The funeral was no doubt a big affair for Colonel Mottrom was a prominent man, and all funerals then were important occasions. These early funerals were carried on in a reverent manner but there was a cheerful side too. Funerals could even be called festive. The reason for this was that a funeral brought about one of the few chances friends and neighbors had for a reunion, and for feasting and drinking together.

The guests had to travel a long way by boat or on horseback to attend a funeral and these funeral guests were regarded as even more "sacred"

than ordinary guests. The unwritten laws of hospitality would have been broken if these guests had been allowed to return home without more than ample food and drink.

Thus the bereaved Mottrom household probably had to put their sorrows aside while they made preparations for the funeral.

Sometimes the minister and pall-bearers, who were usually the leading citizens of the county, were directed to wear certain special items, such as gloves, ribbons and a "love scarf." Mourning-rings and gloves were often gifts to chief mourners from the family of the deceased.

Often the will of the deceased directed the family to make such gifts.

Colonel Mottrom may have desired to be "buryed ... in the garden plote."

It was the usual custom to be buried not too far away from the dwelling.

It could be truly written of this first settler of the Northern Neck, as it had been said of another early Virginian--"he lived bravely, kept a good house and was a true lover of Virginia."

After the body was laid to rest the memory of the deceased was usually honored by a furious fusillade. This may have been done more for the entertainment of those who came to bury the deceased than to honor the dead. Sometimes as much as ten pounds of powder were used. Many accidents occurred at funerals because of the wild firing of guns by persons who had been drinking.

The extravagant use of powder was nothing when compared to the amount of liquor, of all kinds, consumed at a funeral. At one funeral sixty gallons of cider, four gallons of rum, two gallons of brandy, five gallons of wine, and thirty pounds of sugar to sweeten the drinks were used.

Food for the occasion may have included geese, turkeys and other poultry, a pig, several bushels of flour and twenty pounds of butter.

Sometimes a whole steer and several sheep were prepared for the crowd. A big funeral cost many pounds of tobacco.

Colonel Mottrom's inventory was valued at 33,896 pounds of tobacco, which was as large as any estate in the colony at that time. His inventory was recorded in Northumberland County in 1657, and shows that he was a man of "wealth and literary pretensions."

He left his children "well-fixed" as to land. In Northumberland alone he had patented 3700 acres. Tradition says that he left the daughter of his associate, Nicholas Morris, "a riding mare." His will was referred to the governor "because of some ambiguities in the procurings of it." No copy of it can now be found.

Due to distances and lack of fast transportation the widow's hand was sometimes spoken for at the funeral of her husband by one of the guests who was afraid that he might lose out if he waited to make another visit. This was probably not true in Ursula's case, but she did remarry soon enough for her new husband to act as one of the executors of Colonel Mottrom's will.

Major George Colclough, Ursula's third husband, was a burgess in 1658.

After his death Ursula Bish Thompson-Mottrom-Colclough married Colonel Isaac Allerton. Even after she had married this fourth time she continued to have trouble in settling Colonel Mottrom's estate, because of the "ambiguities" of his will.

Colonel and Mrs. Allerton lived at his home, The Narrows, which was located in the new county of Westmoreland, formed from Northumberland in 1653.

Colonel Allerton was the son of Isaac Allerton, who came to Plymouth on the _Mayflower_ in 1620, and of Fear Brewster, only daughter of Governor William Brewster, of Plymouth. He was born in 1630 and was one of the early graduates of Harvard College. He came to Virginia and settled in the Northern Neck at The Narrows.

From Ursula and Isaac Allerton was descended President Zachary Taylor.

_WITCHCRAFT_

The belief in witchcraft was prevalent amongst the early settlers of the Northern Neck. The Neck at this time was beset with wolves and Indians and was a true type of a frontier colony.

To the witch was ascribed the power of inflicting strange and incurable diseases, of changing men into horses when they were asleep at night, and after bridling and saddling them, riding them at a gallop over the countryside to the places where the witches had their frolics. Horses too were thought to be ridden at night, unbridled and barebacked. In the morning these horses would be fagged-out and caked with sweat and mud and their manes plaited into "witches' stirrups."

That witches were taken seriously by settlers of the Neck in the seventeenth century is proven by the following abstract from the Northumberland County records:

"20 Nov., 1656.

"Whereas, Articles were Exhibited against Wm. H---- by Mr.

David Lindsaye (Minister) upon suspicion of witchcraft, sorcery, etc. And an able jury of Twenty-four men were empanelled to try the matter by verdict of which jury they found part of the Articles proved by several depositions. The Court doth therefore order yet ye said Wm. H---- shall forthwith receave ten stripes upon his bare back and forever to be Banished this County and yet hee depart within the space of two moneths. And also to pay all the charges of Court."

_SEAHORSE OF LONDON_

On a cold day in the late winter of 1657 some men were busily working in the Potomac near the mouth of Mattox Creek. They were trying to lift a foundered ketch, the _Seahorse_ of London. Among the men was young John Washington, son of an English clergyman.

John had sailed for Virginia in the winter of 1656, as mate and voyage partner in the _Seahorse_. After arriving in the Potomac the ketch was loaded with a cargo of tobacco. On her way out of the river she ran aground. Before she could be floated a storm hit and sank her. The entire cargo of tobacco was ruined.

During the delay John made friends with a wealthy planter named Nathaniel Pope, who lived in the neighborhood.

The _Seahorse_ was finally raised but by that time John did not wish to return to England. Perhaps Nathaniel's daughter, Anne, was the attraction in Virginia.

John prevailed on Edward Prescott, the master and part owner of the _Seahorse_, to release him from further service in order that he might remain in the Northern Neck of Virginia. He also demanded payment of his wages. Prescott countered that Washington owed him money and was partly responsible for the damage done to the vessel. He threatened to have John arrested and imprisoned.

John's new friend, Pope, offered to go his bond in beaver skins. If there was a suit the outcome is unknown. Prescott finally sailed away in the _Seahorse_ and Washington remained in Virginia, but they parted on bad terms and this was not the last of their quarrel--but that is another story.

John soon married Anne Pope. As a wedding gift Nathaniel gave them a seven-hundred-acre tract of land near Mattox Creek, in Westmoreland County. In 1664 John and Anne moved to a new home four miles eastward on Bridges Creek.

John Washington was the first of that name to settle in the Northern Neck. In Westmoreland he led an active life as a planter and as a leader in county affairs. He had received "decent schooling" before he left England. John and Anne were the great-grandparents of that most famous Washington--George.

"_TENN MULBERRY TREES_"

In the fall or early spring of 1656-57 the Virginians were planting trees.

Since the pioneers of the Northern Neck were living on the edges of a virgin forest and had been trying desperately to clear away enough of it to make fields for tobacco and corn, it seems strange that they would now be engaged in planting more trees.

But these trees were different--they had been imported from China. The Assembly at Jamestown had recently declared that "whereas by experience silke will be the most profitable commoditie for the country ... that everie one hundred acres of land plant tenn mulberry trees."

When the colonists came to Virginia they noticed the abundance of mulberry trees. These native trees, such favorites of the Indians, had reddish-blue berries. The early colonists thought that "the climate and soil of middle America were ... adapted to the culture of silke."

So, the first Assembly, in 1619, in the church at Jamestown, had adopted measures on the planting of mulberry trees:

"About the plantation of mulberry trees, be it enacted that every man as he is seatted upon his division, doe for seven years together, every yeare plante and maintaine in growte six Mulberry trees at the least, and as many more as he shall think conveniente."

But the silkworms would not cooperate--they refused to eat the leaves of the red mulberry tree. In 1621, the white mulberry was imported from China. But still the silk industry languished, this time it was said, for want of cheap labor.

In the beginning the care of the silkworms was held to be specially suitable work for children. The mulberry trees were kept like a low hedge so that children could pick the leaves to feed the worms. This is probably where the singing-game originated:

"Here we go 'round the mulberry bush, mulberry bush--."

Tradition said that two boys, "if their hands be not sleeping in their pockets, could care for six ounces of seed from hatching till within fourteen days of spinning." After that three or four helpers, "women and children being as proper as men," were needed to assist in feeding the worms, airing, drying, cleansing and "perfuming" them.

Now, under the Commonwealth, the silk industry was again being stimulated. But all was in vain--the colonists had their minds set on raising tobacco and they could not be diverted.

_ROADS_

As a rule the settlers of the Northern Neck built their homes on the banks of rivers and creeks. Since travel was by boat there was little need at first for roads through the forest.