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Writer's pictureBeth Stenstrom

James Horace Lacy & Betty Churchill Jones Lacy



James Horace lacy was born 10 June 1823 in St Charles County, Missouri to William Sterling and Sallie E Campbell Lacy, and was one of at least 10 children of the union.  One brother was Beverly Tucker Lacy.  William was a Presbyterian minister, which meant the family moved around a lot.  By 1843, James was enrolled at Washington College (now Washington & Lee University) I in Lexington, VA.  James graduated with an A.B.  His hometown at the time was listed as Somerville, Tenn.  The 1888 Catalogue of the Officers an Alumni of Washington & Lee University listed his occupations as lawyer, and Member Virginia legislature. One of his early jobs after college was tutoring and teaching school.  One place he tutored was at the John Randolph Bryan’s Eagle Point Plantation in Gloucester County, VA.



Betty Churchill Jones was born 21 June 1829 at Ellwood Plantation in Spotsylvania County, VA to William & Lucinda Gordon Jones.  She was his 2nd daughter and Lucinda’s 1st daughter.  She was educated at school in Fredericksburg, VA while living with her much older half-sister Hannah Jones Coulter at Chatham Manor in Stafford County, VA. She would be the only child of that marriage.  William had another daughter, Hannah, born in 1780, by his first wife, Betty Churchill Jones.  William Jones passed away in 1845, and left his estate to his widow, Lucinda, for as long as she remained a widow.  However, Lucinda remarried in 1847, making Betty a rich young girl.

 

Around 1846, James was teaching the Bryan children.  Upon her graduation from school in1847, Betty took her first train trip to visit the Bryans in Gloucester County.  Mrs Bryan was a Coulter and was related to Hannah’s husband.  James and Betty met and fell in love.  They married 19 October 1848 at Ellwood Plantation.    With that union, James became a quite wealthy man.  Immediately, he gained control of the vast Ellwood Manor.  When Hannah Coulter died in 1857, Betty inherited Chatham Manor as the sole surviving her, and Jams gained control of that also.  Over the next 15 years, James and Betty would have 8 children.  They soon established residence at Chatham manor during the winter in order for the children to receive an education in Fredericksburg, and they would summer at Ellwood.  A large number of servants resided at both sites to do the daily chores. 

 

By 1861, James was one of the leading citizens of Fredericksburg.  He had quite a reputation for making speeches, and was an outspoken supporter of Virginia secession.  He was appointed to serve as aide-de-camp to Daniel Ruggles, and received the honorary title Captain.  He embraced the Civil War.  He packed a picnic lunch and became one of the 1000’s who watch the Battle of Manassas.  He was captured briefly in 1863, and sent some time at FT Delaware before being exchanged for a Union officer and received the commission of Lieutenant.

 

He returned to Ellwood and Chatham after the war to find almost total destruction.  His servants were gone, and thus, his wealth, was also gone.  He sold some of the land, and he gave some to the four oldest children.  He then began fighting for the cause.  In 1866, he addressed the first meeting of the recently formed Ladies’ Memorial Association.  He went on a speaking tour to such places as Baltimore, New York, and New Orleans to raise money.  Pledges of $10,000 were received, and the Confederate Cemetery in Fredericksburg was established.  His political career was thus begun.  In 1873, he ran for, and was elected, to the House of Delegates in Virginia.  where he served one term.

 

In 1896, James and Betty sold Ellwood and moved to a new house at 1503 Washington Avenue in Fredericksburg.  The house was just down the street from the cemetery.  James passed away on 27 January 1906 and was buried at the Fredericksburg Cemetery, next to te Confederate Cemetery.  Betty passed away on 3 May 1907 and was buried next to her husband. 

 

The youngest son of James and Betty, Beverly Randolph Drury Lacy, a born 28 February 1868 at Chatham.  In 1886, he was a student at Hampton Sidney College in Prince George, VA, where his grandfather went.  By 1896, he was in St Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri working as a cashier at a bank.  He married Irene (Rene) DeGreffin Trenholm, formerly of Charleston, SC.  On 26 February 1902.  It is through this line that Emily Grace Miller descends.




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