Person:Alexander Spotswood (3)

Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood was one of the Early Settlers of Colonial Virginia

Land Grants - The Spotsylvania Tract

One of the large land grants of Alexander Spotswood was of 40,000 acres, called "The Spotsylvania Tract", which was sold off by Spotswood to several settlers in early Spotsylvania and Orange County, Virginia.^{Citation needed}

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Alexander Spotswood, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.

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   Alexander Spotswood (12 December 1676 – 7 June 1740) was a British Army officer, explorer and lieutenant governor of Colonial Virginia; he is regarded as one of the most significant historical figures in British North American colonial history.

   After a brilliant but unsatisfactory military career, in 1710 he was nominated colonial governor of Virginia, a post which he held for twelve years. During that period, Spotswood engaged in the exploration of the territories beyond the western border, of which he was the first to see the economic potentials. In 1716 he organised and led an expedition west of the mountains, known as Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition, with which he established the Crown's dominion over the territory between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley, thus taking a decisive step for the future British expansion to the West.

   As the governor of Virginia, Spotswood's first preoccupation was to make sea routes safe and fight against the pirates. After a long effort, the famous pirate Blackbeard was hunted down and killed in 1718. In addition, Spotswood promoted the economic growth of the colony by founding the metallurgical settlements of Germanna; introduced the juridical instrument of habeas corpus; and introduced the rules for the commercial relations with Native Americans and those for the tobacco export trade. His tenure was characterised by a growing conflict with the Virginian political classes, which ended with his removal from office.

   Years later, between 1730 and 1739, Spotswood was Postmaster General for British America and, with his young friend Benjamin Franklin, extended the postal service network north of Williamsburg and improved its efficiency.

   At the outbreak of the War of Jenkins' Ear, Spotswood was called back into army service. Promoted to major general, he was put in command of the colonial troops stationed in America with the task of preparing a military action against the Spanish stronghold of Cartagena de Indias, but, in Annapolis, where he was to consult with the local governors, he died suddenly in 1740.

   Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood
2.   Roberts, Gary Boyd. Ancestors of American Presidents. (Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009)
   411.

   Colonial gov of Virginia. Descendant of Robert II of Scotland. Ancestor of First Lady Edith Boling Galt WIlson.

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Tyler
   1:58.

   Spotswood, Alexander, lieutenant governor under the Earl of Orkney (1710-1722) was a great-grandson of John Spotswood or Spotiswood, Scotland, who in 1635 became archbishop of Glasgow and one of the privy council. He grandfather, Sir Robert Spotswood, was an eminent lawyer, who was elected president of the court of sessions in Scotland. In the civil war, Sir Robert was a staunch supporter of Charles I. and was temporary secretary of state in 1643. Taken prisoner at the battle of Philiphaugh, he was tried by the Scotch parliament, sentenced to death, and executed. Alexander Spotswood's father was Dr. Robert Spotswood, who was a physician to the governor and garrison at Tangier. His mother was Catherine Elliott, a widow who had by her first husband a son, General Roger Elliott, whose portrait is now in the state library at Richmond, Virginia. Alexander was born at Tangier in 1676, educated for a military live, fought under Marlborough, was quartermaster-general with the rank of colonel, and was dangerously wounded in the breast at the battle of Blenheim. In 1710 he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Virginia, and showed himself a conspicuously energetic administrator. He bestowed much attention upon Williamsburg, leveled the streets, assisted in rebuilding the church, providing some of the brick, built a brick magazine for the safekeeping of the public arms, and aided in rebuilding the college, which have been burned in 1705; and in 1722, on the petition of the people of Williamsburg and the assembly, he granted a charter of incorporation to the city of Williamsburg. Against the enemies of the colony he took firm and decided steps. The coast of Virginia was harassed by piratical vessels. Spotswood sent an expedition against them under Captain Maynard, killed the pirate, Teach or Blackbeard, and hanged others. As to the Indians he blended humanity with policy. He established a school for the Saponies at Fort Christanna in Brunswick county, and paid the master, Mr. Griffin, out of his own pocket, and arranged a treaty by which the chiefs of the tributary tribes promised to send their sons to college. He sent soldiers against the Tuscaroras, who had attacked North Carolina, but laid force aside when he found them ready to negotiate a treaty of peace. Against the French and Indians he established two forts on the frontiers to guard the northern and southern passes. At the first of these he planted the German settlement and at the other he gathered the Sapony Indians. His idea was to extend the line of Virginia settlements so as to check the further extension of French influence on this continent. With this in view he explored the back country, and in 1716 crossed the Blue Ridge mountains and visited the Shenandoah river and the beautiful valley through which it runs. He urged upon the mother country the policy of establishing a chain of posts back of the mountains, from the great lakes to the Mississippi river. But Spotswood had his weak points like Nicholson, another capable man before him. He was overbearing and had great ideas of the royal prerogative. And so, though he encouraged the rights of the subject by bringing over with him a confirmation of the writ of habeas corpus, he did not like Nott attempt to conciliate the people. The result was that he got at cross purposes with the assembly, with the council, and with Dr. James Blair, the president of the college, which resulted in his removal September 27, 1722. He continued to reside in Virginia and led an active life. During his governorship he had established a postal system in Virginia, and in 1730-1739 was deputy postmaster-general for the American colonies, in which capacity he arranged the transfer of mails with great energy. It was he who made Benjamin Franklin postmaster for Pennsylvania. He had also called the legislature's attention to the iron ores of Virginia, though without effect; and no in a private capacity he established a furnace in Spotsylvania county, where he had patented 40,000 acres of land. In 1740 Spotswood was made general of an expedition against Carthagena. He visited Williamsburg, and then repaired to Annapolis with the intention of embarking with the troops, but he died June 7, just before the embarkation, and Colonel William Gooch was appointed chief in his place. He left his books and mathematical instruments to the college. Colonel Spotswood married, in 1724, Ann Butler Brain, daughter of Mr. Richard Brain, of London, and they had two sons, John and Robert Spotswood, and two daughters, Ann Catherine, who married Bernard Moore, and Dorothea, who married Captain Nathaniel West Dandridge. Robert, his youngest son, was slain by the Indians in the French and Indian war. John, the elder son, married, in 1745, Mary, daughter of William Dandridge, and had issue two sons, General Alexander Spotswood and Captain John Spotswood, both of the army of the revolution, and two daughters, Mary and Ann. The descendants of Governor Spotswood are now represented in numerous families of distinction.

4.   Sources Needed.

   Genealogy
   
   Alexander Spotswood was born in the Tangier Garrison, Morocco, Africa about 1676 to Catharine Maxwell (c. 1638 - December 1709) and her second husband, Dr Robert Spottiswoode (17 September 1637 - 1680), the Chirurgeon to the Garrison. Through his father, Alexander was a grandson of Judge Robert Spottiswoode (1596-1646), a great-grandson of Archbishop John Spottiswoode (1565-1639), and a descendant of King Robert II of Scotland through the 2nd Earls of Crawford [1]). Alexander's older half-brother (by his mother's first marriage to George Elliott) was Roger Elliott (c. 1655 - 15 May 1714), who became one of the first Governors of Gibraltar. Following the death of Robert Spotswood, his mother married thirdly Reverend Dr. George Mercer, the Garrison's Schoolmaster.
   
   Military-Life
   
   On 20 May 1693, Alexander became an Ensign in the Earl of Bath's Regiment of Foot, and was commissioned in 1698, being promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1703. He was appointed Quartermaster-General of the Duke of Marlborough's army the same year, and was wounded at the Battle of Blenheim the following year.
   
   Colonial Life
   
   In 1710, Alexander was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, under the nominal governorship of George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney. He was the first to occupy the new Governors Mansion, which many citizens thought overly extravagant (its 20th-century reconstruction is now one of the principal landmarks in Colonial Williamsburg). A Tobacco Act requiring the inspection of all tobacco intended for export or for use as legal tender was passed in 1713. The next year, he founded the First Germanna Colony, and regulated trade with native Americans at another of his pet projects, Fort Christanna. In 1715, he bought 3229 acres (13 km²) at Germanna.
   
   In 1716 he led the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition up the Rappahannock River valley and across the Blue Ridge Mountains at Swift Run Gap into the Shenandoah Valley to expedite settlement. The following year saw the foundation of the Second Germanna Colony and the Repeal of regulation of trade with native Americans. A Third Germanna Colony followed in 1719, and Germanna was made the seat of Spotsylvania County the following year.
   
   Between 1716 and 1720, Spotswood built the Tubal Works which had a cold blast charcoal blast furnace which produced pig iron, and probably a finery forge (it is also the site of the 19th century Scotts Ironworks). It remained in operation for about 40 years and is possibly the first successful ironworks in the colonies (although Tinton Falls, NJ- late 1600s is another candidate). Pig iron from Tubal is in the collections of the Fredericksburg (Virginia) Area Museum and the NPS (Spotsylvania Courthouse). Tubal Works iron was exported to England by 1723 [2]. In May of the same year Gov. Drysdale reported to the Lords of Trade that Spotswood was selling "backs and frames for Chumnies, Potts, doggs, frying, stewing, and backing panns" at auction in Williamsburg. Around 1732 he built what may be the first purpose built foundry in the British North American Colonies at Massaponax. This was a double air furnace (usually used to make cannon) and was used to recast pig iron produced at Tubal into final shapes (kettles, andirons, firebacks, etc. and possibly cannon). Neither of Spotswood's iron operations were at Germanna. Spotswood was not, as is commonly believed, involved in the Fredericksville Furnace.[3]
   
   It was in the fall of 1718 when Spotswood engaged in a clandestine expedition by privately hiring two sloops, Jane and Ranger, and a number of Royal Navy men to seek out the pirate Blackbeard, or Edward Teach. On 18 November 1718, Lt. Robert Maynard sailed from Hampton, Virginia to Ocracoke Inlet, North Carolina. On 22 November 1718, Maynard and his men defeated Blackbeard and the pirates. On 24 November 1718, two days after Blackbeard's death, Spotswood issued a proclamation at the Assembly in Williamsburg offering reward for any who brought Teach and the other pirates to justice.
   
   A Treaty with the Iroquois was arranged in Albany, New York during 1721. Alexander completed the Governor's palace in 1722, when he was recalled from the lieutenant governorship and replaced by Hugh Drysdale. Throughout his career, Spotswood had maintained an adversarial relationship with the Virginia Council, especially its most prominent member, James Blair. As the Bishop of London's representative in the colony, the President of the College of William and Mary, and a councilman in Virginia's highest legislative body, Blair was arguably the most powerful man in the colony. He successfully orchestrated the recall of three royally appointed governors, including Alexander Spotswood, who entered private life with 80,000 acres (324 km²) in Spotsylvania and three iron furnaces.
   
   Returning to London, he married Elizabeth Butler Brayne in 1724, but was back at the 'Enchanted Castle', Germanna, by 1729. He served as Deputy Postmaster General from 1730 to 1739, and died on 7 June 1740 at Annapolis, Ann Arundel, Maryland (MD).
   
   Family
   
   In 1724, Alexander married Elizabeth Butler Brayne (known as Butler Brayne) in London and had four children by her:
   
   * John M. Spotswood (1725 - 6 May 1756) married in 1745 Mary West Dandridge {a cousin of Martha Washington}, daughter of William Dandridge, Esq., of Elson Green, King William Co., Va, a Captain in the British Navy. Their son Brig. Gen. Alexander Spotswood of the 2nd Virginia Regiment married to Elizabeth Washington - a daughter of Augustine Washington, President George Washington's older half-brother - a niece of George Washington.
   * Anne Catherine Spotswood (1728 - c. 1802) married Col. Bernard Moore, Esq., of Chelsea, King William Co., Va, a gentleman seventh in descent from Sir Thomas More, of Chelsea, England, the author of Utopia, and became an ancestor of Robert E. Lee and Helen Keller.
   * Dorothea Spotswood (c.1729 - 23 Sep 1773) married in 1747 Mary Dandridge's brother, Col. Nathaniel West Dandridge, who was a first cousin of Martha Washington, a son of William Dandridge, Esq., of Elson Green, King William Co., Va, a Captain in the British Navy, a direct descendant of Governor John West, and an ancestor of Edith Wilson. Their daughter, Dorothea Spottswood Dandridge, married Patrick Henry, and they had 11 children.
   * Robert Spotswood (c.1732 - 1758), who was a subaltern officer under Washington. In 1758, while with a scouting party, he was killed near Fort du Quesne.