Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

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Of all the notable arrivals in colonial Virginia, the most publicized was that of Lady Dunmore and the children. Both Virginia Gazettes reported it in detail, beginning with the news that they had reached New York on board the Duchess of Gordon January 2, 1774, after forty-four days at sea.¹ Their departure from New York on February 2 was duly announced and Virginians were encouraged to expect them "hourly" at the Palace.² On February 10 one of the college students informed his father: "Great preparations makeing for the reception of Lady Dunmore, fireworks, with great illuminations, for which I understand there is a large subscription made."³

Finally, on Saturday, February 26, they landed at Yorktown, where they received a cannon salute and every mark of respect from the York inhabitants. One of the Gazette editors, Mrs. Clementina Rind, reported:

Amidst the general satisfaction which reigned at York, on account of her ladyship's arrival, an accident happened that gave great pain to all present, and particularly, it is said, to Lady Dunmore. Mr. Thomas Archer, and Mr. Benjamin Minnis, being extremely active in managing the cannon, but by ramming the rod too violently against the iron within, it occasioned a kind of friction, as is supposed, which communicated to the powder, and the above gentlemen being very near the gun when it went off, they received considerable damage; the arms, face, and eyes, of Mr. Archer, being bruised in a most dreadful manner. Mr. Minnis was much hurt in the thigh, and otherwise terribly . wounded. Captain Lilly was also bruised about the eye, though slightly. Two Negroes that assisted were dreadfully mangled, one of them having lost three fingers off his right hand; the other is much burnt in the face, and his eyes are so much hurt, that it is thought he will never recover their use. Fortunately, none of their lives are despaired of.⁴

While the Yorktown celebration was in progress, someone brought the news to Williamsburg. Attended by a great number of the most respectable Virginians, Lady Dunmore and the children entered the capital city at 7:00 p.m. to find the houses illuminated in their honor and the citizens out to greet them and escort them to the Palace, while every countenance in the crowd plainly evinced satisfaction and pleasure in welcoming them.⁵

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A few nights later the general regard for her was expressed by a display of fireworks, "which, though not the most magnificent (as, indeed could not be well expected) yet the goodness of Lady Dunmore...readily excused it, saying that she was extremely thankful for the kind endeavours of the gentlemen who undertook the management of them, as well as to every one else that attended."⁶ Formal congratulations presented to Governor Dunmore on the safe arrival of his family were printed in both newspapers. The President and Professors of the College of William and Mary and the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of the City of Williamsburg seized the opportunity to express their satisfaction in the felicity of his Lordship's government and offered him the grateful applause of a happy people, together with the hope that Virginia might prove "so healthy, and in every Respect so agreeable" that their residence here would be long and happy.⁷ The same pages of the Gazettes carried enthusiastic poems composed for the occasion.

On the Arrival of Lady DUNM0RE.

WHILE Cannon roar to hail thee, Bonfires blaze,
And Joy 'round every Heart exulting plays,
Our simple Swains, uncultur'd as their Meads,
Would swell the Transport with their artless Reeds;

Sincere their Welcome, though uncouth its Style,
Nor such as charm'd thee in thy native Isle,
Where Infant Genius all the Arts caress,
And Nature's beauteous Form the Graces dress.

Yet here the neighbouring Sun, whose fiercer Ray
The Passions wakes, should wake the rapturous Lay;
And a new World, fresh from the Womb of Night,
Tempt daring Fancy to her wildest Flight.

With awful Joy our Country's various Face
The Stranger views; her Sons no Feature trace.

In vain her Woods have lent their sacred Shade
To trembling Love; no grateful Verse repaid
The Sylvan Nymphs; no Flood, nor Mountains Hight,
Has here been sanctify'd by Poet's Rite.

Those subtle Artists of the splendid Name,
Who keep, by ancient Right, the Rolls of Fame,
Show Allegheny less than Cooper's Hill,
Our proud Potowmack than smooth Avon's Rill.

At length the Fates their mystic Song begin,
And with a rapid Wheel our Glories spin.

Fair MURRAY deigns to tread the savage Plain,
Each Muse, and soft-eyed Grace, are in her Train.

Wherever they move, the Woods and laughing Fields
Seem conscious of their Queen. The Flower it yields
A sweeter Fragrance, busy Culture smiles,
And the pleas'd Earth rewards the Planter's Toils.

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Hymen and Venus' Boy gay Plenty leads
Throughout the Land; the Shepherds take their Reeds,
More aptly join'd, and fill the sounding Grove
With mingled Notes of Gratitude and Love.

Hail, noble Fair! while one the Helm of State
Serenely guides through all the Storms of Fate,
And Valour, Justice, mark him for Command,
With softer Virtues she shall bless the Land.

Sooner our Hills may quit yon azure Bend,
And to old Ocean with their Woods descend,
Or Niagara's roaring Torrent cease,
Hush'd by the Whispers of the amorous Breeze,
Sooner the Dogstar bleach our Fields with Snow,
Than from our Breast, your dear Remembrance go.

⁸

Another anonymous Virginia Muse sounded a more personal note:

TO THE COUNTESS OF DUNMORE.

WHILST the Virginians boast a grateful Claim,
And pay due Honours to a MURRAY'S Name,
Proclaim the Tribute of a deserv'd Applause,
And hail the Guardian of their sacred Laws,
Permit a Muse, a Muse unknown before,
At least unknown on the Atlantick Shore,
T' approach the Shrine where Beauty gilds the Way,
And greet the Coming of this joyful Day.

From polish'd Courts, from Albion's happy Isle,
Where beauteous nature spreads the kindest Smile,
Where Affability with graceful Mien
Adorns the Splendour of the British Queen,
Well are you come such Virtue to expand,
And scatter Blessing through this genial Land,
Well are you come where all the Fair may boast,
They've no Contention but to please the most.
Here Ladies deck'd with Charms in gay Parade
Whose Graces Envy cannot well degrade,
Shall form your Circle in a loyal Way,
And look as pleas'd as on a nuptial Day.
But hark! a Thousand Acclamations roar,
From every Side a Thousand Welcomes pour.

Long may your Lord in publick Honours shine,
To grace those publick Honours long be thine.
Placid by his Sovereign in the Chair of State,
To guide the Helm, yet soothe the high Debate,
May his Example Liberty inspire,
And urge the Senate to a Patriot Fire,
That the Asserters of their Country Laws
May still unite in Freedom's glorious Cause,
And most to bless the Spot wherein we live,
4To Commerce true Stability to give;
Warm in their Hearts that Principle to feel
That well, that best supports the common Weal;
That Constitution clearly to observe,
And with a firm though temperate Zeal preserve;
The Crown's Prerogative, the People's Right,
Equally pois'd, and ever in their Sight.

⁹

Mrs. Rind's poem ("By a Lady"--surely the editor herself) was not a formal address to a public personage, but rather a welcome to a woman who had just brought her children to a strange country where they would make a home for the husband and father who had come earlier to begin a new career.

Hail, noble Charlotte! Welcome to the plain,
Where your lov'd Lord presides o'er the domain:
But who can speak the rapture that he proves,
To see at once six pledges of your loves?

Methinks I view him clasp you to his breast,
In speechless transport his fond love confess'd.
By sympathy of souls each other bless;
He, conscious of your worth, ne'er loves you less.
You for his sake all danger disregard,
And in his arms you meet your fond reward.

Your lovely offspring croud to his embrace,
While he with joy their growing beauties trace;
And while the father in his bosom glows,
The tears of pleasure from each cherub flows;
All eager pressing round about his knees,
In sweet contest, their father most to please.

O charming group! So blooming, and so fair,
In virtue rear'd by thy maternal care;
Long may they live--to virtue still aspire,
And catch the bright example of their sire.

May watchful angels ever guard their fate,
And make you happy as you're good and great;
May health and joy still in your house preside,
And sweet content smile round your fire side.

Believe me, Lady, simple, void of art,
My wishes flow spontaneous from the heart:
May every day like this bring joy to thee;
This cannot fail of giving joy to me.

¹⁰

Mrs. Rind's point was well taken. Virginians hoped that Dunmore might serve them as well as his predecessor, the greatly loved Botetourt, who had been the first full governor to live in Williamsburg; the other 18th-century executives had been lieutenants and the political appointee had stayed in England. (For example, while the Earl of Orkney held the appointment, the 5 colony was served by Edward Mott, Alexander Spotswood, Hugh Drysdale and William Gooch—all of whom bore the official title of Lieutenant-Governor.) In the colonial view, the governor's family in residence symbolized stability and gubernatorial interest in local affairs.

Dunmore had been in office since the summer of 1771, but he had only recently decided to have his family join him--after he learned that he would not be able to visit them in England without resigning his colonial post. His reason for the delay was a popular conviction that the Virginia climate required a "seasoning" period for Europeans, which was especially difficult for women and children. The decision had been announced in the spring of 1773 when he sent his secretary, Captain Edward Foy, to England to escort them on the return trip. Later in the year he had purchased two Virginia estates. One was a mountain retreat in Berkeley County near the Warm Springs;¹¹ the other, a plantation on Queen's Creek about seven miles from Williamsburg, called Porto Bello.¹² Neither of these places was ready for occupancy, and so the family lived in the Palace.¹³

Lady Dunmore, like her husband, was a Scot, nee Charlotte Stewart, sixth daughter of the sixth Earl of Galloway and niece of Admiral Sir George Keith.¹⁴ When she married John Murray in Edinburgh February 21, 1759, she became a countess, for the bridegroom was already a peer—fourth Earl of Dunmore, Viscount Fincastle, and Baron of Blair, of Moulin, and of Tillymont.¹⁵ She was one of the most beautiful women of her day and he was handsome, well educated, pleasant and polished.

In 1761 they went to England because he took a seat in Parliament as one of the representative Scottish peers. At the end of the decade his active support of the Whigs was rewarded with colonial appointment, first as governor 6 of New York, then as governor of Virginia. When he left England in 1770, his household included four sons and three daughters—George, William, Alexander, John, Catherine, Augusta, Susan—and another son was born in December, Leveson Grenville Keith Murray. But only six of the children came with the Countess to America; the second son, William, had died in May, 1773, and the baby stayed in England.¹⁶

Even during her short visit in New York, Lady Dunmore won universal admiration. The usually critical Governour Morris described her as "a very elegant woman" and explained: "She looks, speaks and moves and is a lady. Her daughters are fine sprightly sweet girls. Goodness of heart flushes from them in every look. How is it possible...my Lord Dunmore could so long deprive himself of those pleasures he must enjoy in such a family?"¹⁷ In Williamsburg Jefferson's Italian friend and protege, Philip Mazzei, was equally enthusiastic in praise of her and her daughters. Years later he recalled:

At first sight, it seemed to me that she deserved a better husband and I soon learned that I was not mistaken. There were two daughters—one seventeen and the other fifteen and a half years old—as charming as their mother, both in personality and in appearance...¹⁸

And in Norfolk another old gentleman forty years after the event remembered his first sight of her:

It so happened, then, you must know, that my Lord and Lady Dunmore, and their family, came to pay a visit to Norfolk; (some time in the year 1774, I think, tho' I won't be sure) and our people turned out to receive 'em in style. Indeed you never saw such a fuss as we made. Our parade on the late visit of our good President [Monroe], was nothing to it. For then, you know, we were all royalists, all the King's subjects, (tho' we were beginning to feel a little mannish about our rights) and we thought we couldn't do too much to honor our guests. So among other things, we made 'em a grand ball at the old Masons Hall, … and all the gentry of our town were there of course. And besides, we had sent off an express to Princess Anne for Col. Moseley, who was reckoned the finest gentleman we had, to come to town with his famous wig and shining buckles, to dance the minuet with my lady—for our poor Mayor, Captain Abyvon, was afraid to venture upon such a thing. And there too we had all the British navy officers, Capt. Montague, and the 7 rest, with their heads powdered as white as they could be. What was best of all, all our pretty girls, far and near, came out to grace the scene. …So, by and by, the fiddles struck up; and there went my Lady Dunmore in the minuet, sailing about the room in her great, fine, hoop-petticoat, (her new fashioned air balloon as I called it) and Col. Moseley after her, wig and all. Indeed he did his best to overtake her I believe; but little puss was too cunning for him this time, and kept turning and doubling upon him so often, that she flung him out several times, (at least by his looks, he was on a wrong scent more than once) and he couldn't come near her to save him. Bless her heart, how cleverly she managed her hoop--now this way, now that—every body was delighted. Indeed, we all agreed that she was a lady sure enough, and that we had never seen dancing before—After this our Lord Mayor was obliged to take out Lady Catharine for another minuet. But the poor Captain was laboring hard in a heavy sea all the time, and, I dare say, was glad enough when he got safe moored in his seat. The Capt. Montague took out Lady Susan—and I remember the little jade made a mighty pretty cheese with her hoop. Then came the reels; and here our Norfolk lads and lasses turned in with all their hearts and heels.¹⁹

The official ball of welcome was delayed until the spring meeting of the General Assembly, when the Burgesses formally entertained for her at the Capitol. The date was set for the last week in May.²⁰ Then, on the 24th, the Burgesses passed resolutions setting June 1 as a day of fasting and prayer to protest the Boston Port Bill, and the Governor dissolved them. But the ball was given, as arranged, on the 27th. Apparently it was a thoroughly pleasant social occasion and the Burgesses offered full honors to Lady Dunmore, whose husband had just dissolved their House. Strangely enough, friendly relations with Dunmore were not strained at that time. George Washington, for example, not only attended the ball but dined at the Palace and spent the evening there on the 25th; furthermore, the next morning—before the dissolution—he rode with the Governor to Porto Bello, inspected the farm, and breakfasted there.²¹

Meanwhile the Murray family had settled into the life of the colonial 8 capital. The three boys were enrolled in the Grammar School at the College²² and the eldest, Lord Fincastle, was receiving special instruction from the Master of the school, the Rev. Thomas Gwatkin, who served also as Lady Dunmore's private chaplain.²³

Mid-summer brought Indian troubles growing out of frontier violations of the Proclamation of 1763, which had prohibited settlement beyond the proclamation line along the Alleghenys. Dunmore supported Virginia backwoodsmen who had invaded Shawnee hunting grounds and himself led a war party of frontiersmen down the Ohio from Fort Pitt. The popular appeal of his action was celebrated in verse:

Our Royal Governor Dunmore, he being of high renown
With fifteen hundred jovial men, he marched towards their town
With a full resolution, to slay both old and young
For all the barbarous actions, the savages had done.

²⁴

Though it was another group under Col. Andrew Lewis who defeated the Shawnee at Point Pleasant, Dunmore directed the diplomacy of the peace treaty in which the Shawnee, Delaware and Mingo tribes renounced their hunting rights south of the Ohio. Accordingly, Williamsburg gave him a hero's welcome when he returned to the city December 4.

It was a double celebration for the Murrays, for Lady Dunmore had given birth to a daughter the day before, December 3. Once again, a round of congratulatory visits and messages was in order: The Council, the President and Professors of the College, the officials of the City of Williamsburg and of the City of Norfolk all presented formal addresses and the Governor returned most cordial thanks. The College faculty, with felicitous extravagance, concluded: "And, may you always feel the enlivening Pleasure of reading in the Countenances around you, wherever you turn your Eyes, such Expressions of Affection as can be derived only from applauding and grateful Hearts!"²⁵

The new baby was named Virginia. The christening ceremony took place in the afternoon of January 19, the birthday of Queen Charlotte, and the "elegant Ball" at the Palace that night honored both Her Highness, the Queen of England, and the first family of the colony.²⁶ As it turned out, the evening marked the zenith of their popularity in Virginia.

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Spring brought "Alarums and Commotions" that ushered in the Revolution. In the excitement following the Powder Magazine Incident of April 20-21, Lord Dunmore rushed Lady Dunmore and the children for safety to the man-of-war Fowey stationed in Hampton Roads; he placed cannon before the Palace and threatened to arm his own slaves and free all others who would join him. Then, with the dispersal of the bands of militia who had assembled in Fredericksburg and Hanover to march on the capital, the governor's family returned to the Palace for a month of relative calm. Finally, on a Thursday morning, June 8, before daybreak they again left the city and sought safety on board the Fowey, accompanied this time by Professor Gwatkin. Three weeks later, June 29, Lady Dunmore, the seven children and Gwatkin sailed for England on a schooner, the Magdalen. Lord Dunmore, on board the Fowey, accompanied them as far as the Virginia Capes.²⁷

All during the last months of her residence in the colony the Virginia patriots continued to praise Lady Dunmore while they castigated her husband—either from sincere admiration or sympathy or formal chivalry, or for political effect and literary contrast. For example, when the Burgesses prepared a long formal statement of grievances against the governor—ten printed folio pages—they included this reference to her:

It gave the greatest Concern, my Lord, to all acquainted with your most amiable Lady, and her distinguished Character, to hear that she had removed with her Children to one of the King's Ships. We have inquired into the cause of this, and though we do not presume to prescribe to her Ladyship, yet we are persuaded, that had she known the Sentiments of all Ranks of People in this Colony, every uneasiness would have been removed.²⁸

Just after she sailed for England, Pinkney's Gazette printed an open letter addressed to the "Amiable Countess" by A PLANTER, who wrote, in part:

Your illustrious character fills the breast of Virginia with love and admiration. Wonder not, then, that your virtue, charity, and humanity, demand the public applause of an honest planter; a native of this once happy clime, who early imbibed sentiments of worth, so highly becoming the person who wishes for intrinsic merit.... Virginia feels the warmest sympathy when she reflects that a person of your delicate sensibility, through the ungenerous treatment of a great lord, must feel a load of trouble, too ponderous not to destroy your domestic felicity. Permit 10 me, with real concern, to lament your departure from this government. The poor will lose thy well-timed favours; the rich, your agreeable and instructive conversation, replete with native innocence. Had your lord possessed half the engaging qualities that embellish your mind, and render the possessor an object of universal approbation, he would have been the idol of a brave and free people, and not drawn upon himself their detestation….

Misrepresentations have drawn the sword against the bosom of British America; her Halcyon days are now no more; joy and tranquility are fled, and refuse to shed their diffusive blessing through Virginia's fertile soil. 0 VIRGINIA, thou seat of loyalty, that had the thanks of kings! At thy fair lap behold the thundering cannon and destructive sword. Thy gracious sovereign disdains thee now. Bute and Mansfield are thy inveterate foes. 0 noble countess! snatch Virginia from impending ruin. Tell Bute and Mansfield Virginia is thy friend, and hopes for liberty and peace, but disdains the rude chains of rugged slavery!²⁹

A sort of footnote to the story of Lady Dunmore in Virginia was written fifty years later when Lady Virginia Murray, spinster, filed a claim against the State of Virginia which is unique in American history. The memorialist stated that she was born in Williamsburg while her father resided there; that "the Assembly then sitting at Williamsburg requested I might be their God Daughter, & christened by the name of Virginia"; that after the christening they proposed to provide for her in a manner suitable to the honor they conferred upon her; and that she estimated the value of her bequest, after fifty years, at £100,000. She concluded her claim with this plea:

That from the Changes which have since taken Place & from the pleasing Consideration that all adverse Feeling consequent thereon have long since subsided and are now at Rest it has been signified to your Memorialist, & she (considering herself as the adopted Child of that State) has been induced to believe, that on a Promise & Assurance so spontaneously & gratuitously given an Appeal to your honourable Assembly on a Subject of such vital Importance to your Memorialist would not even at this Great Distance of Time be ineffectually made by her, & to this your Memorialist is the more encouraged from the Pressure of existing Difficulties and Embarrassments caused by the Inability of your Memorialists Father to make that suitable Provision for her which it was so much his Wish to have done, but from which he was prevented by a disastrous Concurrence of Circumstances over which he most unhappily 11 had not any Controul.³⁰

Copies of the memorial were sent to a number of Englishmen in America and to two prominent Virginians—President Monroe and ex-president Jefferson, who requested careful search of the colonial records for substantiation of the claim. Francis Gilmer searched the Journals and Benjamin Wailer searched his own memory, but no one could find any suggestion that the Burgesses had attended the christening or even sent congratulatory greetings to Governor Dunmore. The historical record shows that the Assembly was not in session in January of 1775, and the State of Virginia declined to acknowledge Lady Virginia's claim.

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Extract from John Quincy Adams' Diary, The Adams Papers, Microfilm reel #32. John Quincy Adams was serving as the American Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain in 1816.

London, England, 31 January, 1816:

"… I went to the Countess Dowager of Dunmore's, according to appointment. …Lady Dunmore is the widow of the Earl of Dunmore, the last Governor of Virginia before the American Revolution. Her daughter, Lady Virginia Murray was with her, and also another Lady- But the object of Lady Dunmore's requesting to see me was to enquire how they must proceed to obtain from the State of Virginia a grant to her daughter, who was born there, and to whom the whole Legislative Assembly had stood Godfathers- Washington had held her at the font, and the Assembly had then promised that they would make her fortune. Lady Virginia had a Letter all prepared, addressed to Mr. Monroe, as Secretary of State, and Governor of Virginia; stating all the circumstances of her Birth; of the request of the Assembly of Virginia to stand as her Godfather's; of the name of the Province, which they gave her, and of their promise to appropriate a sum, and put it out at interest to accumulate until it should amount to a hundred thousand Pounds Sterling, and then to make a present of it to her. And now, her father being dead, and having left all his Estate to her brothers, and nothing to her, she has no resource, but to claim the fulfilment of the promise by the Assembly of Virginia. This Letter she intended to send to her brother, now Governor of Turk's Island, and get him to send it to Mr. Monroe. But she afterwards asked me to forward it, which I willingly consented to do. But I told her that Mr. Monroe, though Secretary of State in the United States, was not now Governor of Virginia. That it would be necessary to alter the letter to him, accordingly, and perhaps it would be necessary to send another Letter of the same kind to the present Governor of Virginia; together with a formal Declaration signed by the Countess of Dunmore, to serve as a proof that the promise had been made. They enquired the name of the present Governor of Virginia which I could not immediately tell them, but said I thought I could ascertain, by recurring to my Papers at home, and would let them know — The old Lady, who must be at least seventy-five, and who is so deaf that she can hear only by an ear-trumpet, thought it would be best not to mention the particular sum, because it might be thought large, especially as the Country was not in such prosperous circumstances, nor so rich, as when the promise was made — But Lady Virginia thought it would be best to specify the sum, as it was promised, and I told them that naming the sum could do no harm, as it would not prevent the grant of a small one if the Legislature of Virginia should be disposed to grant any thing. The Countess talked much of the politeness, which was shewn to her by the Virginians, at the time of the Commencement of the American Revolution, when Lord Dunmore was obliged to leave the Country. She also complained much of Lady Virginia's being left totally destitute; and said she had nothing to expect from her brothers."

9 February, 1816: "I received yesterday a second Note from the Countess Dowager of Dunmore, enclosing the Letter for Mr. Monroe, which she persists in requesting me to forward, though I have given her fair notice that her daughter Lady Virginia, has nothing to expect from the State, the name of which she bears-"