The Beverly Family History

The Family History and Genealogy of the Beverley’s of Essex County, Virginia
Along the banks of the Rappahannock River in Essex County, Virginia, stands Blandfield – a magnificent Georgian plantation house built between 1716 and 1720, and one of the grandest surviving homes of the colonial era. But Blandfield is more than an architectural landmark; it is the enduring heart of the Beverley family, whose story spans continents, generations, and centuries of American history. Tracing their roots from Yorkshire, England, this richly detailed account follows the Beverleys from their earliest beginnings through their rise as one of Virginia’s most influential dynasties. Major Robert Beverley, the family’s patriarch, came to the New World in the mid-1600s, establishing a lineage that would shape the political, social, and cultural fabric of early Virginia. His son, Robert Beverley Jr., became the colony’s first native-born historian, while his grandson, Colonel William Beverley, built Blandfield as a symbol of permanence and prosperity.

Through genealogical research and vivid historical narrative, This book reconstructs the family history of the Beverley’s – their triumphs and tragedies, their marriages and migrations, and their enduring connection to the land that defined them. From the headright grants of the 1600s to the Revolutionary generation and beyond, the Beverley’s story mirrors that of Virginia itself: ambitious, complex, and deeply rooted in the soil of a new nation.

Part genealogy, part narrative history, and part meditation on legacy, this book brings to life the people behind the names – revealing how one English family crossed the ocean, took root beside a Virginia river, and built a dynasty whose influence still echoes through the brick walls of Blandfield and the archives of American memory.