Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1901-10-04
SOME MRGINIANs or ROYAL DESCENT.
Many Old Virginia Families Trace Their
Lineage to the Soyereigns of Europe.

uenI OF history WhGee fancy he's turned
to the details of geneology, is the re-
markable extent to which the blood of
European sOvereigns is to be traced in
the veins of their descendants in demo-
cratic America.
At first glance one would think that
here and there some person might be
found whose line of descent could be
traced back to the occupants of Euro
pean thrones. but very few. The very
considerable number of those in Amer
lea, and especially in Virginia. which
can lay CLAIM to such a lineage is in
deed note worthy.
Out of goodly number it will be in
terestlng to note few names picked
here aud there at random.
Richmond, it is said. was founded by
Colonel William Byrd, of Westover.
He full length portrait adorns the wallis
of the city council chamber. FL is beau
titul daughter, M ISIS Evelyn Byrd, was
the belle of colonial Virginia. She has
been the heroine of many a charming
ly written romance. On her tomb at
Westover in this inscriptions: 1.-THE
belle of two continents, she died of
broken heart"
Probably no family in colonial or lat
Ell Virginia could trace their descent
back through SO many lines of royal
descent as the Byrds of Westover. One
line went to Alfred the Great and the
Saxon Kings, another to the Plantage-
net Kings of England, and another to
Henry l. Of France. And many of the
Byrds and Pages and Harrisons and
Burweils of Virginia trace their descent
from the Byrds of Westover.
The descent of that we'll -known Vir.
ginia gentleman, formerly general
now Judge Roger A. Pryor, of New
York. is very remarkable. In his veins
flows the blood of Saxon Kings as fal
back as the fifth century, of Rollo the
Dane, of Otto the Great, of Germany
and of Hugh Capet, of France. Mrs
Pryor is descendant of Adelis the
Great, of Sweden.
General Robert E. Lee and his wife,
Mary Randolph Curtis, were both de-
scended from William the Conqueror
the former through Governor Spots
wood, of Virginia, and Robert Bruce
of Scotland.
General r. 8. Ewell, of the Confed
crate army, had in his veins the blood
of Alfred the Great.
Mr.. Edmund Ruffin, of Hanover
who claimed to have fired the first shot
at Fort Sumter, was a descendant Of
Charlemagne.
Of the we'll known Virginia families
the Fauntleroys trace back to Henry l
of England; many of the Harrison ano
Pages to Louis Will, of France, the
Dashiels to Charlemaganet and Pow
hatan, worthy warriors to mingle theil
blood after centuries; the Meades tt
the Plantaganet Kings of England; the
BolIlngs, many of them, to Pocah ontas
the Randolphs to Robert Ill, of Scot
land; the Claibornes to Louis VIII. Of
France, ard Malcolm II. of Scotland
the Munfords, Sherrards, Beverleys and
Rutherfords to Alfred the Great.
The Rev. Moncure D. Conway, Of a
well known Virginia family, is de-
sendant of the Plantagnets,
Nathaniel Bacon. Virginia's first re-
bel, after whom Bacon's Quarter
Branch is named, carried in his veins
the blood of Charlemagne.
Charles Campbell, the Virginia histo-
rian, and Helen Keller, the blind girl,
trace back to Robert IL, of Scotland,
by the same line.
Of ladies well-known in Richmond,
Mrs. Ann Beverly Munford's descent
traces to Charlemagne, that of Mrs. r.
A. ellison and her sister, Mrs. Mcclure,
to the Plantaganet Kings of England,
and that of Mrs. R. Taylor Scott to
Rollo the Dane, King of Normandy,
in the tenth century.
The late s. w. Venable, of Peters
burg and the late Joseph Wilmer, of
Culpeper, traced to Henry Ill. of Eng
land by the same line.
Mr.. and Mrs. Henry Fairfax, of ''Vac-
luse," are of royal descent, the former
from Alfred the Great; tho latter from
Charlemagne.
Mr.. and Mrs. William Waller, of Wi /
liamsburg. are both descended from
Charlemagnet by different lines.
Mr.. and Mrs. Carlyle Whiting of
Alexandria, are of royal descent from
Hugh Capet, of France, by different
lines.
AmeIie Rives, the Princess Trou-
betskoi. the authoresS, and the Rev.
W. n. Pentiicton, d. d of Lexington
General Lees chief of artillery, are
descended from the Plantaganets by
the same line.
Even Patrick Henry, the orator of
the Revolution, and Rorothea Dan
bridge, his wife, had the blood of kings
in their veins.
It would seem that many Virginia. s
are sovereigns by double title.-Rlch-
mond Times.
The Eighth Wonder.
Johnny-Paw
Paw-Well, my son.
Johnny-Say, paw, what is the eighth
wonder of the world 2
Paw-Wonder what Morgan will buy
American.
Movas Bin Ctjecfs by his VIII