Page:Memories of Virginia.djvu/30



In history the Captain-General is spoken of as "Matthews of Denbigh," the name of his great plantation that was in itself a county, and "the most important, and he the richest man in Virginia." The public store house was on his estate, and his house stood with an "open door," his establishment being renowned for hospitality to both Virginians and British, for he was one of the great land proprietors who held conspicuous place in England as he did in Virginia.

His wife was a daughter of Sir Thomas Hinton, and from the marriages she made she must have been attractive. She first married Colonel West, brother of Lord Delaware, the proprietor of "West Over." After her death Col. Matthews married the widow of Captain Percy, of Percy Hundred, uniting three great estates in one name, Matthews of Denbigh. The Court Record of Essex County, Virginia, says: "The widow Percy was possessed with the largest estate ever known in Virginia." Of Denbigh Estate, Combell's History records. "A contemporary wrote to England, 1649: Matthews' had a fine house, sowed much hemp and flax and great crops of wheat and barley. Kept weavers, had a tannery, had forty negro slaves, whom he brought up to mechanical trades. He had a large herd of cows, a fine dairy and abundant hogs and poultry. He supplied his own ships, also vessels trading to Virginia"; and is finally