Ellen Jett McCormick and Eight of Her Grandchildren

Ellen Jett McCormick, age 65, summer 1898, southeast corner of the Long Porch at Clermont, with eight of her eventual eleven grandchildren.

The story of Clermont is a story of continuity and persistence. Of farming the land, of families, individuals, and buildings, rather than the story of one big battle or one big person. We see the continuity in this photo, taken over 125 years ago, in the life spans of the individuals pictured, beginning with Ellen Jett McCormick’s birth in 1833 and her granddaughter Edith Jett McCormick’s death in 1997, across 164 years, the same distance in American history as from 1776 until 1940, from the Revolution to WWII. Ellen McCormick was solely in charge of Clermont for the 38 years of her widowhood within that 164 years, longer by far than any other owner.

The Identities of these Grandchildren of Ellen and Edward McCormick, and their Futures

1. Ellen McCormick is holding her granddaughter Nancy Goodwin Williams, the fourth child of her daughter Anne McCormick (1862-1935) and Goodwin Hulings Williams (1853-1944), who was born July 11, 1898. Nancy’s birth date provides the date of the photo, and possibly, given the baby’s dress, also the occasion, her christening. Given the presence of all of Ellen Jett McCormick’s grandchildren at that time, the event could also have been a celebration of Ellen’s 65th birthday, September 27, 1898, or a combination. Nancy Williams married Tom Lewis Peyton (1897-1976) and had two children, Tom Lewis Peyton Jr. (born 1923, a nationally-known civil engineer), and Anne Goodwin Peyton Cooper (born in 1928). Nancy Goodwin Williams died in 1996 and is buried with her husband in Green Hill Cemetery, Berryville.

2. The little boy to Ellen McCormick’s right is three-year-old Lynde Dupuy McCormick (1895-1956), the oldest child of her son Rear Admiral (and physician) A. M. D. McCormick (1866-1932) and his wife Edith Lynde Abbot (1862-1931). Lynde went to the Naval Academy, served in submarines in the 20’s and 30’s, commanded battleships in WWII, and was Pacific Fleet War Plans Officer (a logistics planner like his Confederate major grandfather, Edward McCormick). He was Vice Chief of Naval Operations, then became a four-star admiral and was Commander in Chief of the US Atlantic Fleet, followed by his appointment as the first Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic for NATO (1952-54). This was said to be the largest naval command given to one individual since Columbus was appointed Admiral of the Ocean Seas in the 15th century. His final tour of duty was as President of the US Naval War College in Providence, RI, where he died in 1956. His three sons all served as Navy officers in WWII, of whom one was killed and another severely wounded. He and his wife are buried at the Naval Academy.

3. The girl behind Ellen McCormick is her granddaughter Elvira Jett “Vidie” McCormick (holding a baby), daughter of Ellen’s son Dawson McCormick (1860-1905) and Margretta Moss Brown (1860-1922). This Elvira Jett McCormick was born August 27, 1884, and was fourteen at the time of the photo. This Elvira is not to be confused with her aunt, Ellen’s daughter Elvira Jett McCormick Moore,1858-1881, whose son Edward Moore this Elvira is standing next to in the photo. This Elvira married Robert Wainwright in 1907, and they lived in Norfolk, Virginia. They had an infant daughter in 1908, Annie, who died, and a son, Robert McCormick Wainwright (1910-1974). Her husband having died in 1915, Elvira McCormick Wainwright became a social worker to support her family and died in 1956. She is buried with her husband and children in Elmwood Cemetery, Norfolk

4. Given the presence in the photo of three-year-old Lynde McCormick, it is probable that the baby Elvira Jett McCormick is holding is Lynde’s one-year-old sister Edith Jett McCormick, second child of Ellen’s son Admiral A.M.D. McCormick, born a year earlier on May 31, 1897. Edith married Lt. John Beardall, USN, who rose through the ranks, becoming Naval Aide to President Roosevelt 1941-42, and Superintendent of the Naval Academy during WWII, retiring after the war. Edith inherited Clermont on her father’s death in 1932, along with her brother Lynde and her sisters Cora and Ellen. She and her husband, Rear Admiral Beardall, retired to Clermont in 1946, remodeling it for year-round occupancy for the first time since the death of Edith’s grandfather, Edward McCormick, in 1870. They had three children (Edith, John Jr., and Geoffrey). They moved to Florida in 1958, selling Clermont to her first cousin Edward McCormick Williams, his wife Caroline Rust Williams, and their 13-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Rust Williams. Jack Beardall died in 1967, and Edith died in 1997 at 100. Both are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

5. The tallest boy in the back and center of the photo behind his grandmother is Edward McCormick Moore, born April 12, 1881, the son of Ellen’s daughter Elvira Jett McCormick (1858-1881) and Samuel Scollay Moore (1853-1935). He is seventeen in this photo. His mother died two months after his birth. Edward Moore grew up in Clarke County and married Lillian Eva Vandenburg. He was an executive with the National Biscuit Co. and died in 1949 in New York City. He’s buried with family in Grace Episcopal churchyard, Berryville.

6. The next boy to Edward Moore’s left is Lloyd William Williams, born June 5, 1887, older brother of Ellen Lane Williams (Ashe) and the baby Nancy Goodwin Williams (Peyton). He is eleven in the photo. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1907 and accepted an officer’s commission in the Marines in 1910, where he served in various interventions in Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Guam. In 1917, Capt. Williams shipped out to France, commanding the 51st Company of the 5th Marine Regiment. It was at Belleau Wood on June 3, 1918, that he uttered the words subsequently engraved on the Marine Corps Museum. When ordered by a French officer to retreat as Williams moved his company up to hold the Allied line, Williams said, “Retreat Hell! We just got here!”  Eight days later, on June 11, 1918, Williams was killed there, leading his Company, which the Marines later took. He and his wife, Selena Ravenel Williams (1888-1973), are buried at Green Hill Cemetery, Berryville. Lloyd and Selena had one daughter and three grandchildren.

7. The boy farthest right in the photo is Thomas Nottingham Williams, born Nov. 25, 1888, who was the younger brother of Lloyd William Williams and the older brother of the two Williams girls. He is nine in the photo. He married Alice Israel and had two sons, Thomas Nottingham Williams Jr. (1921-1979, with one son and descendants, and Arthur Carlyle Williams (1926-2006, with a son Arthur. He died in 1966, and he and his wife are buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC.

8. The young girl sitting with her grandmother, Ellen Lane Jett McCormick’s left, is Ellen Lane Jett Williams, the third child of Anne McCormick and Gordon Huling Williams (1853-1944). Ellen Williams was born on October 28, 1890, and was almost eight when the picture was taken. In 1916, she married George Bamford Ashe (1891-1971), a career naval officer of 39 years who, like the husband of his wife’s first cousin (Rear Admiral Jack Beardall), retired as a Rear Admiral in 1946, also to Berryville, where he died in 1971. She died in 1972, and both are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. They had no children.