The Culpepers and other English Nobility Inspire the Labels Applied to Virginia's Rivers, Towns and Counties

The Virginian-Pilot
Sunday, 28 Feb 1999
Section: Our Millennium, Page: M8
By Stephen Harriman, Staff Writer

Culpepper Connections! Note: The entire article has been published, but most of it has nothing to do with Culpepers. One paragraph below deals with the origin of the name of the town and county of Culpeper, Virginia.

Early on, we Virginians loved "our" royals. Well, certainly respected them enough to name all sorts of things in this new land - counties, towns, geographical features - in their honor from 1607 until 1764.

We were, after all, Englishmen of a sort, British-Americans, who had chosen to live on the western fringe of a fledgling empire. Except, of course, those of us who were African-American slaves and had no choice in the matter.

The first English adventurers named their initial settlement Jamestown after their King James I, and soon they named the river that washed its shores for him as well after initially calling it the Powhatan for the local Indian chief. Later the sovereign's name would also be honored by James City County.

The jaws of the Chesapeake Bay were named Cape Henry (Virginia Beach) and Cape Charles (Eastern Shore) for the king's two sons, who would also be honored by Henrico and Charles City counties. Their sister Elizabeth was honored by Elizabeth City County (now extinct, absorbed by Hampton) and the Elizabeth River.

The estuary now known as the York River was first named the Charles River when the prince ascended to the throne as Charles I. Both the river and adjacent Charles River County were renamed in 1643 in honor of Charles' son, the duke of York (later King James II), after Charles fell out of favor during the English Civil War.

Another of the sons of Charles I, Henry, duke of Gloucester, was honored by the naming of Gloucester County in 1651.

The progeny of the ill-fated James II (and their spouses) provided Virginia another half-dozen names. This James was not only a Catholic king in a strongly Protestant country, he was the most obstinate man in England. In three years (1686-88) before he was run off he wrecked his own throne and very nearly pulled down the monarchy as well.

King and Queen County (1691) honors Queen Mary II and her co-sovereign husband and cousin, Dutch-born William III, as does the College of William and Mary (1693). King William County was formed in 1701 after Mary had died and the year before William succumbed. There is no Queen Mary county.

Princess Anne County (extinct, absorbed into the city of Virginia Beach) was named in 1691 for Mary's younger sister, who ascended to the throne in 1702 and ruled a dozen years. Prince George County was named for her Danish-born consort the year of her ascenion.

Urbanna (town of Anne), once the county seat of Middlesex, was named in her honor.

Also honoring Anne in an oblique fashion is Fluvanna County, which takes its name for the Fluvanna River - originally the name of the James River above the falls at Richmond. The Rapidan (a contraction of rapid Anne), a Rappahannock tributary in the Piedmont; the Rivanna, a triburary of the James; and the North and South Anna Rivers, tributaries of the Pamunkey, probably were also named for her.

Only one of Anne's children lived beyond infancy. That young prince, who died at the age of 11, also was titled duke of Gloucester; Williamsburg's grand main street honors him.

At Anne's death, England looked to Germany for a Protestant and found one, George of Hanover. The Hanover dynasty would give Virginia another 17 place names - many of them rather German-sounding - between 1720 and 1764, when the colonists began to grow increasingly bitter toward British rule.

Hanover and King George counties were named for George I.

Brunswick and Lunenburg counties, were named for George II, duke of German region of Brunswick-Luneburg, and Caroline County for his wife.

The eldest son of George II and Caroline, Frederick, Prince of Wales, gave his name to Frederick County and Fredericksburg, and Augusta County was named for his German wife.

Another son, William, duke of Cumberland, was honored by Prince William and Cumberland counties. Orange County was probably named for Dutch-born William IV of Orange, since it was formed in 1734, the year he married Anne, daughter of George II and Caroline. Amelia and Louisa counties were named for other daughters of George II and Caroline, and Prince Edward County for one of their grandsons.

Frederick, Prince of Wales, died before he could succeed his long-ruling (1727-60) father. Frederick's eldest son became King George III.

The third George was little honored and became much despised in the colonies, but his popular German-born wife, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, provided Virginia with its last three royal names: Charlottesville in 1762 and Charlotte and Mecklenburg counties in 1764.

It's likely that Buckingham County was named for a royal residence since it was established the same year that George III bought Buckingham House (now Palace) for his queen, Charlotte.

Ten other Virginia counties were named for crown representatives (royal governors or lieutenant governors acting for absentee governors), although one was renamed and another is extinct:

Spotsylvania (1720) was named for Alexander Spotswood, lieutenant governor, 1710-22.

Goochland (1728) for Sir William Gooch, lieutenant governor, 1727-49, probably the most popular of the Colonial administrators.

Albemarle (1744) for William Anne Keppel, second earl of Albemarle, titular governor, 1737-54, never came to Virginia.

Dinwiddle (1752) for Robert Dinwiddie, lieutenant governor, 1751-58.

Loudoun (1757) for John Campbell, second earl of Loudoun, titular governor, 1756-59, never came to Virginia.

Fauquier (1759) for Francis Fauquier, lieutenant governor, 1758-68.

Amherst (1761) for Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Amherst, titular governor, 1759-68, never came to Virginia. He was busy as commander of British troops during the French and Indian War. One of Amherst's novel tactics in negotiating with troublesome Indians was to give them blankets from the smallpox hospital.

Botetourt (1769) for Norborne Berkeley, baron de Botetourt, governor, 1768-70, died in office and was buried in the chapel of the Wren Building at the College of William and Mary. (Berkeley County, now in West Virginia, also was named for him.)

The General Assembly commissioned a marble statue, completed in 1773, as a tribute to this beloved governor, and for years it had an honored place at the capitol. Knocked off its pedestal and damaged by misguided patriots during the Revolution, it was repaired in 1801 and long stood in the College Yard in front of the Wren Building. The weathered original now stands protected in the Swem Library, replaced in the yard by a replica.

Dunmore and Fincastle (both 1772) for John Murray, fourth earl of Dunmore and viscount Fincastle, governor 1771 until run off by rebelling colonists in 1775. Fincastle County was subdivided out of existence in 1776 and Dunmore County was renamed Shenandoah County in 1778.

Another county, Culpeper (1749), may have been named for Thomas Culpeper, second baron Culpeper of Thoresway, royal governor 1677-83, who sailed off for his post two years after his appointment by his friend Charles II only after the king had threatened him with dismissal; although it is more likely that it was named for Catherine Culpeper or her mother Margaret Lady Culpeper or their family, which long held proprietary rights in the Northern Neck.

Culpepper Connections Note: Margaret Lady Culpeper was the wife of the royal governor, Thomas Lord Culpeper, although the preceding paragraph does not make that clear. For more detail on the origin of the name, see: History of Culpeper, Virginia.

Still other place names honored peers of the realm from early Colonial times until, strangely enough, three years into the War for Independence.

Hampton was named in 1634 for Henry Wriothesley, third earl of Southampton, treasurer of the London Company, 1620-24, and a patron of William Shakespeare, as was Hampton Roads and (probably) Southampton County. Also in 1634, Warwick County (originally Warwick River County, absorbed by Newport News in this century) was named for Robert Rich, second earl of Warwick and prominent member of the London Company.

Fairfax County (1742) was named for Thomas Fairfax, sixth baron of Cameron, proprietor of the Northern Neck.

Chesterfield County (1749) for Philip Dormer Stanhope, fourth earl of Chesterfield, a statesman and diplomat. It was Lord Chesterfield who forced England to adopt the Gregorian calendar, and it was his letters to his bastard son Philip, advising him on his behavior, that, when published, became the indispensable guide to good manners.

Halifax County (1752) for George Montagu Dunk, second earl of Halifax, president of the board of trade, 1748-61.

Bedford County (1753) for John Russell, fourth duke of Bedford, secretary of state for the southern department, 1748-51.

Pittsylvania County (1767) for Prime Minister William Pitt, later earl of Chatham, whose sympathy for the colonists endeared him to them.

Rockingham County (1778) for Charles Watson-Wentworth, second marquis of Rockingham and one of the richest men in England, who supported the Colonies in their dispute with Britain. As prime minister (briefly) he made it his first order to business to repeal the Stamp Act.