Burwell Family of Virginia
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Fairfield Site
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| Nearest city | White Marsh, Virginia |
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| Area | 220 acres (89 ha) |
| Built | 1692 |
| Built by | Burwell, Lewis |
| NRHP Reference # | 73002019 |
| Added to NRHP | July 16, 1973 |
The Burwells (known as the Burls among Virginians ) were among the First Families of Virginia in the Colony of Virginia.John Quincy Adams once described the Burwells as typical Virginia aristocrats of their period: forthright, bland, somewhat imperious and politically simplistic by Adams' standards. In 1713, so many Burwells had intermarried with the Virginia political elite that Governor Spotswood complained that " the greater part of the present Council are related to the Family of Burwells...there will be no less than seven so near related that they will go off the Bench whenever a Cause of the Burwells come to be tried." The Family was closely associated with the Fairfield Plantation, Gloucester County, Virginia, but several Burwells also built other famous Virginia plantations. Lewis Burwell III built the Kingsmill Plantation's manor house beginning in the 1730s. A few years later, Carter Burwell built Carter's Grove immediately to the east in what became the modern-day Grove Community. Several place names such as Burwell's Bay in Isle of Wight County, Virginia are named after the Burwells. Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller, (a.k.a. Chesty Puller) is a war hero (from West Point, Virginia) takes his name from three generations of Lewis Burwells who had a large influence on early Virginia. The Burwell family of Virginia originally came from Bedfordshire in England. Their early history is not completely known but by 1607, they were living in Harlington, Bedfordshire, at Harlington House—now known as Harlington Manor.
Maj. Lewis Burwell (1621–1653), was bap. 5 Mar 1621/22 at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, England; he married Lucy Higginson. Maj. Lewis Burwell was buried at Abington Church, Gloucester County, Virginia. He resided at Carter's Creek (also in Gloucester county). He later resided at 'Fairfield Plantation, Gloucester County, Virginia' starting in 1648. When he died, his wife (Lucy Higginson) remarried twice; first, to Col. William Bernard, son of Francis Bernard and Mary Woolhouse, and later to Col. Philip Ludwell, son of Thomas Ludwell and Jane Cottington; 3rd husband. Known children of Maj. Lewis Burwell and Lucy Higginson were: Hon. Lewis Burwell, b. c. 1652; m. Abigail Smith; m. Martha Lear.
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