Capt. Robert Carter Burwell (1785-1813)
of "Long Branch" Millwood, Clarke County, Virginia
He inherited 1,000-acres in 1798, situated in the northern part of the Shenandoah Valley that had originally been part of a 50,000 tract acquired by Robert's great-great-grandfather, Robert "King" Carter. When he was still a child he moved to present-day Clarke County and soon after reaching maturity in 1811 employed Benjamin Henry Latrobe to build his plantation house at "Long Branch" (so named for the stream along which it was built) that still stands today. Before the house was finished, Captain Burwell left to fight in the War of 1812 and while stationed in Norfolk, Virginia, he contracted typhoid fever and died. Being unmarried, he left "Long Branch" to Philip Nelson with whom he first lived in Clarke County as a child. Nelson's wife, Sarah (Burwell) Nelson, was not Robert's sister as is often repeated: although both their father's were named Nathaniel Burwell they were not one and the same, hence the confusion. Philip Nelson was Robert's first cousin through his mother's family whereas Sarah was a more distant relation being the daughter of his grandfather's first cousin.
