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American gentry
The American gentry were rich landowning members of the American upper class in the colonial Southern United States. The Colonial American use of gentry was not common. Historians use it to refer to rich landowners in the South before 1776. Typically, large scale landowners rented out farms to white tenant farmers.[dubious – discuss] North of Maryland, there were few large comparable rural estates, except in the Dutch domains in the Hudson Valley of New York.
Many of the original English colonists emigrated to the Colony of Virginia during the English Civil War and English Interregnum period (1642–1660), primarily settling at Jamestown and along the James River and other navigable waters during the 17th century. 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 is reputed to have called Virginia his "Old Dominion", a nickname that endures today. The affinity of many early aristocratic Virginia settlers for the Crown led to the term "distressed Cavaliers", often applied to the Virginia oligarchy. Many Cavaliers who served under Charles I fled to Virginia. Thus, it came to be that the First Families of Virginia often refer to Virginia as "Cavalier Country". These men were offered rewards of land by Charles II, but they had settled Virginia and so remained in Virginia.[citation needed]
Most of such early settlers in Virginia were so-called "Second Sons". Primogeniture favored first sons' inheriting lands and titles in England. Virginia evolved in a society of second or third sons of Englishmen who inherited land grants or land in Virginia. They formed part of the Southern elite in Colonial America.[citation needed]
Many of the great Virginia dynasties traced their roots to families like the Lees and the Fitzhughs,[citation needed] who traced their lineage to England's county families and baronial legacies.[citation needed] Some, however, came from much more humble origins; such families as the Shackelfords,[citation needed] who gave their name to a Virginia hamlet, rose from modest beginnings in England to a place in the Virginia firmament.[citation needed] Some families, like the Gilliams, arrived in Virginia in the 17th century as indentured servants;[citation needed] by the late 18th century they had amassed several large plantations, including Weston Manor, and became landed gentry in the colony.[citation needed] Families such as the Mathews from later Scotch-Irish immigration also formed political dynasties in Old Virginia.[citation needed] At the same time, other once-great families were decimated not only by the English Civil War, but also by the enormous power of the London merchants to whom they were in debt and who could move markets "with the stroke of a pen."[citation needed]
General Robert E. Lee's family of Stratford Hall was among the oldest of the Virginia gentry class. Lee's family is one of Virginia's first families, originally arriving in the colony from the Kingdom of England in the early 17th century. The family's founder was Richard Lee I, Esquire, "the Immigrant" (1618–1664), from the county of Shropshire. Robert E. Lee's mother grew up at Shirley Plantation, one of the most elegant homes in Virginia. His maternal great-great grandfather, Robert "King" Carter of Corotoman, was the wealthiest man in the colonies when he died in 1732.
Another prominent Virginia family, related to both the Lee's and Carter's were the Tayloe's of Mount Airy, which they still own today. William Tayloe first arrived in Virginia before 1638, and John Tayloe II became the wealthiest planter in Virginia, the wealthiest colony.
Thomas Jefferson, the patron of American agrarianism, wrote in his Notes on Virginia (1785), "Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God if He ever had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made His peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue." Jefferson, who spent much of his childhood at Tuckahoe Plantation, was a great-grandson of William Randolph, a colonist and land owner who arrived in Virginia from England in the mid-17th century. Randolph played an important role in the history and government of Virginia.
George Washington was a commercial farmer interested in innovations and quit his public duties in 1783 and again in 1797 to manage his plantation at Mount Vernon. Washington lived an upper-class lifestyle. Like most planters in Virginia, Washington imported luxury items and other fine wares from England. He paid for them by exporting his tobacco crop.
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American gentry
The American gentry were rich landowning members of the American upper class in the colonial Southern United States. The Colonial American use of gentry was not common. Historians use it to refer to rich landowners in the South before 1776. Typically, large scale landowners rented out farms to white tenant farmers.[dubious – discuss] North of Maryland, there were few large comparable rural estates, except in the Dutch domains in the Hudson Valley of New York.
Many of the original English colonists emigrated to the Colony of Virginia during the English Civil War and English Interregnum period (1642–1660), primarily settling at Jamestown and along the James River and other navigable waters during the 17th century. 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 is reputed to have called Virginia his "Old Dominion", a nickname that endures today. The affinity of many early aristocratic Virginia settlers for the Crown led to the term "distressed Cavaliers", often applied to the Virginia oligarchy. Many Cavaliers who served under Charles I fled to Virginia. Thus, it came to be that the First Families of Virginia often refer to Virginia as "Cavalier Country". These men were offered rewards of land by Charles II, but they had settled Virginia and so remained in Virginia.[citation needed]
Most of such early settlers in Virginia were so-called "Second Sons". Primogeniture favored first sons' inheriting lands and titles in England. Virginia evolved in a society of second or third sons of Englishmen who inherited land grants or land in Virginia. They formed part of the Southern elite in Colonial America.[citation needed]
Many of the great Virginia dynasties traced their roots to families like the Lees and the Fitzhughs,[citation needed] who traced their lineage to England's county families and baronial legacies.[citation needed] Some, however, came from much more humble origins; such families as the Shackelfords,[citation needed] who gave their name to a Virginia hamlet, rose from modest beginnings in England to a place in the Virginia firmament.[citation needed] Some families, like the Gilliams, arrived in Virginia in the 17th century as indentured servants;[citation needed] by the late 18th century they had amassed several large plantations, including Weston Manor, and became landed gentry in the colony.[citation needed] Families such as the Mathews from later Scotch-Irish immigration also formed political dynasties in Old Virginia.[citation needed] At the same time, other once-great families were decimated not only by the English Civil War, but also by the enormous power of the London merchants to whom they were in debt and who could move markets "with the stroke of a pen."[citation needed]
General Robert E. Lee's family of Stratford Hall was among the oldest of the Virginia gentry class. Lee's family is one of Virginia's first families, originally arriving in the colony from the Kingdom of England in the early 17th century. The family's founder was Richard Lee I, Esquire, "the Immigrant" (1618–1664), from the county of Shropshire. Robert E. Lee's mother grew up at Shirley Plantation, one of the most elegant homes in Virginia. His maternal great-great grandfather, Robert "King" Carter of Corotoman, was the wealthiest man in the colonies when he died in 1732.
Another prominent Virginia family, related to both the Lee's and Carter's were the Tayloe's of Mount Airy, which they still own today. William Tayloe first arrived in Virginia before 1638, and John Tayloe II became the wealthiest planter in Virginia, the wealthiest colony.
Thomas Jefferson, the patron of American agrarianism, wrote in his Notes on Virginia (1785), "Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God if He ever had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made His peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue." Jefferson, who spent much of his childhood at Tuckahoe Plantation, was a great-grandson of William Randolph, a colonist and land owner who arrived in Virginia from England in the mid-17th century. Randolph played an important role in the history and government of Virginia.
George Washington was a commercial farmer interested in innovations and quit his public duties in 1783 and again in 1797 to manage his plantation at Mount Vernon. Washington lived an upper-class lifestyle. Like most planters in Virginia, Washington imported luxury items and other fine wares from England. He paid for them by exporting his tobacco crop.