Major Edward Dale
Edward Dale is a father to Katherine Dale, the wife of Captain Thomas Carter, Senior. His parents are unknown.
Among the royalists who sought refuge in Virginia after the death of King Charles I., were Edward Dale and his brother-in-law, Sir Grey Skipwith, Gentleman.
Major Dale was of the ancient family of Dale of Northampton and London, which originally was of county Chester, as he used the same arms, the crest of which is shown on his
seal to a paper at Lancaster Court House, Va. He belonged to that class of emigrants to Virginia, who, Mr. Philip Alexander Bruce in his Social History of Virginia in the
Seventeenth Century says: "Enjoyed an influence in the social life of the Colony which was out of proportion to their mere number. Some of these men, as we have seen, were
persons of rank in England ; others were untitled officers in the royal armies, and with few exceptions all were sprung from the English landed gentry. They brought with them to
Virginia the tastes and habits of the society in which they moved, and to which they belonged by birth as well as by association, the society of the English country gentleman."
Major Dale settled in Lancaster side of the Rappahannock River. Edward Dale soon began taking a prominent part in county affairs and from 1655 to 1674 was clerk of
Lancaster county; from 1669 to 1684 a Justice, or Commissioner of the County Court; in the years 1670, 1671, 1679, and 1680 High Sheriff ; and in 1677 and 1682-83 Member
of the House of Burgesses.
The old records of Lancaster for the first two or three years after the county was organized are not quite complete, but Edward Dale appears as Clerk of the county in 1655, and
thence continuously until May 10, 1674 when John Stretchley took the oath as clerk of the county.
In Colonial days the clerk was probably the most important officer next after the County Lieutenant, and besides belonging to the local gentry, was one of the leading men of his
county, or what that champion gossip, Samuel Pepys denominates "'a very great man"; which needs no other proof than the mention of such names as Sir Marmaduke Beckwith,
Sir Grey Skipwith, Peter Beverley, Benj. Harrison, Wm. Nelson, Wm. Stanard, Wm. Randolph, Robert Boiling, Wm. Fitzhugh, Thomas Lee, and dozens of other names of equal
prominence, whose owners were clerks of their respective counties. The clerks were also the legal advisers to a large part of their constituents, and for a time were permitted to
act as attorneys before the court, but even after this priviledge was taken from them they probably drew up more deeds and wills than all the other attorneys in the county. Edward
Dale's library included the following law books:
The Compleat Justice,
The Office of a Complete Attorney (in Octavo),
Jure Maritimo (Quarto),
De Jureaments by Sanderson,
The Book of Oathes,
Virginia Laws (in folio).
From sometime in 1669 till April 1684 Edward Dale was a Justice of the County Court, which included such men as Cols. John Carter, Sr. and Jr., Capt. David Fox, Capt. Wm.
Ball, Capt. Thomas Carter, Mr. Rawleigh Travers, :Mr. Richard Parrott, and Mr. John Custis. :Mr. Bruce says, 'Throughout the Seventeenth century, the most important tribunal in
Virginia for the administration of local justice was the monthly or county court," He continues, "According to the Act of 1661-2, the justices were to be chosen from among the 'most
able, honest, and judicious' citizens of their respective counties. * * * There are innumerable proofs that they were drawn from the body of the wealthiest, most capable and most
respected men to be found in the whole community." "The office of a justice was looked upon as being so purely honorable that, following the English precedent, it carried no salary
in the strict sense of the term; nor were there any perquisites growing out of the position approaching in importance those which made the office of Councillor so valuable from a
pecuniary point of view.'' The judges on the county bench were allowed thirty pounds of tobacco from each litigant who failed to win his case.
The old records show that in the years 1670, 1671, 1679 and 1680 Major Dale was High Sheriff of Lancaster, having been chosen by the governor from among the names
presented to him by the county court, as for example the court held for March 1679, "Ordered that Mr. Thomas Grymes, Major Edward Dale and Mr. Robt: Griggs be presented to
the Rt. Honorable Sr Henry Chicheley Lt. Deputy Govern(r) and Cap(t) Gen(ll) of Virginia election of a Sheriff for this county for the year Ensuing." And on May 12, 1679,
"According to order of the Right Hono(ble) Sr William Berkeley, K(t). Governor and Cap(t) Gen(ll) of Virginia the oath of high Sheriff for this County was this day administered to
Maj° Edward Dale." For 1680 his commission was dated April 10, and he took the oath on May 26th. In 1681 he appeared as the security of Capt. David Fox who was
commissioned high Sheriff. Bruce says. "From some points of view, the sheriff was a more important officer than the clerk.'' "The shrievalty was invested with as much dignity in
Virginia as it was in the Mother Country itself." Blackstone, the great English jurist, says of the English sheriff' that, "as the keeper of the King's Peace both by common law and
special commission, he is the first man in the county and superior in rank to any noble- man therein during his office."
In Nov. 1677 and January 1683 Major Dale received from the county court his pay as a Burgees from Lancaster county — eight thousand eight hundred and fifty-five pounds for
each service.
The date of Edward Dale's commission as a major in the Lancaster militia has not been ascertained, he appeared in a list of militia officers in Virginia in 1680 as Major Dale,
and in the various court records previous to that year. Bruce says, "The members of the House of Burgesses belonged to the circle of foremost citizens of the colony. Although
all ranks of freemen enjoyed the franchise down to 1670, there is no indication that this system of universal suffrage led to the frequent election of representatives of an inferior
standing from a social point of view." And of “he officers of the militia that "The men who bore these military titles were the foremost in all the various departments of action
represented in the Colony."
Maj. Dale's part in Bacon's rebellion seems to have been that he represented Lancaster county "Att a Committy (by Order of Ye Grand Assembly) for Laying a Levy in the Northern
Neck for ye charge in Raisinge ye forces thereof for suppressing ye late rebellion mett at Capt. Beales ye 14th of August 1677 being present Mr. Wm. Presley, Maj(r) Ed. Dale,
Major Isaac Allerton, Mr. Peter Presley, Coll. Wm. Travers, Coll. Sam(l) Griffin, Coll. George Mason, & Mr. Martin Scarlett."
In addition to his offices in Lancaster, his home county, Edward Dale was also the first clerk of Westmoreland county between the years 1652 and 1662, running the office by the
help of a deputy.
The old worthies of Seventeenth century Virginia were very careful of their honor and dignity, and prompt and severe in their resentment of any infringement of the same. On
February 8th, 1670, in contending for a point of this kind Mr. Dale routed the entire court, causing them to adjourn without transacting any business, as the only record of their
meeting is as follows: "Mr. Edward Dale, Clerk of this county & in Commission for the peace, and high Sher(f). of this County conceiving himself sufficiently qualified to sett
covered in Court w** some of ye sd Justices would not allow of they did thereupon adjourn till ye second Wednesday in the month next." During his fifteen years on the county
bench he dissented from the opinion of the other justices more than any other one of them, and always saw to it that his dissentions were recorded. Another illustration of an affront
to their dignity in which Major Dale played a part is as follows : "Att a court for ye County of Lancaster Nov. ye 8th Ano Dni 1671 at ye Co(rt)house these
Mr.Will Ball Sen.
Mr.Bryan Stott
Mr. George Wale
Mr. Robert Beckinham
Mr. Tho: Hayne
Mr. Will Ball, Jun(r)
Mr. Robt. Griggs
Mr. Tho : :MarshalI
Mr. Dan: Harrison.
"Itt manifestly appearing to ye Cort several of its members being there psonally prte that on Sonday ye first of yis instant of Nov: in ye tyme of divine service at ye p'she Church of
St. Marys White Chappell in this County one Rich(d) Price did after a rude irreligious and uncivil manner intrude himselfe into ye seate purposely designed and made use off by his
Mats Justie of ye peace for this County there beinge then psonally psent in ye seate two of ye sd Justic(s) w(th) Mr Edward Dale high Sherr: of y(is) County whom ye s(d) Price did
rudely force backward upon his seate whilst he endeavored to keep ye s(d) Price out which Behaviou(r) of ye s(d) Price tending to ye dishon(r) of God Almighty, ye Contempt of
his Ma(tie) Mynister, offence of ye Congregation Scandall to religion and evil example of others. All of weh this Court taking into Consideration and fearing they might bee thought
ptiall (the Vindicacon of their sd membs and Sherifte considered) have ordered that Mr. Edward Dale doe send a messengere forthwith to ye Right Honble Governr to crave his
honrs speciall warnt to command ye sd Price psonally to appear att ye next Genll Cort at a day Certaine to answer ye said Mr Robert Beverley is hereby authorized and desired to
precute ye sd Price at ye sd Court."
The existing Lancaster records show no deed to Major Edward Dale prior to May 6, 1663, when he had a certificate for 750 acres by assignment from Rich : Perrott ; and on the
same date five hundred acres from Richard Merryman. March 30th, 1662 John and Margaret Paine sold to Richard Merryman "the plantation whereon Mr. Edwd Dale now liveth."
Feb. 2, 1664 Maj. Dale had a deed from Edward Lunsford for three hundred and fifty acres of land on the Eastermost branch of Corotoman River; and Dec. 14th. of same year a
deed from \Vm. Chappan for 700 acres on the same branch, for the two of which he paid eleven thousand pounds of tobacco for five hundred acres ; and in May 1681 a like
amount to Thomas Chetwood, merchant, for six hundred acres in St. Mary's White Chappel parish to which he removed and where he lived the remainder of his life.
Of this thirty four hundred acres Maj. Dale deeded five hundred to his daughter Katharine Carter in 1674, and six hundred acres to his daughter Elizabeth Rogers in 1677. In all of
his deeds and other papers he was always styled "Edward Dale, Gentleman,"' a title that in the seventeenth century was defined with legal precision, and its use not permitted to
any one who had not the right to it. Major Dale's original will has disappeared from the clerk's office at Lancaster court house, but fortunately his son-in-law, Capt. Thomas Carter,
sealed his will in 1700 with a seal that shows the crest of the Dales. Mr. Wm. Armstrong Crozier, a well known New York genealogist and authority on heraldry says this seal shows
the crest of the Dales of Northampton and London and gives the reading as following: "On a chapeau gules turned up ermine, a heron argent, beaked, legged and ducally gorged
or." The arms are: "Gules on a mount vert, a swan arg. :Membered and ducally gorged or." At a visitation of the heralds from the College of Arms in 1613 these arms were
confirmed to Wm. Dale, Esq., of Brigstock, Northampton. He was the third son of Robert Dale, Esq., of Wencle in the county of Chester, whose first and second sons were,
Robert, Jr., of Wencle, and Roger of Inner Temple, London. Edward Dale of Virginia was probably a son of one of these.
Major Dale was a '"cavalier" or adherent of King Charles I, as is plainly shown by his epitaph, the fact that he enjoyed numerous political offices under that rank royalist Sir William
Berkeley, and the following story of him that has come down through his descendants: The story relates that upon one occasion a stranger stopped at Major Dale's house one day
just about the dinner hour. His horse was sent to the stable and he was invited to join the family at the dinner just then being served. When they were seated at the table the visitor
immediately bowed his head and offered a long puritanical prayer, in which he asked rich blessings upon Oliver Cromwell (who was not then dead) and especial maledictions on
the head of the pretender Charles II. This so incensed Major Dale that he ordered the man from his table, sent a servant for his horse and told him to hunt his dinner elsewhere,
thus in his loyalty to his King transgressing one of the strongest unwritten laws of the time— the law of hospitality.
A three-quarter length portrait of Edward Dale handed down in the Carter family showed him as a portly brown-eyed gentleman dressed in black velvet coat, dark red waistcoat,
cream colored satin breeches and a powdered wig. At the close of the war Its owner, the late Col. Thos. Carter of Kentucky removed to Chicago, where the portrait, with other
valuable pictures and heirlooms, was lost in the great fire in that city. A copv is now owned by the author.
Dec. 8, 1674 "Edward Dale of the County of Lancaster in Virga gent, as well for and in consideration of a marriage already had and solomonized between Thomas Carter of the
same Countv Mercht of the one parte and Katharine his wife, daughter of mee the aforesaid Edward Dale," etc.. convevs to Thomas and Katharine Carter a plantation of five
hundred acres in Lancaster. His wife, Diana Dale, signing the deed relinquishing her dower. On the same day they conveyed to Thomas Carter and wife a negro boy named Dick,
a gray mare and two-vear old colt Six young cows and their calves. and half the hogs on the plantation.
March 12, 1677, Edward and Diana Dale deeded to their daughter Elizabeth, "now the wife of Mr. William Rodgers, son of Capt. John Rodgers of the County of Northumberland,
a plantation of six hundred acres in Lancaster."
Oct. 7, 1687 Maj. Dale conveyed to "Mr. Thomas Carter and wife, Katharine," in consideration of "love and affection," etc two negro boys named James and Robin; and after the
death of Thomas Carter and his wife, the bov Robin was to go to Dale's grandson, Edward Carter, and the other negro to his other Carter grandchildren.
"In the Name of God Amen, the twentv fourth dav of Augt 1694. I Edward Dale of the County of Lancastr in Rapp'k River in Virga Gente. being of Sound & perfect Memory God be
praised doe make and ordaine this my last will & Testament in manner and forme following. First I commend mv Soule to the hands of Almighty God my Creator and Redeemer.
Mv body to the Earth from whence it Came to bee decently interred wthout any wine drinking.
"As for such worldly Estate as it pleased God to bless me wth I dispose of in manner and forme following. Imp* if it shall please God that my wife shall happen to outlive mee I give
into her for her maintenance during her life the whole proffit of my Estate whatsoever it being had to her as an honest woman a Gentlewoman, and a great many years my wife."
After the death of his wife his daughter Katharine Carter was to have control and use of all his estate until his Carter grandchildren were all of age, when it was to be divided as
follows. Grandsons, Peter and Joseph Carter, to have his home plantation in St. Mary's parish with all plantation tools, etc., and a negro man each when they arrived at the ago of
twenty- one years. This was about 171 1. as in January, 1712, they divided their grandfather Dale's plantation. Granddaughter Elizabeth his best bed and furniture and a trunk. To
daughter Elizabeth Rodgers twelve pounds in full of all claims on his estate. The residue of estate to be divided equally between his grandchildren. Elizabeth and Catharine, Peter
and Joseph Carter, when they should become of legal age or marry. Daughter, Katharine Carter, and grandson, Edward Carter, to be executors of his will, and granddaughter,
Elizabeth Carter, to also be one when she arrived at the age of sixteen.
The inventory of his estate was returned to court March 30, 1695. and amounted to ten thousand and six hundred and seven pounds of tobacco. It included besides the usual
household and plantation furniture a parcel of books, three pictures, two silver dram cups without handles and a pair of silver tongs. This inventory does not list his books
separately, but two of them have been preserved by his descendants, and in one of them is the following:
A list of Mr Edw: Dales Books
16 Ffeb 1695 — Taken by Tho : Carter Senr & Edward Carter.
Vir Laws — 1662— folio
Hist : of the World— 1677-fol° Sr Walt : Raleigh— 5 bookes.
De Juraments 1655 — Sanderson 24mo
Workes : Edmund Spenser — 1679 folio.
Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year — 1673 folo
The Whole Duty of Man — 1660.
St. Augustines Prayers 1585 — Ffolio.
Sylva Sylvanum — Ffra: Bacon — 1670 — Ffol°.
Chron : Kings of England— Rich'd Baker. 1684. fol :
The Sts. everlasting Rest 1653— duodec
The Book of Oathes 1649.
Religio Medico — Sr Tho : Browne — 1659.
Caba Sive Scrina Sacra: mysteryes of State 1663 fo:
Chron: of Yeares — 1552 — 16 mo.
Shakespeares Workes— 1632 — folio,
lohn Donnes Sermons — 1640. folo.
Eikon Pjasilike — 1649 — 32 mo.
An English Exposition: or a Compleat Dictionary 1684.
Cotton: Posthuma — S' Ro' : Cotton — 1679.
The Complt Justice
The Office of a Comply Attorney — in Oct.
Melliticium Chirurgiae — Ja : Cooke — 1648.
Ciceros Orations, — 1645 — folo
Military Disciplin in Quarto.
Jure Naritino in Quar-°.
Common Prayer Book — in Quarto 1633.
Josepus — Workes — 1609 foI°.
Hist : of ye Low Countries in folio 2 bookes.
The Holy Bibel in Quarto 1649.
The Rump: Choysest poems & Songs of ye late Tirne — 1662.
Gen'. Hist: of Ffrance in folio — in 2 bookes 1644.
Satyres of Decimus Juns Juvenalis — in Quarto — 1673.
The Practice of Physick — Nich : Culpeper— 1678.
Godfrey de Boulogne: or the Recoverie of lerusalem — Edw. ;
Ffairfax — 1624.
The above list of books containing works on medicine, law, religion, poetry, history, and natural science show that Major Edward Dale was a broad and catholic minded man in
his education and reading. The list also shows that he selected the best, as Spenser, Shakespeare, Bacon, Josephus, Cicero, and Juvenal are classics to-day. His copy of
Juvenal and the Posthumous Collection of Sir Robert Cotton are yet in existence. On the inside of the front cover of the Juvenal in a large and fine hand is written — "Sir Wm.
Skipwith to Major Edw : Dale Sept 16: 1686;" and below it is, "'Edw Dale to Edw Carter."
I have not been able to locate Major Dale's tomb either in the St. Marys White Chappel yard, near which his home was located or in the neighboring private graveyards. His
epitaph, either as it appeared on his tomb or as it was expected to appear is recorded in the Carter Prayer Book, and is as follows, the inscription being preceded by a faded
drawing of the Dale arms enclosed in a circle, which by its shading indicates that the arms were sunk below the surface of the stone:
Hie Depcsitum Spe certe resurgendi in Christo
quicquid habuit Mortale
EDWARDUS DALE, ARMIGER.
Tandem honorum et dierum Obiit
2nd Feb: Anno Dom : 1695.
He descended from an Ancient Family
in England & came into ye Colly
of Virga after the Death of his Unhappy
Master Charles Ffirst.
For above 30 years he enjoyed
various Einployments of Public Trust
in ye Coty of Lancaster weh he
Discharged wth great Fidelity & Satisfacn.
to the Governor & People.
As Neighbor — Father — Husband he Excelled and in
early yeares Crown''
his other Accomplishments by a
Felicitous Marriage
wth Diana ye daughter of Sir Henry Skypwith
of Preswold in ye Coty of Leicester Bart
who is left a little while to Mourn Him.
The above epitaph shows that Edward Dale's wife was Diana Skipwith, daughter of Sir Henry Skipwith of Prestwold, Leicestershire ; and the following letter from her brother Sir
Grey Skipwith, substantiates it:
"Brother Dale.
Pray do me the favor to acknowledge in court on my behalf
two bills of sale for Cattle made to Mary Bayley and this my
note shall impower you for the doing of it as full as any letter
of attorney.
Sir I have not else only our love presented to y'selfe and my
sister.
Sir I am your lo : brother
GREY SKIPWITH.
Febr: primo 1664."
The above letter is recorded on page 364, Record Book No. 2, Lancaster County, Virginia.
Mr. Austin Skipwith. of Prestwould, Mecklenburg County, Va., writes me that an old copy of Burke says "that to Sir Henry Skipwith of Prestwould, Leicestershire, was born four
sons and two daughters, viz : Grey, William, Henry, Thomas, Elizabeth and Diana.'' ; but he has no record that will show the date of the marriage of Edward and Diana Dale.
Reference:
"The Descendants of Capt. Thomas Carter Of 'Barford' Lancaster County, Virginia" Joseph Lyon Miller M. D., Published 1912