5th Generation: Nathaniel Burwell

Born: 1750
Married: Susannah "Sukie" Grymes on November 28, 1772¹
Married: Lucy Burwell Page c.1798 Died: 1814
Burial: Old Chapel Cemetery, Clarke County
Will:

Parents: Carter Burwell and Lucy Ludwell Grymes

Children with Susannah "Sukie" Grymes:
Carter Burwell
Philip Burwell
Lucy Burwell
Nathaniel Burwell
Lewis Burwell
William Burwell
Lewis Burwell
Robert Burwell

Children with Lucy Burwell Page:²
Tayloe Burwell
William Burwell
Eliza Burwell
Mary Burwell
George Burwell
Thomas H. Burwell

Nathaniel Burwell descended from the branch of the Burwell family that lived at Carter's Grove in James City County. In a Tidewater accent, the last name is often pronounced as a one-syllable "Burl."

Nathaniel inherited 5,500 acres patented originally by his grandfather Robert "King" Carter, who had served as land agent for Lord Fairfax. That land was part of a 50,212 acres patent obtained by "King" Carter in 1730.

After the Revolutionary War around 1785, General Daniel Morgan and Col. Nathaniel Burwell partnered to build the Burwell-Morgan mill in the community that became known as Millwood. Demand for wheat was high, and their merchant mill ground grain produced by farmers in the Shenandoah Valley. The flour was transported by boat down the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers to market in Alexandria.

Morgan had been a teamster driving a wagon in General Braddock's disastrous 1755 campaign against the French fort Duquesne at the site of modern-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He commanded the 11th Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line in the Revolutionary War, led a rifle corps that was a key part of the American victory at Saratoga, and became a general serving under Nathanael Greene in 1780-81.

Daniel Morgan orchestrated the Battle of Cowpens, in which Banastre Tarlton's legion was demolished and General Cornwallis lost much of his light infantry. Morgan retired due to ill health before the surrender at Yorktown, and built his home Saratoga in the Shenandoah Valley near Millwood.³

After Susannah "Sukie" Grymes died in 1787, Nathaniel Burwell married Lucy Page in 1789. She was the widow of General Baylor, who had died in Barbados in 1784.⁴

The second marriage was arranged without the knowledge of the bride. According to a genealogy of the Page family:⁵

After the death of his first wife, Susan Grymes, Col. Burwell was so afflicted that he went to Rosewell and requested Gov. John Page to send for his young and beautiful widowed half-sister, Mrs. George W. Baylor, for him to marry. The widow came, but refused to listen to Col. Burwell's addresses. The latter put it all to rights by saying: "Lucy, you don't know what is good for you. Your brother John and I arranged it all before you came."

Their marriage took place soon after. The ceremony having been performed, he said: "Now Lucy, you can weep for your dear George, and I will weep for my beloved Suky."

Nathaniel Burwell and Lucy Page started another family, and he had six more children.

After the Revolutionary War, Nathaniel Burwell lived intermittently with "Sukie" Grymes Burwell at "Brookside," a house he built near the mill in Millwood. When he was married to his second wife Lucy Page, he built Carter Hall in 1792-1800.

Around 1804, Nathaniel Burwell transferred Carters Grove in James City County to his oldest son Carter Burwell and focused his energies around Carter Hall:⁶

In the crossroads of Millwood he built a tanyard, a tanner's house, another mill and eventually a distillery, also in partnership with General Morgan who lived at Saratoga a mile west of the village.

Burwell-Morgan Mill

References