Westover Church

Charles City County, VA

Marker No. V-14

Marker Text:  A short distance south is Westover Church. It was first built on the James River near Westover House early in the seventeenth century. About 1730 the site was changed and the present building erected. Defaced in the Campaign of 1862, the church was reopened for worship in 1867.

Location: On Virginia Route 5 (John Tyler Memorial Highway), 6.5 miles west of Charles City in front of entrance to the church. Erected by the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission in 1968.

  Since it is Holy Week in the Christian faith, I thought it was a good time for another church related marker. Virginia has a variety of markers related to Colonial churches and later 1800's churches. The Westover Church is one of the oldest Colonial period church buildings originally established when the Church of England was the recognized church in pre-revolutionary America, later to become the Episcopal Church. This is the third similar church in Virginia I have included, the others being St. John's Church in King William County and Little Fork Church in Culpeper County.

Monticello

Albemarle County, VA

Marker No. W-200

Marker Text: Three miles to the southeast. Thomas Jefferson began the house in 1770 and finished it in 1802. He brought his bride to it in 1772. Lafayette visited it in 1825. Jefferson spent his last years there and died there, July 4, 1826. His tomb is there. The place was raided by British cavalry, June 4, 1781

Location: At the corner of E. Jefferson and Park Streets, in front of the Albemarle Co. Courthouse in Charlottesville, VA. Erected by the Conservation & Development Commission in 1928.

"I am as happy no where else and in no other society, and all my wishes end, where I hope my days will end, at Monticello. Too many scenes of happiness mingle themselves with all the recollections of my native woods and fields, to suffer them to be supplanted in my affection by any other." (In a Jefferson letter to George Gilmer, August 12, 1787 and this quote appears inside the terminal of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport.)

James A. Garfield

Pike County, KY
(Marker Number: 52)

Marker Text: Here Col. Garfield was commissioned Brigadier General in the Union Army. The man who later became President was sworn in as General by Squire Charles of Pike County, January 1862.

Location: In the Pikeville City Park in Pikeville, KY, on Route U.S. 119 and 460, Huffman Avenue. Erected by the Kentucky Department of Highways.

  Following the end of the American Civil War, many of the officers on both sides ran for public office being elected to Congress, Governors and/or U.S. President. One individual who served in public office both before, during and after the civil war was James A. Garfield, the 20^th President of the U.S. Garfield is probably remembered by most as the second president to be assassinated while serving as President. At the time James A. Garfield was promoted to Brigadier General in January 1862, he was 30 years old, making him the Union Army's youngest General, which this marker observes.

Letitia Christian Tyler, New Kent County, VA

Marker No. W-39

Marker Text: Letitia Christian Tyler, wife of President John Tyler, is buried at Cedar Grove Cemetery a mile northeast. Born on 12 November 1790, a daughter of Robert and Mary Browne Christian, she married John Tyler at her home, Cedar Grove, on 29 March 1813. Her husband served as a congressman (1817-1821), governor of Virginia (1825-1827), senator (1827-1836), vice president (1841), and tenth president of the United States (1841-1845). Letitia Christian Tyler was the first First Lady to die in the White House when she succumbed on 10 September 1842 after a series of paralyzing strokes. Her body lay in state in the East Room of the White House, then was transported to her family home at Cedar Grove for interment.
Location: On Route 60 on the east bound lane near intersection with Route 106, 4.9 miles southeast of Bottom's Bridge. Grouped with marker W-18 (Long Bridge).
Erected in 1994 by the Department of Historic Resources.
Photo taken looking east on Route 60 toward intersection with Route 106.

   Until I came across this marker, I was unaware that any First Lady had died while residing in the White House. Actually, it never occurred to me that a First Lady of the U.S. might have died while in the White House. In fact, three first ladies have died during their husbands terms in the White House. As a sort of an ironic twist, her husband John Tyler became the first vice-president to become president of the U.S. after the death of William Henry Harrison who was the first president to die in office.
   Mrs. Tyler had already become an invalid confined to her chair for two years before her husband became president.
   Photo on left is the Cedar Grove Cemetery with the home in the background.
   Mrs. Tyler was born and raised in the country side surrounding this marker in New Kent County, Virginia. As many women of her era, she was instructed in the duties of a wife and mother, learning skills of managing a plantation, rearing a family and presiding over a home. During the political years of John Tyler, prior to his becoming president, she only once joined him in Washington for the winter social season, choosing mostly to remain in her home in Virginia, where she was most comfortable with her Bible, prayer book and knitting by her side. After John Tyler became vice-president he thought he could spend most of his time at their home in Virginia, since the duties of a vice-president were non-demanding at the time, but this lasted only one month before becoming president.

   Mrs. Tyler had eight children of which seven survived.

   Mrs. Tyler's daughter-in-law, Priscilla Cooper Tyler, described her as "the most entirely unselfish person you can imagine... Notwithstanding her very delicate health, mother attends to and regulates all the household affairs and all so quietly that you can't tell when she does it."

   While residing in the White House, Letitia Tyler continued her role, as her health permitted, to manage the household affairs of the family at the White House, mostly from a second floor room. Due to her health she did not attempt to maintain management of the White House social affairs. Official White House affairs, normally performed by an early 19th century First Lady were assumed by her daughter-in-law, Priscilla Cooper Tyler. Mrs. Tyler's only White House appearance at a social function was the White House wedding of her daughter, Elizabeth in 1842 on February 7, 1842. Mrs. Tyler died later that same year in September.

   The cover stone over Mrs. Tyler's grave reads: “All that is mortal of Lettitia Tyler, Wife of John Tyler, President of the United States, Lies underneath this marble, She departed this life, 10 Sep. 1842 at the President's House in the City of Washington in the 52nd Year of her age. Her life was an illustration of the Christian Virtues and her death the death of the righteous.” The Cedar Grove Cemetery is one mile north of this marker on Route 106, on the left while traveling north, sign for cemetery is difficult to see.

   For a more detailed description of Mrs. Tyler's life go to Biographies of First Ladies.

   You were probably wondering who the other two first ladies were who died in the White House: Caroline Harrison (1892), wife of Benjamin Harrison and Ellen Wilson (1914), wife of Woodrow Wilson.