Burwell Family Papers, 1736-1786, 1736-1810.

Access and use

Location of collection:
Colonial Williamsburg
John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
P.O. Box 1776
Williamsburg, VA 23187
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Douglas Mayo
Phone: (757) 565-8521
Phone: (757) 565-8520
Fax: (757) 565-8528

Background

Scope and content:

Account books kept by Carter Burwell (1716-1756) and his son, Nathaniel Burwell (1750-1814), for their plantation, Carter's Grove, James City County, Va. One account book contains accounts of their neighbor, James Bray (d. 1744), who ran a tannery and shoemaking shop at his plantation; others contain accounts for the building of Carter's Grove. Also, a Book of Common Prayer and a Bible owned by Carter Burwell and four stud horse advertisements and an equine poster concerning the pedigree and performance of the "late Eclipse."

Accounts include the names of James Anderson, Gov. Norborne Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, John Bracken, Mrs. Ann Burwell, Armistead Burwell, John Carter, George Charleton, Josiah Chowning, Mrs. Davenport, Dr. John Minson Galt, William Gooch, Philip Grymes, Matthew Hubbard, William Moody, Hugh Nelson, John Norton, Dr. William Pasteur, Dr. John de Sequeyra, Richard Taliaferro, William Trebell, Robert Waller, Henry Wetherburn, Thomas Wharton, Ralph Wormeley, and many others.

Biographical / historical:

Carter Burwell of James City County studied at the College of William and Mary in 1734. He married Lucy Ludwell Grymes.

Nathaniel Burwell, born in 1750, was the son of Carter and Lucy Burwell. He inherited Carter's Grove but moved to Clark County in the Shenandoah Valley where he built and lived in Carter Hall. He married Susanna Grymes in 1772. She bore him eight children before her death in 1788. After Susanna's death, Burwell married Lucy Page Baylor who also bore him eight children. He died in 1814.

Acquisition information:
Purchase, 1964.
Physical description:
15 items.