Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1898-06-16
EARLY VIRGINIA HISTORY.
WOOD LAWN.
No. 10.

and he honored the place and its en-
dearing associations by transferring the
name to his new home on the Potomac.
Nelie's grandfather in his parental
fondness for her, and his great regard
| for the husband of her choice, did not
forget to supplement his liberal gift of
| TWO thousand acres for their home
stead with other substantial presents of
lands and ready cash with which to
erect without delay suitable dwelling
for them, so that their patrimony was
made entirely ample to maintain their
! high social standing.
Under the roof of Wood Lawn was
ever dispened o generous hospitality,
aud many were the distinguished guests
IN the early decades of our century who
| came to cross its Threshold and pay
Thur regards to its worthy proprietors.
| General, the Marquis De Lafayette ON
his second visit in 1924 to the land he
had so vaiantly helpe6to defend and
make independent came here to renew
| his fondly cherished acquaintance with
Nellie the stately housewife, who was
bul g child when he had seen her near
| iy fifty years before in the home of his
old commander, and had taken her
of times in her sweet laughing moods
upon his knee and kissed her with a
| parental fondness, remembering doubt
ess the dear ones of his own household
so far away in La Belle France. Mel
lie WIS no stranger to the faces of titled
dignitaries of the old world, for she had
seen scores of them during the war,
and she had at the republican court Of
New York and Philadelphia during the
years of the first presidency seen much
of our own celebrities in both military
and civilian circles. At all times and
with all conditions of life around her
she was the courteous, intelligent and
agreeable lady, winning and retaining
the esteem of all who knew her. Gittt d
with rare and genuine sympathy she
was ever ready with generous response
in the Joys and sorrows, the hopes and
fears, the prosperity or adversty ofthose
whom she honored with her friendship
The toilers on the plantation always
| found 10 her sympathizer aud pro-
motcr of their conditions. Her re-
lipious professions she carried out in
every day life and made them practi-
cal reality. She was Jealous member
of the Episcopal Church and regularly
a tended upon its services either ct
Pohick or Alexandria.
For nearly thirty years Nellie YVES
| mistress of the Wood Lawn mansion and
here were born to her four children
Agnes, the eldest, dying at school in
Pniladelphia; Frances Parke, who mar
ried General E o w. Butler, died at
Pass Christian few years ago; Loren
20. and Eleanor Angela, who NAL
red Hon. G. M. Conrad, of Louisiana,
died at New Orleans. Major Law
rence Lewis died at Arlington No
vember 3Oth, 1880, and one mid
summer day, July Is, 1852, Mrs.
Nellie, his wife, followed him full
of wears and honors to the burial
vault at Mount Vernon. She had
passed four years beyond the three
score and ten line. To the watcher
from farmhouse and village, that must
have seemed lonely and mournful
flneral procession, indeed, as it slowly
weuded it's course down the long Vir-
ginia highway from the Shenandoah to
he Potomac. The hearse containing
the remains of the aged grandmother,
and a solitary carriage accompanying,
with the two surviving grandsons, one
of whom is still living to tell of the i'm
pressive circumstances of the event.
Late at night their journey was finish
ed and the cotfined form of Nellie was
placed in the great parlor of Mount
Vernon, where more than fifty years
before crowned with bridal wreathes
the cynosure of all eyes, and the 'fair-
est lady of the land" Washington, him
self, had affectionately given her in
marriage and commended her to the
protecting care of the one favored
claimant of her choice, and where she
had received the congratulations and
blessings of so many of her kinfolks
and friends. Many of the citizens OF
Alexandria and Washington and the
| surrounding country came on the occa
sion TO pay their tributes of fond re-
membrance and regard 30 Nellie as
she Law in state the mansion and
to see the last of "earth to
earth.n Down in the family burial
place just by the waters of the
river on whose pleasant banks she
had passed so many happy days in child
hood and youth her dust is very near to
that OF her kind and loving guardians. a
marble monument marks her resting
place with the following inscription.
"Sacred to the memory of Eleanor
Parke Gusts, granddaughter OF Mrs:
Martha Washington and adopted
daughter OF General George Washing
ton. Reared under the root OF the
father of his country, this lady was not
more remarkable for the beauty OF her
person than for the superiority OF her
mind. She lived to be admired, and
died to be regretted, July 18th 1852, in
the seventy-tourth year of her age"
With the return of many of cur na-
tional decoration spniveisarits the
writer in reverent remembrance OF his