Butler Thompson

Elizabeth "Anne" Butler Brayne was born between 1672-1691 in St. Margaret's Parish, Westminster, London and died June 7, 1740 in Annapolis, Anne Arundel, Maryland, United States. (1)

In his 16] "Genealogical and Historical Notes on Culpepper County, Virginia", Dr. Phillip Slaughter, Culpepper, Virginia, Pages 2, &3, writes that her name was Jane Butler, sister to the Duke of Ormond. Charles Campbell says her name was Butler Bryan [pronounced Brain], daughter of Richard Bryan of Westminster, and her Christian name was after James Butler, Duke of Ormond, her Godfather.

Reverend Thompson of the Little Fork Church longed to make this widow his wife and he was crushed when she first rebuffed his advances.

The widow Spotswood's family opposed the proffered marriage on the grounds that a clergyman was beneath the station of Lady Spotswood. Undaunted, Reverend Thompson appealed directly to Lady Spotswood imploring her with these words:

“Now, if I can make it appear that the ministerial office is an employment, in its nature most honorable and in its effects most beneficial to mankind, I hope your objections will immediately vanish and that you will keep me no longer in suspense and misery, but consummate my happiness.

I make no doubt, Madam, but that you will readily grant that no man can be employed in any work more honorable than immediately relates to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and to the salvation of souls, immortal in their nature and redeemed by the blood of the Son of God. And therefore if a gentleman of this sacred and honorable character should be married to a Lady, though of the greatest extraction and most excellent personal qualities, (which I’m sensible you’re endowed with) it can be no disgrace to her nor her family...

And therefore, Madam, your argument being refuted, you can no longer consistently refuse to consummate my happiness.”

Signed by the Reverend John Thompson, May 1742

They were married on November 9, 1742 and later lived at Salubria.

An interesting article appeared in the Belfast Telegraph in Belfast, Ireland about the mysterious Rev. Thompson. To read that article, click here.

Salubria is one of the few surviving structures linked to the time of the settlement of Germanna. It is located seven miles east of the town of Culpeper and stands as the oldest brick house in Culpeper County. It was constructed in formal Georgian style at a time when Culpeper County was still on the frontier. Although the precise date of construction is not certain, Salubria was constructed circa 1757 as the residence of Reverend Thompson and his new wife, Lady Butler Brayne Spotswood Thompson.

The house received the name Salubria , Latin for healthful, from a later owner, James Hansbrough, in the early 1800s and has been known by that name since that time.

Salubria's exterior is distinguished by unusually tall, corbel capped chimneys, enclosed at each end of a hip roof. The house has identical front and rear facades and is built of brick laid in Flemish bond. Three sides of the house are stuccoed in a manner simulating rustication, though for some reason the east end never received this treatment. ____________________________

London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 
about Butler Brayne

Name: Butler Brayne Marriage Date: 11 Mar 1729 Parish: St Marylebone County: Middlesex Borough: Westminster Spouse: Alexander Spotswood Record Type: Marriage

Source Citation: London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Marylebone, Composite register: baptisms Dec 1711 - Jan 1734, burials Nov 1711 - Aug 1733, marriages Dec 1711 - Nov 1734, P89/MRY1, Item 002

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Parents: Richard Brayne and Anne Butler. (fn1)(fn2)

Married:

1. In 1724 in London to Gen. Alexander Spotswood, Governor of Virginia
2. Rev. John Thompson

4 children of Butler Brayne and Alexander Spotwood

1. John Spotswood, Colonel
2. Dorothea Spotswood
3. Anna Catherina "Kate" Spotswood
4. Robert Spotswood

Discussion

Parents are:

Richard Brayne (1674-1762) and Anne Begnold (?-1762). See: Anne Brayne

Citations

1. Thom Faircloth, President of The Germanna Foundation. As quoted in Anne Butler Bryan Posted: 1 Dec 2006 9:40AM

Footnotes

1. "Anne Butler Bryan was named Butler after her uncle, James Butler, Duke of Ormund, and was descended from Alfred, the Great. The name Bryan was sometimes pronounced and written "Brayne," but Bryan is correct." (Faircloth)
2. Many have wondered how Alexander Spotswood met and married Butler [Brayne] in such a short time span in 1724. The riddle was solved by Thomas Mc Masters in his Masters degree thesis on the early life of Spotswood. It seems that one of Spotswoods two personal factors (agents) in London was Richard Brayne. Conjecture is that before Spotswood left for Virginia in 1710, he would have seen the young Butler and upon his return to London in 1724, the two would have been exposed to each other frequently. Spotswood was by this time a wealthy man of substance in the New World and made a perfect match for the increasingly impoverished family of Richard Brayne. (Faircloth)

Notes

A letter written by Judge Edmond Pendleton for his client John Benger, the son of Dorothea (Col. Byrd's Miss Thecky) Brayne, sister of Lady Spotswood. The letter is dated Virginia, Sept. 8th, 1762, and is addressed to Capt. Wm. Fox, and is signed by John Benger and Edmond Pendleton, and in it is the following paragraph:--":

"Richard Brayne and his wife are dead, and Mrs. Brayne's issue was four daughters, Anne, Diana, Dorothy,and Butler. Dorothy intermarried with Elliot Benger, gentleman, and, with her husband, is since dead, and I am her son and heir. Butler intermarried with Major-General Alexander Spotswood, and afterwards married John Thompson (Clerk). She is dead, and Alexander Spotswood, infant, is her grandson and heir, and is now in England. Anne and Diana remained in England and never married."

Green, Realeigh Travers, Genealogical and Historical Notes on Culpeper County, VA, (Southern Book Company, Baltimore. 1958), 1-2.

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Ann Butler BRAYNE "Lady" . She was the daughter of Edward Bryan, of Westminster, London, second son of Bryan FitzPatrick, fifth lord of Upper Ossory, and his wife Lady Margaret Butler, sister of Thomas Butler, Lord of Thurles, father of James Butler, created Duke of Ormond. (See Lodge's "Peerage of Ireland," 1789), and daughter of sir Walter Butler, of Kilcash, who succeeded as eleventh Earl of Ormond, d. 1632, and his wife Lady Helena, d. 1631, daughter of Edmund Butler, Viscount Montgarrert. (MCB, 1898, p.436). Spotsylvainia Co., VA Deed Book J. page 333, calles Edward Brane "Richard". late of Saint Mary's Parish, City of Westminster, Gent.
"Before the end of the year 1724 he married to Anne Butler Brayne, god-daughter of Duke of Ormond and daughter of Richard Brayne, of St. Margaret's, Westminster". (Alexander Spotswood, by Walter Havinghurst, p. 108, Colonial Williamsburg, distributed by Holt, Rinehart and Winsgton, Inc, New York). Children "John, Robert, Ann Catherine and Dorothea". (p. 110 of above). I have a b. & w. neg of her, and printed it in my first book, From Virginia With Love, pt. II. On 15 Aug. 1998, I received a couple of negetives from Gordon L. Mathes, MD' Memphis, TN. Both seem to be the same original painting with the same dress. One however has added several "Golden Horseshoes" on her dress and is an enlargement, it appears to be of the first, (same dress, same pose, same bible in hand), with the orniments imposed on the dress. Cousin Gordon says, "Each horseshoe contains the thistle of Scotland, the rose of England, and the shamrock of Ireland. My grandmother had a piece of the gown, presented to Lady Spotswood by Queen Anne or George I in appreciation of his :"Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" crossing the Blue Ridge Mts. She may have commissioned her portrait in the 1880's to include the gown or these portraits may have been owned by Robt. Dandridge, I don't know how old they are".

She was married to Alexander SPOTSWOOD Gov. VA (son of Robert SPOTSWOOD and Catherine (Maxwell) ELLIOT) in 1724 in London, England. Alexander SPOTSWOOD Gov. VA was born in 1676 in Tangiers. He died on 7 Jun 1740 in Annapolis, MD. of "Porto Bello," James City County, Virginia. b. at Tangiers, 1576, , d. 7 Jun, 1740. He was an aide-de-camp to the Duke of Marlborough, was wounded in the breast, August 13, 1704, and did distinguished service at the battle of Bienheim. He was ensin in English Army in War of Grand Alliance, 1693, served under Lord Cadogan. Rose to rank of Col., during the war of Spanish Secession, 1703-13, and appointed Lt. Gov. VA, 1710. He served under nominal Gov. George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney. His policies and reforms were not supported by the House of Burgesses, because they thought he had upured their power. In order to protect the colony from Iroquois Indian raids, he extablished settlements of friendly Indians, powerful enough to resist attact and concluded a treaty with the Iroquois. A glowing account of Gov. Spottswood and his family is found on pp. 165-66 of Old Churches etc. In this text Sir Walter Scott, is quoted in his History of Scotland, concerning the execution of Sir Robert Spottswood, grandfather of Gov. Spottswood. From 1710 to 1723, he was lieutenant-governor and comanmder-in-chief of the Virginia Colony. In 1739 he was deputy postmaster-general for the American Colonies. In 1740 he was appointed Major-General of an expedition against Carthagena, aut died before the embarkation at Annapolis, June of that year. He. m. in 1724, Ann Butler Bryan, who m. secondly, Rev. John Thompson, of Culpeper Co., VA. (MCB, 1898,p.436). See more in From Virginia With Love and Alexander Spotswood, Ancestors and Descendants, by Thomas E. Barton. "In 1824 Spotswood went to England to establish his ownership and settle tax assessments; he left the ironworks in charge of his cousin John Graeme and Robert Rose, his financial agent. In his absence the iron business languished, slaves ran off from his plantations, and his cattle strayed in the woods. Still his estate sent regular payments to his owner in London. In these years the merchant ship Spotswood, perhaps a part of his holdlings, voyaged profitably between the Virginia wharves and the English Seaports. Spotswood stayed in London for six years. Nearly two decades earlier he had told his cousin that he would remain a bachelor until he could make a distinguished marriage. Now he lost no time. Before the end of the year 1724 he was married to Ann Butler Brayne, god-daughter of the Duke of Oromond and daughter of RIchard Brayne of St. Margaret's, Westminster. Two sons and two daughters were born in the next six years." (Havinghurst, p. 108). "Spotswood's "Castle was finished by 1732 when William Byrd paid an admiring visit there. From the drawing room a bank of windows overlooked terraced gardens and an avenue of cherry trees where the children, John, Richard, Anne Catherine, and Dorothea, roamed with a pair of tame deer. These animals, like the children, had the freedom of the house. One of them came to stare at Byrd, enjoying midmorning coffee in the drawing room. Then "spying his own figure in the glass he made a spring over the table that stood under it, and shattered the glass to pieces, and falling back upon the tea table made a terrible fracas amont the china." Mrs. Spotswood, Byrd observed, took this with good humor." (ibed, p. 110.) Ann Butler BRAYNE "Lady" and Alexander SPOTSWOOD Gov. VA had the following children:

i. John SPOTSWOOD

ii. Robert SPOTSWOOD. "youngest child of the governor, was a subaltern officer under Washington in the old French and Indian war. Being sent out from Fort Cumberland (1756) with a scouting party, he was supposed to have been killed by teh Indians. His remains were found near Fourt Du Quesne. He died without issue." Campbell, Spotswood Family, p. 25. (TEB 8-20-1998)

iii. Ann Catherine SPOTSWOOD. "--was elegant in person and manners, and of a high spirit. She was a strong adherent of the British gob=vernment, while her husband and children sympathized with th patriot cause in the revolution. She, as being the daughter of a haughty British governor, persisted in drinking her tea, although a contraband article, privately, in her closet, during the war. There is a tradition of her having made her negroes toss an overseer who had offended her, in a basket, while she stood at a window to witness the scene". Campbell, p. 30, Spotswood Family.

iv. Dorothea SPOTSWOOD.

SOURCES

1. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. v. II, p. 264.
2. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (18-29). 3. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. p.264. 4. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (17-29). 5. Ibid. (1-33) (87-33). 6. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. v,II, p.264. 7. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (18-30). 8. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. v.II, p. 264. 9. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (18-30-h). 10. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. v.II, p. 264. 11. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (1-33) (87-33). 12. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. v.II, p 264. 13. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (18-31). 14. Ibid. (18-31-h). 15. Ibid. 16-31,h. 16. Ibid. 16-31. 17. Ibid. 16-32. 18. Ibid. (1-33) (87-33). 19. Ibid. (1-33). 20. Ibid. (18-32), p. 20. 21. Ibid. 16-32. 22. Ibid. 22-33. 23. Ibid. (22-33,h). 24. Ibid. (18-33), p.20-21. 25. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. v. II, p. 265. 26. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. 22-34. 27. Ibid. Line I, Weis. 28. Ibid. (22-36). 29. Ibid. p. 21. 30. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. v. II, p. 265. 31. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (22-35). 32. Ibid. (1-36). 33. Ibid. (1-36). 34. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. Vol. II, p. 265. 35. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (22-36). 36. Ibid. (1-37). 37. Ibid. p.21. 38. Ibid. (18-36), p 21. 39. Ibid. (1-38), p.4. 40. Ibid. (Ibid.). 41. Ibid. p.4, (1-38,s) - p.21(18-38). 42. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. Vol II, p. 265. 43. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (18-37), p. 21. 44. Ibid. vol. II, p. 265. 45. Ibid. 1-33, 18-38,. 46. Ibid. (Ibid). 47. Ibid. (1-39,s). 48. Adventures of Purse and Person. pp. 339-351. 49. Virginia Heraldica. p.51. 50. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. Vol. II, p. 265. 51. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. p.4, (1-38,s) - p.21(18-38). 52. Ibid. (Ibid.). 53. Ibid. (1-38), p.4. 54. Hanna D. Pittman. Americans of Gent. Birth. v. II, p. 128. 55. Fredrick Lewis Weis. Ancestoral Roots of Sixty American Colonists, 5th Ed. Genealogical Pub. Co, Baltlimore 1982. (1-39),p.4. 56. Ibid. (1-41),p.4. 57. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. p. 265. 58. Ibid. Vol. II, p. 265. 59. Wyndham Robertson. Pocahontas And Her Descendants. Geneal. Pub. Co., 1882. p.33. 60. AL Archives. VA State Lib. 61. Ibid. VA Lib. 62. Ibid. VA Lib. 63. Ibid. VA State Lib. 64. Comiled by Aileen Lewers Langsgton & J. Orton Buck, Jr.. Pedigree of Some of the Emperor Charlemagne's Descendants. Geneological Publixhing Co., 1988. v. I, p 190. 65. Mary O'Neal, Tupelo, MS;dau. 66. Mary Barton Walden, Calera, OK. 67. AL Archives. Columbia Co, Magnolia, AK. 68. Ruth Ann Linder, wife. 69. Dorothy Barton, Grandmother. 70. Ibid. 71. Ruth Ann Linder, wife. 72. Mary Camillo.

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In 1724, Alexander married Anne Butler Brayne (known as Butler Brayne) in London and had four children by her:

John M. Spotswood (1725 - 6 May 1756), who 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. Colonel John Spotswood is buried in the Memorial Garden adjoining the Germanna Foundation Visitor Center. His son Brig. Gen. Alexander Spotswood of the 2nd Virginia Regiment married to Elizabeth Washington - a daughter of Augustine Washington, Jr, President George Washington's older half-brother - a niece of George Washington.

Anne Catherine Spotswood (1728 - c. 1802), who 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 [1] and Helen Keller.

Dorothea Spotswood (c.1729 - 23 Sep 1773), who married in 1747 Col. Nathaniel West Dandridge. He was Mary Dandridge's brother and a son of William Dandridge, Esq., of Elson Green, King William Co., Va. Their daughter, Dorothea Spottswood Dandridge, married Patrick Henry, and they had 11 children. Their son, Nathaniel West Dandridge II married Sallie Watson, and their daughter Martha Hale Dandridge married her cousin William Winston Fontaine, grandson of Patrick Henry.[4]

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

U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 about Ann Butler Brayne Name: Ann Butler Brayne Gender: Female Birth Place: EN Spouse Name: Alexander Spotswood Spouse Birth Place: Af Spouse Birth Year: 1676 Marriage Year: 1724 Marriage State: EN Number Pages: 1

Source Citation: Source number: 21833.001; Source type: Family group sheet, FGSE, listed as parents; Number of Pages: 1; Submitter Code: .

Source Information:

Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles, querie.

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Alexander Spotswood died in 1740, a year after he had offered Germanna up for lease. His widow remained at Germanna until remarrying to John Thompson, a minister, who built the house Salubria for her. Shortly after this, although the exact date is not known, Spotswood's "Enchanted Castle" burned. Subsequent families who owned the land burned the ruins and salvaged building materials from the remains for their own construction.

Sources: Herrmann Schuricht, History of The German Element in Virginia, Vol. 1. (Baltimore: Theo. Kroh & Sons, Printers, 1898)

James Roger Mansfield, A History of Early Spotsylvania. (Orange, Virginia: Green Publishers, Inc., 1977)

Shropshire, England, Extracted Parish Records about Richard Edward Brayne Text: 16 Jul 1663 Richard, s. of Edward Brayne, of Newton. Book: Christnings, Anno 1663 (Baptism) Collection: Shropshire: Shrewsbury - St. Mary Parish Registers, Lichfield Diocese

Governor Spotswood now resided at Germana. It was here that Colonel William Byrd, of Westover, visited the Governor in 1732. I give the following extract from Colonel Byrd's journal:

"September 27. -- Here I arrived about 3 o'clock, and found only Mrs. Spotswood at home, who received her old acquaintance with many a gracious smile. I was carried into a room elegantly set off with pier glasses, the largest of which came soon after to an odd misfortune. Amongst other favorite animals that cheered this lady's solitude a brace of tame deer ran familiarly about the house, and one of them came to stare at me as a stranger. But, unluckily, seeing his own figure in the glass he made a spring over the tea table that stood under it and shattered the glass to pieces, and falling back upon the tea table made a terrible fracas among the china. This exploit was so sudden, and accompanied with such a noise, that it surprised me and perfectly frightened Mrs. Spotswood. But it was worth all the damage to show the moderation and good humor with which she bore this disaster. In the evening the noble Colonel came home from his mines, who saluted me very civilly, and Mrs. Spotswood's sister, Miss Thecky, who had been to meet him en cavalier, was so kind, too, as to bid me welcome. We talked over a legend of old stories, supped about nine, and then prattled with the ladies till it was time for a traveler to retire. In the meantime I observed my old friend to be very uxorious, and exceedingly fond of his children. This was so opposite to the maxims he used to preach up before he was married, that I could not forbear rubbing up the memory of them. But he gave a good natured turn to his change of sentiments by alleging that whoever brings a poor gentlewoman into so solitary a place, from all her friends and acquaintance, would be ungrateful not to use her and all that belongs to her with all possible tenderness."

Married: Alexander Spotswood on March 11, 1724 in Saint Mary-St Marylebone Road, St Marylebone, London,England

References

• ”Americans of Royal Descent: A Collection of Genealogies of American Families ...” By Charles Henry Browning. Pedigree CIX. Page 429. GoogleBooks
• ”The Mansions of England: Or, Picturesque Delineations of the Seats ...,“ Volume 1- . “The Ladies Anne and Gertrude Fitz-Patrick.” Page 3c1. GoogleBooks
• https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/bryan/3616/
• Butler Brayne, "England Marriages, 1538–1973 "- Name: Alexander Spotswood, Spouse's Name: Anne Butler Brayne, Event Date: 11 Mar 1724, Event Place: Saint Mary-St Marylebone Road, St Marylebone, London,England - https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V52Q-BLJ