I have seen some postings about Chantilly and why the airport wasn't named after "chantilly lace" the song. Well - chantilly lace has nothing to do with the naming of the town or the airport. Chantilly Plantation was built on the same land as Leeton (which still stands - I live there - which was built by my Turberville & Lee family in the early 1700's). Cornelia Lee Turberville - sister of my 3rd great grandfather, was born at Leeton. When she grew up and married her cousin, Charles Calvert Stuart, she was given a portion of Leeton Plantation and they built a home which they called "Chantilly" after her grandfather's plantation in Westmoreland Co., VA - Richard Henry Lee - Signer of Declaration of Independence. Richard Henry Lee was my 5th great-grandfather. Chantilly plantation burned down some years after Civil War but the town kept the name. The airport was originally called Chantilly Airport but when President Eisenhower's Chief of CIA died from throat cancer - her renamed the airport "Dulles". There was an out cry from the community siting the fact that people would confuse Dallas and Dulles but the name stuck! Hence the current name of our airport. Hope this helps clear up any confusion. I own my family's historic home here in Chantilly, inherited all of the old family records and published several books on the subject. Cheers, Tricia

Tricia Petitt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have seen some postings about Chantilly and why
> the airport wasn't named after "chantilly lace"
> the song. Well - chantilly lace has nothing to do
> with the naming of the town or the airport.
> Chantilly Plantation was built on the same land as
> Leeton (which still stands - I live there - which
> was built by my Turberville & Lee family in the
> early 1700's). Cornelia Lee Turberville - sister
> of my 3rd great grandfather, was born at Leeton.
> When she grew up and married her cousin, Charles
> Calvert Stuart, she was given a portion of Leeton
> Plantation and they built a home which they called
> "Chantilly" after her grandfather's plantation in
> Westmoreland Co., VA - Richard Henry Lee - Signer
> of Declaration of Independence. Richard Henry Lee
> was my 5th great-grandfather. Chantilly plantation
> burned down some years after Civil War but the
> town kept the name. The airport was originally
> called Chantilly Airport but when President
> Eisenhower's Chief of CIA died from throat cancer
> - her renamed the airport "Dulles". There was an
> out cry from the community siting the fact that
> people would confuse Dallas and Dulles but the
> name stuck! Hence the current name of our airport.
> Hope this helps clear up any confusion. I own my
> family's historic home here in Chantilly,
> inherited all of the old family records and
> published several books on the subject. Cheers,
> Tricia

The original land in Westmoreland County, Virginia that was named Chantilly was named after a chateau in France that Richard Henry Lee visited one time. When Richard Henry Lee married he moved to this land he called Chantilly, which is the eastern edge of the land owned by the Lee family (Stratford Hall and surrounding land) and built a home for his future family. The house did burn down after the Civil War and there is nothing standing, just a mound. The place is called Chantilly Hill and can be seen on Google Earth. Hope this helps you.

I am a volunteer for findagrave.com and my current search is for Zachariah Sanders who was buried on Chantilly in Westmoreland County, Virginia in 1873. This has been quite a challenge as the land then called Chantilly covers many acres and I am having a hard time finding the exact place that he is buried. As you can imagine records are not that easy to find from back in this period..

Tricia,
After 40 years of searching you may have given me a lead to the name "Chantilly".
My grandfather's family owned a "farm" called Chantilly in Hanover County, VA.
This is what I have been able to discover.
Ownership of Chantilly Plantation II, Hanover County, VA:

1. Thomas Cross Christmas. He died 1 in Dec 1769 in St. Martin's Parish, Hanover Co., VA. Although he ordered his estate sold for the benefit of his children and grandchildren, it became the property of his son-in-law, husband of his daughter Rachel.
2. David Chisholm, husband of Rachel Christmas
3. Robert Coleman, b. 1780
4. Dr. George William Fleming

Chantilly- 207/10 miles south east of Louisa, Va., on Rt. #4, 2/10 miles
north of road, about 1/2 mile in edge of woods was the home of Dr. Fleming's father-in-law, Robert Coleman and was inherited by Dr. Fleming's wife.

Chantilly is listed on the National Register

Also:
AKA Robert Coleman of Mobjack Bay,

About Your Ancestors. Unknown author/This is a genealogical report commissioned by Malcolm Nassau Fleming. Subject: The Coleman/Fleming Families, "About Your Ancestors," typewritten report.
"Robert Coleman, the earliest of your great-grandfather's line in Virginia, came from England in the latter part of the 17th century, and secured a grant of land in what is now Fairfax County, and built himself a home which he called Chantilly. A hundred years later Richard Henry Lee", A Signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived and died (19 June,1794) there. His Will stated that he held a lease on the house from General Henry Lee This Chantilly burned. [see Robert Coleman, b. 1780 for continuing story of Chantilly]

Ownership of Chantilly Plantation I, Fairfax County, VA:
1. Robert Coleman, b. bef. 1622 (grant)
One hundred years later -
2. Gen. Henry Lee leased Chantilly to Richard Henry Lee in the 1700s until it burned.


Robert Coleman came to America on 2-May-1638 as a headright of Thomas Symons (Pat Bk I, Part II, p 624, 250 acres). Transported with Robert were David Lewis, Thomas Annis, Robert Sanders, and Thomas Dickson. Robert eventually settled in close proximity to Tindall’s Point near the south branch of the Severne River at Mobjack Bay, later Gloucester Co, VA.

Robert was listed March 2, 1638 in Upper Norfolk County records as a Robert Coleman's name appeared on a list of headrights on 2 Mar 1638 in Upper Norfolk Co., meaning he was in VA by that date. His name later appeared as a witness to York Co. records between 1646-48. Robert Coleman was among the early colonists in Gloucester Co., which was opened for white settlement on 1 Sep 1649. Robert died in Gloucester Co. sometime after 6 May 1682, the last mention of him in any existing record. During the War Between The States, Gloucester Co. records were taken to Richmond for safekeeping and were destroyed when Richmond was evacuated and burned. But the few records in existence are evidence that Robert Coleman lived in Abingdon Parish, Gloucestor Co. VA.

When Robert and his wife, Elizabeth Grizzell, crossed the York River to Tindall's Point in what became Gloucester Co., they probably settled along the Severne River between Tindall's Point and Mobjack Bay. In the early days of the colony, rivers and tidal streams provided the easiest means of transportation for settlers. The waterways also provided a source of food and a means of shipping tobacco, Virginia's major exportable commodity.

During Bacon's Rebellion in 1676, the Abingdon Parish Register was destroyed, forever denying us the facts about any children born to Robert Coleman and Elizabeth Grizzell. (VA law required that all births and deaths be reported to the parish minister.) Based on available evidence, the six known surviving children of Robert and Elizabeth Coleman were Thomas, Robert, Joseph, Grizzell, Daniel and John.

There is no evidence anywhere of Robert Coleman's birth year.

The birth year of Robert Coleman of Mobjack Bay was more likely ca. 1630, and he was brought to VA as a young boy. He may have been a son of the Edward Coleman whose name appeared on a Lower Norfolk Co. headright list in 1637, and on a 1638 list of ages of people residing in that county. In pursuing the ancestry of Robert Coleman of Mobjack Bay, I need to start with the Edward Coleman of Suffolk, England whose will was proved in 1596.

According to the professional genealogy report that Malcolm Nassau Fleming
commissioned in the 1940s: "Robert Coleman owned Chantilly in England. Chantilly of Hanover County was named for the first Chantilly [see Robert Coleman, b. Bef. 1622] by Robert Coleman who was born June 19th, 1780, and died April 29th, 1854".. . . "Captain Robert Coleman and Matilda Minor had several children, but a daughter, Mary Orrell Coleman, was the only one that survived childhood. . .. Robert Coleman, your great-grandfather (Malcolm's), bought Chantilly in 1805. He was a fine planter and year by year added to the acres until he had 1,200 and more than a hundred servants, including those who had come through the Coleman, Fleming and Syme estates. Chantilly was a roomy, country home, with many outhouses for the servants. "

And finally (from my endless notes:
Early this year (2008) I finally found the story of Emily White Fleming in a Virginia Historical Society Magazine. The entire issue was devoted to this story. Emily Fleming, Mrs. Vivian Minor Fleming was the wife of Papa's uncle's and the sister-in-law of Dr. Malcolm Nassau Fleming.
___________________________________________________
From a letter written by Emily White Coleman, wife of Vivian Minor Fleming (Papa's uncle) describing the life and people of Chantilly. Here she writes about Lewis, the oldest child of the family. She makes no distinction between the 3 children of Mary Orrell Coleman's first marriage to Thomas Burbage Coleman and her 6 living children from her second marriage to Dr. Malcolm Nassau Fleming. The entire wonderful letter, unsigned and undated, is found here. I believe it was written c 1912 and there can be no doubt as to the author.

"The life at Chantilly was delightful. The neighbors were charming, the Pages, Nelsons, Fontaine, Amblers, Morris, etc. The Minors, Cookes and the Berkeleys were further away. The most delightful circle of cultured people, they were all familiar with cultured people, and on "Dining Day" Shakespeare, Milton, Young, Pollock, "Sir Walter," Goldsmith and Moore and Byron were all their particular friends; Longfellow, Wordsworth and Tennyson, they rather scorned. The oldest (child) of the family was Lewis Coleman, taught first with "Uncle Fred" Coleman, at Concord Academy, that famous old school, and after "Uncle Fred" closed his school, then Uncle Lewis established Hanover Academy, which became equally celebrated. From thence he was called to take the chair of Greek and Latin in the University of Virginia, where he had attained the A.N. degree at the age of 18 years. He must have been a most charming and beloved young man, for when I came to Virginia in 1876 so many, many people told me of his charm. When the war broke out he resigned from the University, came to Hanover, raised a Company and carried them to Richmond. He was made of Lieut. Colonel of the First Company of Virginia Artillery. He was wounded in the Battle of Fredericksburg, and died the following March, at the home of his (half) sister, Miss (Mrs.) Schooler, Edgehill, in Caroline County. He left three children - Maude, Claudia and Lewis - all gone and only one descendant, Charles, who lived in Chattanooga, and one little boy.

The second Coleman child was Matilda - "Aunt Tillie" - who married Edwin Morris, lived in Hanover, and had a charming family, all of them gone and left few descendants, all except Rose.

Robert Coleman, the third Coleman child, became a practicing physician in Richmond, greatly honored and beloved. He died in 1884, leaving two children, Burbage and Josephine. Burbage died of tuberculosis of the brain, after his wedding invitations had been sent out. Josephine married Mr. Walker and died leaving a son, Robert Coleman Walker, who is a successful lawyer in Philadelphia.

After the war all of the family came back to Chantilly. Col. Lewis Coleman's widow, with their three children; she sold Hanover Academy, and then went back to Markham, Fauquier County, where her own brothers and sisters were living. Col. Broun and his wife, Sallie Fleming, also were there with three children. From there he went to the University of Georgia and began his career as a college professor, which he ended at Auburn, Ala., in 1902. His wife, than whom there was no lovelier woman, died at Auburn in 1883. George and Vivian were there, Malcolm was at Lynchburg, Dr. Fleming's two married sisters were there, Mrs. Robert Coleman was there with her one son, Burbage, and Mrs. Matilda Minor Coleman was there, the grandmother of them all, the joy and inspiration of all who knew her, lived there and died in 1873.

"Sis Tilly," Mrs. Edwin Morris, with her flock of little ones, was at Clazemont, and Mrs. Mary Eliza was at Edgehill.

The plantation was run down, the servants were free, but many of them clung to their cabins and their old "Massa" and "Misses." Some of them got swell positions with first class city people in the north. They were all well trained. Priscilla Mickens, the "Mammy" of all the Fleming children, was settled for life at "the mill". Dr. Fleming owned several plantations, and one of them was on Little River. Priscilla was also the "Mammy" of my Annie.

When Dr. Broun left the University of Georgia for the Vanderbilt, Mrs. Broun invited three Georgia girls to visit her at Chantilly. Miss Ellen Mell, Miss Bessie Rutherford and myself. There I met my future husband, Mr. Vivian Minor Fleming. Chantilly was a marvelous old house, with a marvelous capacity for guests. The "schoolhouse" was in the yard and took care of the overflow from the house. One night 27 people slept, suppered and breakfasted there and one day there were 40 people there for dinner. Fruit, melons, vegetables, chickens, eggs and milk abounded. There was a wonderful family cook, and servants galore. There were fifteen bedsteads and pallets for the children. There were three bedsteads in the big room in which five of us stayed. The yard was lovely, with a locust tree, grass and benches and a summer house. Flower garden on the right hand, and further back on the left hand, dairy, milk house, meal house, salt house and little and big meat houses. Large garden back of the house, with 27 acres of orchards in the front. Such peaches and apples, watermelons and cantaloupes, with a big ice house full of ice put up on the plantation. I married December 19, 1876, and lived there for five years and was very, very happy. I moved to Fredericksburg in 1881. Father, Dr. George Fleming, died in 1883. His son, Dr. George Fleming, who had married Nannie Ambler, sold Chantilly in 1905, just one hundred years from the time it was bought - one hundred years of wholesome, happy, simple cultured family life.
___________________________________________________

Historical activist, author "Historic Periods of Fredericksburg" (1921), "A Leaf From the Past". Wife of historian Vivian Minor Fleming; mother of Annie Fleming Smith.
A native of Georgia, she moved to Fredericksburg, Va. in 1880. Taking an active interest in local Fredericksburg history, she helped in preserving many of Fredericksburg's historic attractions including the Mary Washington Monument, the Mary Washington House, Rising Sun Tavern, James Monroe Museum and Hugh Mercer Apothecary Shop.
In 1922 she formed the Washington-Lewis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and later the independent Kenmore Association to help raise money to purchase Kenmore (18th-century home of George Washington's sister, Betty, and her husband, Col. Fielding Lewis) and save it from sale and likely destruction.
I know this is a lot to decipher but I would so appreciate your input. The Malcolm Nassau Fleming was my grandfather and our summer home was Chantilly".

Dee Thompson, Atlanta

This is an interesting discussion. Thank you for the family details.

So, the key here is the existence of a Chantilly Plantation.

Inspiration for this name was inspired by the first owner of Chantilly Plantation who visited France ?

if this is true, then where in France ?

Is there a place in France named Chantilly also ?

I gotta do a Google search today on "Chantilly, France" to see if anything shows.

Oh, any old pictures. sketches, etc on the archives or family album or library anyone has to share ?

Cafe Twin

It may be worth noting for the pure history buffs that the Lee mansion known as Chantilly was part of the original estate of John Hallowes Sr., which upon his death and a protracted legal battle spanning the Atlantic, became the property of the son of his elder brother back in England. The English Hallowes sold the estate to Thomas Lee who incorporated it into the Stratford estate. The site of Chantilly is very near the site of the Hallowes manor, both of which have been excavated by Virginia archaeologists. Thanks for including this in your historical accounts.

Tricia Petitt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have seen some postings about Chantilly and why
> the airport wasn't named after "chantilly lace"
> the song. Well - chantilly lace has nothing to do
> with the naming of the town or the airport.
> Chantilly Plantation was built on the same land as
> Leeton (which still stands - I live there - which
> was built by my Turberville & Lee family in the
> early 1700's). Cornelia Lee Turberville - sister
> of my 3rd great grandfather, was born at Leeton.
> When she grew up and married her cousin, Charles
> Calvert Stuart, she was given a portion of Leeton
> Plantation and they built a home which they called
> "Chantilly" after her grandfather's plantation in
> Westmoreland Co., VA - Richard Henry Lee - Signer
> of Declaration of Independence. Richard Henry Lee
> was my 5th great-grandfather. Chantilly plantation
> burned down some years after Civil War but the
> town kept the name. The airport was originally
> called Chantilly Airport but when President
> Eisenhower's Chief of CIA died from throat cancer
> - her renamed the airport "Dulles". There was an
> out cry from the community siting the fact that
> people would confuse Dallas and Dulles but the
> name stuck! Hence the current name of our airport.
> Hope this helps clear up any confusion. I own my
> family's historic home here in Chantilly,
> inherited all of the old family records and
> published several books on the subject. Cheers,
> Tricia