Mary W. Ellett lived at White Plains until her death in late 1864 and Dabney, who had remarried, lived near Hopewell Church, on his own property.
In May 1863 Mary W. Ellett’s 22-year-old daughter, Bettie H., sent word to Confederate troops that the Union cavalry was moving toward Tunstall’s Station. Thanks to her timely warning, four companies of the 46th Virginia Regiment were sent by train to intercept the Union cavalry, and the attack upon the railroad was averted.
A remarkably detailed account of the estate sale held after Temple and Mary W. Ellett’s deaths reveals how their home was furnished in February 1865. It also tells us that the Ellett family’s crops and livestock had escaped wartime intrusions, probably because their domestic complex was off the beaten track.
In 1873
Lucy Ann Ellett Dabney’s three surviving children sold the White Plains dwelling and 125 acres to the children of blacksmith
John C. Winn and his wife, Ann Elizabeth, who were Native Americans and formerly lived in western New Kent County near Black Creek.
Mrs. Winn, upon being widowed, retained possession of White Plains until her death in the early-to-mid 1880s. She and her sons farmed the land, and her daughters supplemented the family income by working as seamstresses. Upon division of the Winn estate, White Plains passed through a series of owners, including
Christopher H. White and his wife Susan Virginia, who sold the property in 1938.
Between 1957 and 1958
Dallas H. and
Eugenia E. Smith, who then owned White Plains, enlarged the dwelling by adding an architecturally appropriate wing.
Today, White Plains and its 52 acres are owned by the Honorable and Mrs.
Christopher K. Peace.
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