CHAPTER 6 – Blakeley & Claymont by Jim Surkamp.

1345 words.

CHAPTER OR STORY 6 (OF 25 CHAPTERS IN THE LONGER VIDEO SHOWN BELOW) – BLAKELEY & CLAYMONT, BEGINNING AT ABOUT 13:18
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJpJeIwFMw#t=13m18s

FLICKR 42 images
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimsurkamp/albums/72157686988987354

https://web.archive.org/web/20190612204456/https://civilwarscholars.com/2017/09/chapter-6-blakeley-claymont-by-jim-surkamp/

With support from American Public University System (apus.edu). The sentiments expressed do not in any way reflect modern-day policies of APUS, and are intended to encourage fact-based exchange for a better understanding of our nation’s foundational values.

BEGIN CHAPTER 6 of 25 CHAPTERS OR STORIES IN THE ABOVE, LONGER VIDEO – BLAKELEY & CLAYMONT

When Richard died unmarried in 1817, his acres went one-third to Blakeley (the second John A. Washington),

one third to Claymont (Bushrod Corbin Washington),

and one-third to his sister, Mary Lee Washington, who was the wife of a lawyer named Noblet Herbert.

Perhaps with this transfer of 274 acres of Richard Washington’s going to Blakeley some of the Thompsons of Prospect Hill also went over to help at this newly-minted 892-acre farm site of the future inheritors of Mt Vernon, John Augustine Washington II and his remarkable wife, Jane Charlotte Blackburn Washington. Buildings needed building and the womb of Mrs Washington was a busy place.

Jasper’s dad, Solomon, went to Blakeley where for the next fifty years he helped the homesteads prosper at Blakeley. Prospect Hill and Claymont.

Claymont, the massive home, built by the brother of John Augustine, Bushrod Corbin Washington faced Blakeley a short distance from across the Bullskin Run.

Bushrod conveniently had married his beloved Anna Maria Tomasina Blackburn Washington, Jane Charlotte’s sister.

The heart of an affectionate husband pays to her this tribute, that in all relations of her life her conduct was exemplary, and her character lovely and attractive. Her spirit by nature was amiable, ardent yet gentle. By the grace of her Redeemer.

SOLOMON WORKED CLAYMONT & BLAKELEY FARMS, BUT STILL HAD “PEOPLE” AT PROSPECT HILL

Two of Solomon’s siblings, Matilda and Richard, kept up residence at Prospect Hill until they died many years later, sharing the residence and work load from before, during and after the Civil War with the final Washington family owner Bushrod Washington Herbert, a peaceable insurance man who left the smallish main house, barn, a small graveyard and outbuildings of Prospect Hill to Matilda Thompson, provided she didn’t marry.

References:

Monique Crippen-Hopkins – “My Journey Breaking down the Walls.” genealogybreakingdownthewalls.blogspot.com 12 December 2013 Web. 20 January 2017.

Galtcho Geertsema – surveyor who ammassed all plats of Washington family property transactions through time in the eastern Panhandle and a complete re-transcription of all early deed transactions up to 1800.

Jane Charlotte Blackburn Washington
Birth: Aug. 23, 1786
Prince William County
Virginia, USA
Death: Sep. 6, 1855
Mount Vernon
Fairfax County
Virginia, USA
wife of John Augustine Washington

Family links:
Spouse:
John Augustine Washington (1789 – 1832)*

Children:
Anna Maria Thomasina Blackburn Washington Alexander (1817 – 1850)*
George Washington (1818 – 1827)*
Christian Scott Washington (1820 – 1820)*
John Augustine Washington (1820 – 1861)*
John Augustine Washington (1821 – 1861)*
Richard Scott Blackburn Washington (1822 – 1910)*
findagrave.com 5 December 1998 Web. 20 January 2017.

Beeline chapter NSDAR. (1981). “Tombstone Inscriptions Jefferson County 1687-1980.” p. 379
Charles Town, Wv: HBP, Inc. p. 379.

Wayland, John W. (1944). “The Washingtons and their Homes.” McClure Printing Company: Staunton, VA. hathitrust.org 26 August 2015 Web. 20 September 2016. p. 226.

Image Credits:

1. Image Credits 6: FINAL
2. Blakeley & Claymont FINAL
3. Music by Cam Millar FINAL

4. When Richard died unmarried in 1817, his acres went one-third to Blakeley FINAL
CREDIT: Google Maps

5. (the home of the second John A. Washington),

5.1 (the home of the second John A. Washington) (close-up), FINAL

5.2 (the home of the second John A. Washington), (overall & Wayland image) FINAL

CREDIT: Galtcho Geertsema

6. one third to Claymont (Bushrod Corbin Washington’s) FINAL

CREDIT: ‘Claymont Court’, Jefferson County, W. Va.
Date: 1936. wvhistoryonview.org 9 October 2010 Web. 20 June 2016.

7. one third to Claymont (Bushrod Corbin Washington’s)(plat) FINAL

7.1 one third to Claymont (Bushrod Corbin Washington’s)(plat Claymont only) FINAL

CREDIT: Galtcho Geertsema

9.1 But building Blakeley and making its lands and household productive for John and Jane Washington – who would own Mt. Vernon in about ten years – was primary. (Solomon, wheat field)

9.2

CREDIT: Solomon Thompson, courtesy Monique Crippen Hopkins; Cutting hay with a scythe THE IOWA AGRICULTURIST
For the Farm, Garden & Household iowahist.uni.edu start date unavailable Web. 20 January 2017.

10. Buildings needed building (cutting timber) FINAL

CREDIT: Crayon, Porte (Strother, D. H.). “The Mountains – Pt. VII.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Volume 46, Issue: 275, April, 1873, Cornell Digital Library – The Making of America. 19 July 2011. Web. 29 January 2014. p. 680 – Delusive Industry

11. and the womb of Mrs. Washington was a busy place (Jane Charlotte)

11.1 and the womb of Mrs. Washington was a busy place (Jane Charlotte & children 1)

11.2

CREDIT: (Anna Maria born 1817 – George 1818 – Christian 1820 – Augustine 1821 – Richard 1822) – Jane Charlotte Washington and her Family – from “Mrs. J.A.W.” courtesy Augustine and Patty Washington by John Gadsby Chapman The George Washington Masonic National Memorial Assoc.)

Jane Charlotte Blackburn Washington
Birth: Aug. 23, 1786
Prince William County
Virginia, USA
Death: Sep. 6, 1855
Mount Vernon
Fairfax County
Virginia, USA
wife of John Augustine Washington

Family links:
Spouse:
John Augustine Washington (1789 – 1832)*

Beeline chapter NSDAR. (1981). “Tombstone Inscriptions Jefferson County 1687-1980.” p. 279
Charles Town, Wv: HBP, Inc. p. 379.

12.

12.1 Young Solomon, Jasper’s dad, helped the homesteads prosper.(Solomon Thompson’s written name) FINAL

CREDIT: Fresh Eggs by Thomas Waterman Wood the-athenaeum.org 23 May 2002 Web. 20 December 2016.

Appraisement, Inventory Thos B. Washington personal estate, Will Book 14, Page
140. wvgeohistory.org 5 October 2010 Web. 1 October 2016.
– Jefferson County Clerk

13. Banjo by Shana Aisenberg FINAL

14. Young Solomon, Jasper’s dad, helped the homesteads prosper.

CREDIT: Title: Plowing in South Carolina / Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper Oct. 20, 1866 from a sketch by Jas. E. Taylor.
loc.gov 2 March 2000 Web.20 September 2016.

15. Claymont, the massive home, built by the brother of John Augustine

CREDIT: Claymont Court; 4 February 2007 (original upload date)
Author User:Sevenofnine7o9 – commons.wikimedia.org 24 June 2004 Web. 20 January 2017.

16. faced Blakeley across the Bullskin Run

CREDIT: potomacaudubon.org/Cool-Spring-Preserve 11 February 2017 Web. 17 February 2017.

17.

CREDIT: Tombstone marker of Bushrod Corbin Washington at Zion Episcopal Church, Charles town, WV;

18.

19. Rodney Jantzi Plays “When Swallows Homeward Fly” on a harmonium FINAL

20. Zion Episcopal Church

20.1 Zion Episcopal Churchyard

CREDIT: zionepiscopal.net 19 July 2008 Web. 20 January 2017.

21. Bushrod had conveniently married

CREDIT: Silhouette of a Southern Gentleman
by Samuel Metford, ca. 1840 williamsamericanart.com 23 February 2001 Web. 10 April 2017.

22. Anna Maria Tomasina Blackburn Washington (1790-1833) (semblance only)

CREDIT: Kennedy, John P. (1856). “Swallow barn; or, A sojourn in the Old Dominion.” revised edition. New York, NY: G. P. Putnam & Sons. Internet Archive. archive.org 26 January 1997 Web. 20 January 2014.
p. 39 – Semblance Anna Maria Tomasina Washington.

23. Her great great great grandmother (Betsy Wells) FINAL

23.1 Her great great great grandmother (Betsy Wells) FINAL

CREDIT: Jim Surkamp

23.2 The face of Anna Maria Tomasina Washington’s tombstone FINAL

24. Transcription from part of Anna Maria Tomasina Washington’s tombstone

25.

26.

CREDIT: Dinah, Portrait of a Negress Eastman Johnson – circa 1866-1869 Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina, Gift of Kathleen Hammer and Arthur Seelbinder https://courses.bowdoin.edu/there-is-a-woman-in-every-color-2021/patterns-of-visibility/dinah-portrait-of-a-negress/

27.

28.

29. Richard Thompson (1819-1922) Semblance only

30. TITLE: THE THOMPSONS LIVED FOR MANY YEARS AT PROSPECT HILL WITH BUSHROD WASHINGTON HERBERT, A DESCENDANT OF THE SISTER OF RICHARD HENRY LEE WASHINGTON. FINAL