Colonel Ralph Wormley

Virginia Biographical Encyclopedia

Name: Ralph Wormeley
the second Ralph to be councillor, was a son of Ralph Wormeley, Esq., burgess and councillor, and of Agatha Eltonhead, who married (first) Luke Stubbins, of Northampton county, (second) Ralph Wormeley, and (third) Sir Henry Chicheley. He was born in 1650; matriculated, July 4, 1665, at Oriel College, Oxford; was a member of the house of burgesses in 1674; appointed m ember of the council in 1677; secretary of state in 1693, and became in t he same year president of the council. He lived in such state at his resid ence, "Rosegill," on the Rappahannock river, and had such influence in aff airs, that he was called the greatest man in "Virginia." He married (first) Catherine, widow of Colonel Peter Jenings and daughter of Sir Thomas Lunsford, by whom he had two daughters-- Elizabeth, who married John Loma x, and Catherine, who married Gawin Corbin. He married (second) Elizabeth Armistead, daughter of Colonel John Armistead, of Gloucester county, and had several sons and daughters, one of whom was John Wormeley, who was grandfather of Ralph Wormeley, the third councillor of the name (q. v. ). "Rosegill," his beautiful home on the Rappahannock, was the residence at different times of two of the governors of Virginia--Sir Henry Chich eley, who married his mother, and Lord Howard, of Effingham, who preferred living here to residing at Jamestown. Colonel Wormeley died Decemb er 5, 1703.

GEDCOM Note

He was a Secretary of the Colony of Virginia.

GEDCOM Note

(Research):
'ROSEGILL' The Rosegill plantation is a complex located on a commanding position near the end of a narrow peninsula with a sweeping prospect of the Rappahanock River. The tract of land was patented to the Wormeley family in 1636 by King Charles I & today contains 736 acres in Middlesex Co. It was to this home that Ralph Wormeley brought his bride Elizabeth. It ranks as one of the most historic estates in America-one of the most magnificent in Virginia-established in 1649 by Ralph Wormeley (I) who planted 3200 acres on the south side of the Rappahannock River. The brick house was built in 1650 & contains 11 rooms. During Ralph II's tenure is was an elaborate seat-described as consisting of "20 houses scattered along the plateau above the river." It faces an immense lawn that slopes to the Rappahannock River which is several miles wide at that point. The hall, perhaps the grandest in Virginia occupies the whole river front with a stairway at either end. Into this opens the dining room, library, sitting-room, paneled in mahogany & oak. 'Rosegill' was left to Ralph's son Ralph III then to his brother John, then to his son & grandson Ralph IV & V. (See their notes.) In Feb. 1973 it was nominated to the«i» National Register of Historic Places of the National Park Service.

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«/i»From: «i»gutenberg.org «/i»Rosegill, Middlesex County«i» «/i»The first Ralph cordially welcomed refugee royalists to Rosegill. Sir Henry Chicheley, Deputy Governor, made his home at Rosegill & died there in 1682. In 1686, the second Ralph Wormeley was host to the Frenchman Monsieur Durand of Dauphiné, who sought in the colonies a haven for the Huguenots, his forlorn compatriots.

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From: «i»The Wormelely Family«/i»: Secretary Wormeley married (1) about 1674, Katherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Lunsford, the noted Cavalier officer, and the widow of Captain Peter Jen(n)ings, Attorney General and member of the Council of Virginia.  In the Register of Christ Church parish, Middlesex, is the following entry: "The Honorable Lady, Madam Katherine Wormeley, wife to the Honble Ralph Wormeley, Esq., Departed this life 17th of May 1685, and was buried in the Chancell of the Great Church between ye Honble___________ Chichley & _______________."  Secretary Wormeley married (2) "Madam Elizabeth Armistead, of Gloster, at Collo Armistead's Gloster, 16th of February, 1687."  She was the daughter of Colonel John Armistead, of Gloucester County, a member of the Council, and married secondly, Oct. 5, 1703, William Churchill, of "Bushy Park", Middlesex, who was afterwards also a member of the council.

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«i»Virginia Genealogies«/i» by Hayden Pg 230: Lists him as having been married 3 times but a Jennings is listed as a first wife..I believe this is Katherine Lunsford whose 1st husband was Capt Jennings (see above).

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«i»Descendants of Richard Eltonhed«/i» by Harrison states that "Ralph Wormeley Esq. was Secy of the State of Va. (1693). of "Rosegill", Middlesex Co. Va., Matriculated at Oreil College, Oxford En.land.(14 Jun 1665)Burgess (1674). Member of the Council (1677. Collector and naval officer of Rappahannock, Va. A Trustee of William and Mary College (1693.President of the Council (1693)Called "the greatest man in Virginia"

GEDCOM Note

They were ancestors of Chief Justice John Marshall.

GEDCOM Note

                                                          "THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN VIRGINIA"

«i» «/i»From «i»Planters and Pioneers«/i»:
Ralphe Wormeley aka Ralph Wormeley II's library at the manor house 'Rosegill'-abounded in books. of history, biography & theology. Wormeley's 400 volumes, one of the largest in Virginia, included 128 of religion and from morals, eighty-six of biography and history, and many others of law, politics, the arts, and literature.

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From «i»Ex Libris: «/i»...from a political pamphlet published in 1696...he is spoken of as "the Honourable Secretary Mr. Ralph Wormeley, the greatest man in the Colony." Note: This site also says he marr. Catharine, dtr. of the Honorable Ferdinando Fairfax. They had an elder son Ralph who died before his father, son John succeeded to the estates. Also that he & his second wife had 3 sons Ralph, John & James. Ralph succeeded his father at Rosegill. This doesn't make sense: two Ralphs?, John inherited, then Ralph? Was Catharine his 'second wife'? His second wife is given on other sites as Katharine Lunsford. I have seen never that in any other source. This needs to be clarified.

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From«i» The Wormeley Family«/i»: Ralph Wormeley, of "Rosegill", Middlesex county, was born in 1650 and matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, July 14, 1665 & returned to Virginia. He was appointed to the (His Majesty's) Council in 1677, and Secretary of the Colony in June, 1693. In the latter year he was President of the Council and by virtue of that office was for a time, acting-governor. He was a man of great weight in government and is described a contemporary writer as "the most powerful man in Virginia." He was one of the founders (in 1692) & also a Trustee of William and Mary College, 1693. Governor, Lord Effingham, appears not to have liked Jamestown and spent much of the time in his administration, 1684-1688, at "Rosegill". There is in existence a writ for the election ot Burgesses dated at "Rosegill", Sept. 1, 1686. M. Durand, a French Huguenot refugee, who came to Virginia in October, 1686, and traveled extensively through the Colony, received much hospitality from Ralph Wormeley.

Durand states that the Governor's house (Greenspring), was not then occupied, because "last summer, during two months of the hot weather, the Governor lost his lady, two pages and five or six other servants, and in consequence had removed his residence to the house of Mr. Wormeley in Middlesex County. There his family did very well, being high above the river". Durand desiring to meet the Governor went across country to "Rosegill". He says "Mr. Wormeley is the son of the late Governor [stepson of Governor Sir Henry Chichley]. Although a nobleman and still owning estates in England, he has established himself in this country. He has twenty six negro slaves, and twenty Christians and holds the highest official positions. He has, too, at least 20 houses scattered along a charming plateau above the Rappahannock River. The best of these he had lent to the Governor". Durand's interesting narrative was translated and privately printed in 1925.

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«i»From Virginia Dynasties by Clifford Dowdey«/i»: Wormeley liked people, lusty pleasures and the style of high living the settlers could understand. He kept a personal tailor and shoemaker, rode a prized pacing horse with a crimson broadcloth saddlecloth and silken holsters, caroused all night and served wine so strong that a visiting Frenchman had to dilute his. Ralph Wormeley was a native born Virginian and the first to be graduated from Oxford (Oriel College), had a flair for elegance of person and lived "bravely"--as the natives said for "gallantry." He was growing famous for his hospitality at Rosegill, the inherited manor house where his father had entertained *Colonel Norwood's "Cavalier" friends. With the extravagance of living, young Wormeley was an able man and progressive in the diversity of small manufacturing at his plantation. (*See notes for Col Norwood with his father Capt. Ralph Wormeley.) Councilor Wormeley...was probably came closest of any Virginian of his generation to capturing the Renaissance ideal of "gentleman." as defined in Castaglione's «i»Courtier«/i» and Henry Peacham's «i»Complete Gentleman«/i»--both books in his library. A happy hedonist, Wormeley served ably on the Council, ranking high in influence, and was extremely enterprising in operating his 5,000 acre plantation on the south bank of the Rappahannock. This he had inherited, along with four indentures, thirteen Negroes, cattle, sheep, and twenty -four horses branded with his stepfather Sir Henry Chicopee's coat of arms. 'Wormhole's' slaves were trained to weave linen and wool , turn out leather in a tan yard and run a flour mill. ' Wormholes' seemed not to be engaged in trading operations to any extent--certainly not like the planters newly rising to wealth--though he doubtless shipped from his own wharf on the south bank of the Rap. His concentration was on home manufacturing from products grown along with tobacco. A French Huguenot refugee who visited Rose gill...said, "When I reached his place, I thought I was entering a rather large village." (This was Monsieur Durand of Dauphiné-see above & under notes from «i»guten.org«/i».) The manor house at Rosegill was, except for Green Spring, one of the few plantation houses of the day built with some grandeur. Immediately inside, a gallery ran the width of the house, with stairs at each end leading to three bedrooms above.

Downstairs there was a large reception room which served for parties, an intimate room and a dining room.  All service units, such as the kitchen and laundry, were in outside buildings. Since Wormeley's father's day, "feasting and carousing" were continual at Rosegill...Having inherited about twenty pieces of silver service (a large collection for his father's day in Virginia), Wormeley entertained with a style and taste rare in the Colony in the 1680's In conforming to the ideal of the 'Complete Gentleman', Wormeley had a library of nearly four hundred books, probably the largest of his generation.  In spreading his interests laterally, Wormeley was not the classicist that Richard Lee was and never became regarded as an erudite man. He was typical of the gentry of his time in Virginia and England in reading widely on religious subjects, particularly those relating to the Church of England: he kept abreast of the writings of the outstanding Anglican churchmen and, of course, ordered fresh copies of the Book of Common Prayer.  In secular subjects his tastes ran to history and travel, and instead of Lee's scholarly books on logic and philosophy, he read modern plays--Beaumont and Fletcher, James Shirley, William Cartwright and such. 

Though Wormeley was lightly stocked on law books in comparison to the law library young Robert Carter was building, he had a newly published 'English Horseman' and, unlike the austere Lee, a book on wine making and one on beer brewing. As a matter of fact, Wormeley, with his addiction to showiness, spread himself so thin that the time would come when Robert, the young brother of his friend John Carter, would have to help straighten out an entangled Wormeley estate. But in his glory, the native-born "complete gentleman" made an ideal host for Lord Howard of Effingham. When other councilors joined them for a night of high stakes gambling, it would seem unlikely that the problems and policies of the Virginia colony figured largely in their conversations over the heavy wine Wormeley had imported from Portugal. Robert (King) Carter became a joint guardian of Ralph Wormeley's sons upon his death.
Elizabeth Armistead Wormeley was the sister of Carter's first wife. Wormeley's resplendent style of living, which Carter had regarded as vain show, had left a tangled estate for his widow and children. After the debts had been settled, the broadly based operations at Rosegill plantation, with the considerable tangible property at the handsomely equipped homeplace, would still be wealth in the Colony, but the Wormeley estate would no longer be among the very rich trading plantations as it had been when the second Ralph Wormeley come into it... Carter wrote to a Virginia agent in London: "Ralph (III) in prospect will have a fine estate, John a valuable one; yet it will hardly be compatible in either of them to follow their father's steps in all things." (See Robert Carter notes)WILL «i»The Will of Ralph Wormeley, Esq.«/i», was dated Feb. 22, 1700 and proved in Middle- sex, April 7, 1701 (15 Dec 1701?) He gave to his wife Elizabeth, all her jewels, moneys, and plate, 100 pounds sterling and furniture to furnish her room , in addition to her dower. After his wife's part was taken out his estate was to be kept together for the benefit of his children, payment of legacies, etc. To his daughter, Elizabeth, 300 pounds sterling when she marries, a negro man or woman, a mulatto boy and certain furniture, she to take her choice out of some of his houses: also her choice of two riding horses, and to have twenty pounds a year to buy her clothes until she is married; also the largest silver tankard and silver plate, the silver caudle cup with a cover, and 14 of the best silver spoons. To his daughter Catherine Corbin, as a legacy, 50 pounds, she having her portion already. To his daughter, Judith, at the time of her marriage, two hundred and fifty pounds sterling, and 1,500 acres out of his land at Manskin, in Pamunkey Neck. To his son, John, all his dividend of land known as Wormeley's creek (in York County) and all parcels of land since added to it on York River, and all the land in Pamunkey Neck except that given to Judith. To his son, Ralph, all the rest of his lands, and directs that all personal estate be divided at Ralph's coming of age, two thirds to Ralph and one third to John. Appoints his sons Ralph and John executors and requests his friends and relations, Hon. Edmund Jenings, Esq., Hon Robert Carter, Mr. Thomas Corbin, merchant in London, Mr Gawin Crobin, Jr., and Mr. Edwin Thacker to aid in the management of the estate.

GEDCOM Note

Wormeley Family-Va. Historical Magazine Virginia Historical Magazine Vol. 35 Pg 456
Vol. 36 Pp 98-101 Y Y

References

• Poston, Jonathan H., College of William and Mary, "Ralph Wormeley V of Rosegill: A deposed Virginia Aristocrat, 1774-1781", page 4 - 7 http://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4104&context...

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GEDCOM Note

5. RALPH11 WORMELEY, of "Rosegill", Middlesex county, was born in 1650 and matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, July 14, 1665.
He was a member of the House of Burgesses for Middlesex, 1674. was appointed to the Council in 1677, and Secretary of State in June,
1693. In the latter year he was President of the Council and by virtue of that office was, for a time, acting-governor. He was a man of great
weight in the government and is described by a contemporary writer as "the most powerful man in Virginia". He died Dec. 5, 1701.

Wife Elizabeth Armistead

Children:
Elizabeth M. John Lomax in 1703, d. 1740
Catherine
Judith
John
Ralph