pendlelton Dandridge took great pains to establish and nurture what became a beautiful garden that she watched over for decades – gives reason to wonder if this garden located behind the main house – outside her bedroom window – and true to tradition of the day – was both a garden and family cemetery – JS).
106.
frontispiece “Sketch of the Old Barn”
Kennedy, John Pendleton, (1856). “Swallow barn : or A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” New York: G. P. Putnam & co. babel.hathitrust.org
*
Adam Stephen’s will – Seldens of Virginia and allied Families, v. 2 pp. 431-437 babel.hathitrust.org
***
10:23 – Tumble Blue 1 by Cam Millar (cammilar.com) over images 107-112 – 10:54
107. Portrait of Sarah Pendleton Dandridge (Mrs. Adam Stephen Dandridge, Sr.) (1785-1855) – 1831 by James W. Macoughtry, Jr. – Gift of Edmund P. Dandridge, Jr., and Mrs. Elizabeth Dandridge McDonald – emuseum.history.org
**
Adam Stephen Dandridge begins a new era at the Bower with Sarah Pendleton Dandridge
108.
109.
110.
111.
112.
**
Black, brown, and white hands
Wamsley, James S. (1982). “The crafts of Williamsburg.” Williamsburg, Va. : Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. p. 61 brick molds archive.org
**
lay in 1807 the last brick and
Wamsley, James S. (1982). “The crafts of Williamsburg.” Williamsburg, Va. : Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. p. 82 archive.org
113.
**
do the final detailing on the woodwork of a big federal style mansion,
***
10:54 – Virginia Reel over images 114-122 to 11:39
114.
115.
116.
117.
114-117. Collection, Granger Kentucky: Colonial Wedding. /Na Colonial Wedding In Kentucky. Line Engraving, American, 1882, After Howard Pyle fineartamerica.com
**
. . . room quite enough for the Dandridge’s grand hospitalities and thriftless gaieties for years to come
118.
119.
frontispiece “Sketch of the Old Barn”
Kennedy, John Pendleton, (1856). “Swallow barn : or A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” New York: G. P. Putnam & co. babel.hathitrust.org
Kennedy, John Pendleton, (1832) “Swallow barn, or, A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” 2 vol. Philadelphia, Carey & Lea catalog.hathitrust.org
title page babel.hathitrust.org
**
The Bower becomes the inspiration for a widely-read book suggesting to the world that
120. servants around a dinner table joking and laughing – 1819 George Cruikshank – wikipedia.org
121.
122.
***
***
11:18 – gandy dancer song over images 123-127 to 11:44
**
plantations are happy places where it never rains, snows,
butterflies are free, and no one ever suffers.
123. child chasing a cow – Kennedy, John Pendleton, (1856) “Swallow barn, or, A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” New York, G.P. Putnam & Company p. 30 babel.hathitrust.org
124. Head of a Black man by Eastman Johnson – 1868 – wikiart.org
125. The Cotton Pickers by Winslow Homer – 1876 – Acquisition made possible through Museum Trustees: Robert O. Anderson, R. Stanton Avery, B. Gerald Cantor, Edward W. Carter, Justin Dart, Charles E. Ducommun, Camilla Chandler Frost, Julian Ganz, Jr., Dr. Armand Hammer, Harry Lenart, Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, Mrs. Joan Palevsky, Richard E. Sherwood, Maynard J. Toll, and Hal B. Wallis – collections.lacma.org
126.The Highest Bidder by Harry Roseland – encore-editions.com
**
127. Peasant with Sickle, Seen from the Back Vincent van Gogh Date: 1885; Nunen / Nuenen, Netherlands wikiart.org
END CF 2
OTHER SOURCES AND NOTES:
Construction began on the Bower mansion by black labor images of building completed in 1806. breeder of horses
Bower nominations National Historic register
www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/jefferson/82004321.pdf
ASD I died 1821 and Ann Stephen Dandridge Hunter the first in the Dandridge Hunter families to be buried in Norborne — possible not allowed to be buried he had a common law wife
Portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette in the uniform of an American major general, by Charles Willson Peale, circa 1780.
History is fun.org
Marquis de Lafayette
*
Lafayette returned to the field in November after two months of recuperation in the Moravian settlement of Bethlehem, and received command of the division previously led by Major General Adam Stephen.[38] He assisted General Nathanael Greene in reconnaissance of British positions in New Jersey; with 300 soldiers, he defeated a numerically superior Hessian force in Gloucester, on 24 November 1777.[39]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafay…
*
Meanwhile, Nathanael Greene’s column on Limekiln Road had finally caught up with the bulk of the Americans at Germantown. Greene’s vanguard engaged the British pickets at Luken’s Mill, driving them back after a savage skirmish. The fog that clung to the field was compounded by palls of smoke from the cannon and musket fire, throwing Greene’s column into disarray and confusion.
One of Greene’s brigades, under Brigadier General Adam Stephen, veered off-course and began following Meetinghouse Road, instead of rendezvousing at Market Square with the rest of Greene’s troops. The wayward brigade collided with Wayne’s brigade, and mistook them for redcoats. The two American brigades opened fire on each other in the fog, causing both to flee. The withdrawal of Wayne’s New Jersey Brigade, having suffered heavy losses attacking Cliveden, left Conway’s right flank exposed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Germantown
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Stephen
11/13/1777 – AS found guilty of drunkeness in not-combatant situations over the late summer, and of “misbehaviour” during the withdraw of his troops during the Battle of Germantown. Charges lack detail.
11/16/1777 – GW approves AS’ sentence of dismissal from the Army.
11/20/1777 – AS cashiered out of the Army with a minimum of embarrassing ceremony.
When Adams came home to pour his protean energies on his growing fiefdom of farms mills and livestock and timber
The Forbidden Erotica of Thomas Rowlandson
1756-1827
www.kurtvonmeier.com/thomas-rowlandson
12/15/1777 – The Bower, Berkeley County (formerly Frederick)
8/20/1779 – Martinsburg, VA – Plat of AS’ town showing 120 lots over 130 acres is recorded in the courthouse.
standing with a group of soldiers at the entrance to Fort Loudoun he saw riding toward them Gen A. Stephen and a beautiful young girl in a red riding dress. This was AS daughter Anne Stephen, who had ridden with her father from her home in Berkeley County twenty miles away to see the soldiers. The gallant young Captain soon fell a victim to the fair Anne’s charms and their marriage was celebrated not long after He left Hanover County and settled on a large plantation called the Bower where he died April 1785 leaving his young widow with an only child AS Dandridge (two more later)
Selden p. 23 Vol. 1
starts Martinsburg Ann an ASD meet Four Loudoun
Uploaded by Stephanie French
Woman’s jacket, Colonial British Virginia circa 1775-1780 Yorktown Victory Museum Virginia
www.pinterest.com/pin/357402920419825680/
After that event a proposal of marriage June 1779
woman in red on horseback
Soline Anthore saved to 18th women riding suits
GIACOMO CERUTI. POPOLO E NOBILTA’ ALLA VIGILIA DELL’ETA’ DEI LUMI
www.pinterest.com/pin/467389267576980210/
www.pinterest.com/pin/52495151885843962/
Selden Vol 1 p. 25-26
“Dear Sir:
“By Captain A. S. Dandridge, you will receive this. He informs me that he wishes to form a connection with your daughter but that as you are a stranger to him, he desires you might have such information.
I therefore take the liberty of saying that the Captain’s father is owner of about one hundred and fifty slaves — that as near as I can be informed together with 4 or 5,000 acres of land with valuable improvements. He is, I believe, pretty clear of debt now having lately sold some slaves to pay off old scores. He made his will not long since by which he gave the Captain an equal share with his other sons and that will, he put into my hands to keep. From this short detail of the number of the Captain’s brothers and sisters you will see he has no great expectations from his father. However, he has a right to expect a handsome compency from him and besides he has 3,000 acres of land well-chosen near Kentuckie in right of his uncle Robert Spotswood. I can say with great truth that the integrity of the Captain’s heart and his uprightness of intention will recommend him on a further acquaintance. He was the darling of his poor deceased mother till her death and is so still of his brothers and sisters and every member of his family. He lived with me several years until the commencement of the war. I do assure you from long and intimate knowledge of him, he despises a mean action. A connection with the object of his wishes will be highly pleasing to his father and all his friends, and if it takes place, I hope it will prove lastingly happy to all concerned — my connection with the young Captain and his family and my acquaintance with you will, I trust, be my apology for so much freedom in this affair – The following is a letter from Patrick Henry, brother- in-law of Captain Dandridge, to General Stephen:
“Hanover County, June 10, 1779.
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066315235&view=1u…
