Ben Lomond Manor House

Genealogy

The dynasty began when John Carter came over from England in 1635, marrying five wives over his lifetime and producing six children. His fifth son by his fourth wife, Robert "King" Carter, so eclipsed his father in wealth and social standing in the Virginia colony, becoming the richest and perhaps the most powerful man of his day, was thought by many historians, to have been the founder of this family.

Robert "King" Carter (1663-1732) had fifteen children by two wives, Judith Armistead (1665-1699) and Betty Landon Willis (1684-1719). In order, first son, John Carter married Elizabeth Hill of Shirley Plantation and was the Secretary of State for the Colony and on the King's Council until his death in 1742. In the 1760’s, his son John III, built Sudley Plantation in western Prince William County, named after Sudley Manor Parish in Glouchester, England, which gave the name to the whole neighborhood. (Sud meaning "manor") The second child, Elizabeth, had a grandson, Thomas Nelson who signed the Declaration of Independence and a granddaughter, Mary Willis Ambler of Jamestown, who married John Marshall of Prince William County, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. The third and fourth children, Judith and Sarah died in infancy. The fifth child, a daughter also named Judith, was the grandmother of John Page, Governor of Virginia. The sixth child was a daughter Anne. Her son, Benjamin Harrison, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a governor of Virginia. Two Harrisons, Presidents of the United States, were descended from Anne. The seventh child was Robert II who died at age 28 a few months before his father, Robert "King" Carter, leaving his estate to his small son, Robert III, whose grandson built the Ben Lomond Manor House. In Scotland "Ben" means "mountain", the manor house name coming from Mount Lomond in Scotland. Robert III’s sister Priscilla's daughter and her husband, William James Weir, built "Liberia" in Manassas. His brother George built Oatlands Plantation in Leesburg. The eighth and ninth children, Sarah and Betty, died in early childhood. The tenth child was another son, Charles, who married three times to Mary Walker, Anne Byrd and Lucy Taliaferro. The eleventh child, Ludlow died in infancy. The twelfth child, Landon, of Sabine Hall, married three times to Elizabeth Wormeley, whose son, Landon Carter Jr.'s daughter Edmonia married Benamin Tasker Chinn of Ben Lomond. The thirteenth child, Mary, had a son, Carter Braxton, who was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The fourteenth child Lucy, had a granddaughter, Mary Fitzhugh who married George Washington Parke Custis and a great-grandaughter, Mary Custis, who married General Robert E. Lee. The last and fifteenth child, George, lived in London and died in his twenties.

The Ben Lomond Manor house is located at 10311 Sudley Manor Drive, four stop lights down Sudley Road going south from Rt 66. Turn left on Sudley Manor Drive and go 3/4 of a mile to the manor house and garden on your right across from the community center