by Diane Fontaine Maury-Corbin

“ It is to them we owe that scheme of civil liberty which has blessed the American people, and is today extending its happy influences over the world. Inheriting ample fortunes, they were educated in the best schools of the old country, whence they returned to their estates, and passed their lives in contemplating the great possibilities awaiting the new world, and in devising the means by which the capabilities of their adopted country could be developed. ”

“ Twenty six of the finest counties of Virginia were the property of a single nobleman but little over a century ago, whose descendants of today do not own an acre of that vast inheritance. Many of the Virginia estates were granted by Queen Anne, and some are still held under deeds from her. She was a favorite in Virginia, was good Queen Anne, and her name was bestowed upon a whole system of rivers. [1] In the revolutionary war the Virginia planters displayed a patriotic munificence which sufficiently proved their wealth. ”

“ In 1790 Richard Maury, son of the Reverend James Maury, married Diana Minor, daughter of Major John Minor, of Topping Castle in Caroline County, Virginia, descended from the settler who had received a grant of land in the reign of Charles II. There were nine children of this marriage; and thus the blood of Protestant England was commingled with that of Huguenot France in the veins of this Virginia family. After their marriage, Richard and Diana Minor Maury first settled in Spottsylvania County, about ten miles west of Fredericksburg. ”

“ These visits were few and brief; they broke the routine of the home life to the women, as hunting did to the men, and were usually made on horseback.
In the planter’s homes there was plenty of poultry and beef, mutton, and Virginia hams, cured by immemorial recipes, best biscuit, light bread, battercakes, buckwheat, tea, and coffee. There was whiskey, also, to comfort and cheer the wayfarer, and in Tennessee “the latch string was always out.” The day of obedient parents had not then dawned upon the young folks, and in the Maury household there was an unconscious repressive sway. ”

“ But few of the public buildings were of brick or stone, and only men of wealth and enterprise solaced their self-respect, and recalled the memories of their Virginia homes, in residences of boards or brick. ”