Nathaniel Burwell (April 15, 1750March 29, 1814) was an American politician and plantation owner. also at https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/burwell-nathaniel-1750-1814/ Perhaps the most distinguished of five men of that name to serve in the Virginia General Assembly before the American Civil War (as distinguished below), this Nathaniel Burwell won election to the Virginia House of Delegates as well as the Virginia Ratifying Convention, and also served as the county lieutenant for the James City County militia.
Personal life Burwell was born on April 15, 1750, at Carter's Grove in James City County, Virginia, to the former Lucy Ludwell Grymes and her husband Carter Burwell (17181756). He was born into the First Families of Virginia and named after his paternal grandfather Nathaniel Burwell (1680–1721), who had inherited the family plantation in Gloucester County (while his younger brothers inherited lands in York County and adjacent James City County when they came of legal age). His father (this Nathaniel's paternal great-grandfather) Lewis Burwell was the progenitor of the Burwell family of Virginia and held high political office until his teenage daughter Lucy rejected colonial governor Francis Nicholson as an unwelcome suitor. Her three surviving brothers, as well as several grandsons and great-grandsons were elected to the House of Burgesses when they came of age.Lorena S. Walsh, From Calabar to Carter's Grove: The History of a Virginia Slave Community pp. 23-24 After marrying Elizabeth Carter of Middlesex County the year of his father's death, the elder Nathaniel Burwell established a home at Fairfield across the York River in 1709.Walsh p. 45 He would mingle with other Virginia gentry and represented Jamestown and later Gloucester County in the Virginia General Assembly.
Although the elder Nathaniel's widow remarried well, to Dr. George Nicholas (16851734), who helped raise her two sons and two daughters, her wealthy father Robert "King" Carter (16631732) purchased approximately in Martin's Hundred at the eastern end of James City County and also bought African slaves to work the new plantation.Walsh pp. 66-67 Nathaniel Senior's eldest son Lewis Burwell (1710–1754) received his father's Gloucester plantations ( in 1732).Walsh, p. 46 Not only did the younger son Carter Burwell turn his somewhat smaller inheritance from his maternal grandfather (and guardian until his death) into a profitable plantation (still using enslaved labor), upon reaching legal age and assuming control from the successor guardian he also followed his father political career as one of James City County's delegates to the House of Burgesses in 17421747, 17481749 and 17511755 (alongside Benjamin Waller after his cousin Lewis died in 1744),Leonard pp. 79, 81, 84 and built the historic house (now part of Colonial Williamsburg and the National Register of Historic Places) where this Nathaniel was born. However, his wife would also become a young widow, and remarried to widower William Nelson (who would succeed King Carter as trustee for his grandsons, as well as served as a Burgess and later briefly as the colony's Governor). This Nathaniel formally took possession of Carter Burwell's property in 1771, when he reached legal age.Martha W. McCartney, James City County: Keystone of the Commonwealth (The Donning Company for the James City County Board of Supervisors, 1997) pp. 170-171 Before that time, as his second guardian and eventual stepfather William Nelson ran the plantations, Nathaniel followed Burwell family tradition and attended the College of William & Mary, where he was one of the first two students to be awarded the Botetourt Medal for academic achievement.
Following another family tradition, not long after taking full control of the various inherited plantations, Nathaniel Burwell married Susanna Grymes (17521788) on November 28, 1772. They had eight children before Susanna died in 1788. Burwell remarried a year later, to Lucy Page Baylor (17591843), who bore another eight children and survived him by decades.The Burwells of “Glenvin” (not “Carter Hall”), and one of the real “Undefeated” | Cenantua's Blog Retrieved 2018-05-03.
Political career Burwell became one of the justices of the peace for James City County in 1772 (the justices then jointy also governing counties in that era). Two years later he began serving on the county's Committee of Safety. He won election to the Virginia House of Delegates for two concurrent years, 1778 and 1779, serving alongside William Norvell.Leonard pp. 130, 134 After a gap, Burwell won re-election for a third term during 1782.Leonard p. 146
Six years later in 1788, James City County voters elected Burwell and Robert Andrews to represent them in the Virginia Ratifying Convention, concerning the proposed Federal Constitution.Leonard p. 173 Burwell did not actively debate, but did vote for its ratification.
Burwell led the local James City County militia before the war, but after his wife's death in 1788, spent more and more time with the estates he had inherited from his maternal grandfather considerably to the west in Frederick County, Virginia, not far from the Shenandoah Valley and the Potomac River (and which later became Millwood in Clarke County, Virginia). Initially, Burwell had only visited the semi-mountain area in the summers, but with the assistance of neighbor and former Revolutionary War general Daniel Morgan began erecting a permanent residence in 1790. He called the new house about a half mile from the village (named for his gristmill and where he leased property since 1785 to erect a tannery) Carter Hall.Thomas D. Gold, History of Clarke County Virginia, and its connection with the War between the States (Berryville, Chesapeake Book Company 1962) pp. 42-43
Planter and slaveowner In addition to using enslaved labor on his own estates (including Carter's Grove), this Nathaniel Burwell served as guardian of his nephew Nathaniel Bacon Burwell (17591791) and managed the properties known as King's Creek and the Lightfoot quarter that the youth inherited from his father James Burwell (this Nathaniel's uncle). Within five miles of the Carter Grove plantation were auxiliary plantations (all using enslaved labor) known as New Quarter, Foaces, Black Swamp and Abraham's, as well as his cousin Lewis Burwell's plantation at Kingsmill and the adjacent North Quarters and Bray Quarters (a/k/a Utopia), and his uncle's Fairfield plantation across the York River and his cousin Robert's farms in Isle of Wight county down the James River.Walsh pp. 42, 49
According to Carter Burwell's will, his slaves were to be kept as part of the family estate until this Nathaniel came of age, although some purchased from Mann Page and living in the Neck of Land quarter were to eventually become the property of his younger son Carter Burwell II (17541776). Some of the daughters (through their husbands) contested the will, so the estate did not finally settle until 1779, when this Nathaniel retained almost all the slaves, repurchasing some of the Neck of Land Quarter slaves from the husband of one of his sisters.Walsh pp. 121-122 Meanwhile, guardian William Nelson had (in addition to hiring out some slaves), switched farming strategies from tobacco (which tended to make land infertile after several years, although it accounted for half of plantation revenues in the 1760s) to products for the expanding Williamsburg market, including corn, wheat and livestock (for meat and butter), and processing cider and cutting firewood. This prudent management strategy (unusual for a nonresident owner) raised gross revenues per hand from about £12 in the early 1760s to £18 by the time Nathaniel reached legal age in 1771, higher returns than most large planters had achieved in the 1750s.Walsh pp. 121-123
According to Thomas Jefferson, Nathaniel Burwell gained a reputation as "one of the most skillful managers in the country, and of untainted integrity."Walsh p. 124 quoting Jefferson letter to count Barziza 8 July 1788 and to John Paradise of 6 Jan. 1790 quoted in Archibald Bolling Shepperson, John Paradise and Lucy Ludwell of London and Williamsburg (Richmond 1942) pp. 322, 396 He built a new mill at the Carter's Grove plantation in 1772, so three years later he was supplying customers in Williamsburg and Yorktown; by 1774 he stopped growing tobacco at Carter's Grove and only grew enough corn for his livestock, together with more wheat and oats for the horses, as well as concentrated the artisans and carters as well as his horses there.Walsh p. 125-126 During the revolutionary war years, Burwell hauled surplus wool to Frederick county for sale, but his primary market was Williamsburg, where he sold meat, flour, fodder, cider, butter and milk. He also used his excess bran from the mill to feed hogs, and traded in whiskey (from his new distillery in Frederick county as West Indian rum grew difficult to procure) and firewood, both in great demand.Walsh p. 127 However, he continued to grow tobacco on his best lands into the 1800s, including the Foaces and New Quarter plantation.Walsh p. 218
During much of his time in James City County, Nathaniel Burwell served as an officer of the local James City County militia (with the rank of colonel), and also served on the board of governors of the Williamsburg hospital. During the Revolutionary War years, local planters feared rumors of slave revolts, especially after Governor Dunmore, in his ship offshore, threatened to arm slaves and reduce Williamsburg to ashes. However, none of Nathaniel Burwell's slaves are known to have escaped to join Dunmore, although one mulatto boy who served John Blair in Williamsburg before being sold to Lewis Burwell IV of the troubled Kingsmill plantation did escape, to his owner's dismay.Waslsh pp. 129-130 Slaves also escaped from the Isle of Wight, King's Creek and Fairfield quarters plantations held by relatives.Walsh p. 214
When the state capitol moved to Richmond in 1780, sales of Burwell's butter, wool and fodder declined precipitously, although the Continental Army's and French military's demands for supplies during the final campaign at Yorktown helped offset those losses.Walsh p. 127-128 After the war, Burwell began renting more land to tenants. During his minority, four white families had rented land; by 1782 he had 14 tenants, many of whom stayed into the 1810s despite his own move toward the Shenandoah Valley, and of them at least seven were free blacks whose families had long lived in York County (but not as Burwell property).Walsh pp. 131-132 After his move westward, Burwell made additional leases to 31 tenants, including at least 10 free black families.Walsh p. 218 However, Burwell never chose to manumit any of his slaves.Walsh p. 132
In 1792 Burwell gave some of his children the James City County plantations and moved the rest of his family and many slaves to his western estates. By early 1797, he had moved most of the agricultural laborers from Carter's Grove, leaving only enough to keep the great house running. Col. Nathaniel Burwell at his peak owned 8000 acres and worked more than 200 slaves in Frederick County; the next largest landowners only possessing 53, 43 and 28 slaves.Warren R. Hofstra, A Separate Place: the Formation of Clarke County, Virginia (White Post; Clarke County Sesquicentennial Committee, 1986) p. 11 In 1804 Burwell turned over the old home plantation in the Tidewater to his eldest son, Carter Burwell III (1773–1819), including twelve taxable slaves.Walsh p. 127