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Biography of Caroline
(Burgoyne) Campbell Van Slyck Nye
Researched and submitted by
Roy E. Sawyer, Jr.
Caroline Burgoyne was born in England (London) c1828-29, the daughter of Solomon and Margaret Burgoyne. Her 1878 Boston, MA marriage certificate to David B. Nye gives her birth year as 1833.
Her first husband was Alexander Campbell (11 Oct 1819 - 18 Sep 1861), who was a native of Argyllshire, Scotland. He was an engineer during the construction of the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal, dug from 1855 - 1859. Prior to coming to Coinjock, Alexander Campbell was 1st Ass't. Engineer at $3 per day for 314 days on the Erie Canal, New York. (First Division, Embracing the Erie Canal, and the Erie Canal Enlargement from Albany to Little Falls, the Champlain Canal, and the Glen's Falls Feeder - No. 23). Alexander Campbell is buried at the old Asbury Methodist Church at Barco., NC.
While living at Coinjock during the Civil War, Mrs. Campbell operated a drygoods store in the commissary building probably built by the the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal Company, which we remember as the Bray Store and Inn. By 1863, the widow Campbell remarried to George S. Van Slyck, who had also come to Coinjock somehow in association with the canal.
In addition to her first husband, Alexander Campbell, being associated with the Erie Canal, her second husband, George S. Van Slyck, was also associated with the Erie Canal. Found in Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York, "Official Reports of the Canal Commissioners of the State of New York", by the New York State Canal Commissioners:"The following preamble and resolution offered by Mr. Whallon, was adopted:Whereas, the Contracting Board did on the first day of September, A.D., 1854, award the work and enter into contract for constructing and completing sections Nos. 365 and 366; also guard lock and section at Black Rock, for the enlargement of the Erie Canal, with Abraham Van Syck, now deceased; andWhereas George S. Van Slyck has been duly appointed, by the surrogate of Erie county, administrator for the estate of the late Abraham Van Slyck; andWhereas, Also Theodore D. Barton and George C. White, Sureties of the late Abraham Van Slyck, did, on the third instant, bind themselves to continue their liabilities for George S. Van Slyck the same as they were bound for said Abraham Van Slyck when living; therefore,Resolved, That permission be given to the said George S. Van Slyck to prosecute, complete and settle up the work mentioned in said three contracts, viz: sections Nos. 365 and 366, together with guard lock and section at Black Rock, enlargement of the Erie Canal, he signing receipts, &c, 'George S. Van Slyck, administrator of Abraham Van Slyck, deceased'."
George S. Van Slyck wrote his will in Currrituck Co., NC, on 28 Apr 1871, but there was no probate. His will mentioned Wards residing in Buffalo, NY - children of his deceased brother, Abraham Van Slyck, also mentioned was Henry L. Miller of Valatie, Columbia Co., NY, and his beloved wife, Caroline Van Slyck. H. E. Baxter and Wiley Mathias witnessed the will.
From "Some Columbia Co., NY Graveyards" it is learned that both Abraham and George S. Van Slyck are buried on the farm of George Snyder, near Ghent, Columbia Co., NY.Abraham Van Slyck (d. 24 Sep 1856 - 36 yrs 1 mo 29 da - born in 1820)George S. Van Slyck (d. 6 Feb 1875 - 48 yrs 8 mos 15 da - born in 1826)
Alexander Crosby Brown in his "JUNIPER WATERWAY - A History of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal", published for the Mariners' Museum, Newport News, Va, and the Norfolk County Historical Society, Chesapeake, Va, by the University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1981, tells us that by 2 Dec 1856, two miles of canal had been dug in Virginia by the time of the first annual report of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal Company. The Carolina Cut portion of the project included dredging Currituck Sound from the mouth of the North Landing River, digging the canal at Coinjock, and dredging the mouth of North River off from Jarvisburg and Powells Point and off from Camden Point.In 1863, shortly after becoming Mrs. George S. Van Slyck, Mrs. Caroline Van Slyck experienced a brush with Union authorities during the Civil War. At "An Enterprising Lady" - Civil War Forums, is found the following letter:"Letter to Lt. Col. Jas. A. Hardie, War Dept., Wash., D.C.Ft. Monroe, 21 Nov 1863Last Sun. night on Roanoke Is., Maj, Gen. Butler rec'd info. that $9000 goods, principally dry goods - purchased by Englishwoman named Van Shlack, with intention of selling them to the enemy. Were lying at the point on the Albemarle & Chesapeake Canal, having been stopped by a picket of our cavalry for want of a proper pass. Woman, English by birth, long time resident of NY, has for nearly 2 yrs. past been engaged under the name of Campbell, in a contraband trade with the rebels, and has amassed a fortune estimated from $100,000 to $250,000. Of a prepossessing appearance and possessed of remarkable adroitness, she has managed to secure all necessary facilities in the way of passes and transportation orders to prosecute her illegal traffic. I do not feel willing at this time to mention the names of General and other officers whom popular rumor fixes the responsibility for her extraordinary immunities. On bringing the facts of the case to the notice of Gen. Butler, he promptly decided to arrest the woman, seize her goods, and have her tried by Court Martial.H. S. OlcottSpecial Commissioner of the War Dept."(Gen. Butler was Maj. Gen Benjamin Butler, who was an ancestor of George Plimpton)One of the comments to this post said that she was imprisoned at Ft. Monroe for over a year.
Here is a slightly different version of the story from "Blood and War at my Doorstep", by Brenda Chambers McKean . . ."Carolina Campbell, a.k.a. Mrs. George Van Slyck, a Unionist from Elizabeth City, was charged for trading with the Southerners near Currituck Sound. Her husband wrote the occupying authorities in 1863 that under orders from General Ben Butler, their money and belongings were confiscated. The couple was sent to jail for nine days, then released and told it was 'all a mistake'. Federal officials said of Mrs. Van Slyck: 'She gave enough intelligence to Union authorities to retain their support, while selling enough goods to Confederate Supporters to guarantee their good will and protection'. Upon release, they asked that their money and possessions be returned. It was not. Mrs. Campbell operated a dry goods store. Her husband took the case to the Judge Advocate General Holt. Van Slyck testified the store was sixty miles from the enemy lines and that it was impossible for his wife to trade with the enemy. Witnesses at the trial, perhaps 'Secessionist guerillas', had it in for his wife who was rumored to be of Union sentiment. The witnesses had said that Mrs. Campbell would pass along information to Federal Forces in the area. Another witness, U.S. Major J. L. Stackpole, told the Court that Campbell's store was very close to the Federal lines and that she traded with both sides. The case was dismissed, and her money and belongings supposedly returned."
"Confederate Heroines: 120 Southern Women Convicted by Union Military Justice", by Thomas Power Lowry, LSU Press, 2006 - pp. 143-45, has information about Caroline Campbell Van Slyck (I have not read this yet)
Somehow during all of this, Caroline B. Campbell Van Slyck, found her way to Poplar Branch where she operated an inn and tavern in the old Daniel Lindsey mansion (which stood until 1972). Elizabeth Bray Lindsey sold the Lindsey mansion and plantation in 1859 to William Crocker, a Methodist Episcopal minister, from Norfolk, for $8,000. Crocker is believed to be of the Crocker family in Portsmouth who owned steamboats around Norfolk, and he may have been involved with shipping produce from Poplar Branch Landing.
It is unclear exactly when Caroline B. Campbell Van Slyck actually began operating the inn herself. We know that she was still around Coinjock until the end of 1863. In the mid-1850's, Valentine Hicks (Hick's Bay) began his annual winter pilgrimages to Poplar Branch to shoot ducks . On 8 Jun 1857, Valentine Hicks, Stephen Tabor, Samuel T. Tabor, Stephen H. Townsend, John T. Irving, Archibald T. Finn, Richard S. Emmet, Benjamin H. Lillie, George H. Fox, Elias Wade, Jr., Dwight Townsend, William J. Emmet, Edwin Post, George S. Gelston, and William H. Furman, met in the law offices of Philo T. Ruggles, in New York, and formed the Currituck Shooting Club. Members initially purchased approx. 1,900 acres on Currituck Beach and marshes from Abraham Baum. Members stayed at the inn when they came to Poplar Branch until their first clubhouse was completed in 1859.
Nathaniel Holmes Bishop mentioned the excellent accommodations at the Van Slyck Inn in his book about paddling a kayack - "Voyage of the Paper Canoe: A Geographical Journey of 2,500 miles from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, During the Years 1874-5" (Eldritch Press, reprinted The Narrative Press, 1 Jun 2001)
In Jan, 1877, the Russian Imperial frigate, "Svetlana" entered Hampton Roads and docked at Norfolk. On board were the Grand Duke Alexei alexandrovich, Grand Duke Konstantine konstantinovich, Prince Stcherbaton, and a delegation of Russian naval officers, on an official 'carte-de'visite' to the United States. Norfolk was abuzz over the imperial visitors, and a 7-course meal was presented them at the Hygeia Hotel at Old Point Comfort. Max Strakosch, the renowned opera manager, brought Lillian Adelaide Neilson down from New York to perform for the royal visitors in a performance at the Church Street Opera House. George Holbert Tucker, who wrote for "The Virginian Pilot", uncovered that the Russian visitors 'relieved themselves' in some dowagers' flower pots in Norfolk, so they were quickly shuffled down to Poplar Branch to shoot ducks at the Van Slyck Inn. William Henry Walker was their hunting guide, and they offered him a position at one of their hunting lodges in Russia. It was probably quite wise to decline on his part, so that he didn't have to live thru the Bolshevik takeover and the murder of many of the Romanovs. After Rutherford B. Hayes was inaugurated in March of 1877, the Russians went by train to Washington, and the President and Mrs. Hayes entertained them at a White House reception, which was the only time during the Hayes administration that wine was served. (Maud Stick, David Stick's mother, was the granddau. of Rutherford B. & Lucy Hayes). Grand Duke Alexei died in Paris in 1908, and Grand Duke Konstantine died at Pavlovsk in 1915, both before the Revolution. Alexei never officially married, and his illegitimate son was murdered by the Soviets around 1932. Konstantine had a sister, Olga, who was Queen of The Hellenes - her grandson, Phillip, is married to the present Queen Elizabeth II. Konstantine's last surviving child, Princess Vera, died in New York City in 2001. She was the last Romanov child of a grand duke born in Imperial Russia. Konstantine had a son, Ioann (John) (murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918), whose daughter, Princess Catherine, died in 2007 in Montevideo, Uruguay, and she was the last Romanov dynast born in Russia. Her grandson is Sebastian Arcellus, a New York actor, who has toured with The Jersey Boys.
On 16 May 1878, Mrs. Caroline B. Campbell Van Slyck married David B. Nye, at the residence of J. C. Curtis, in Boston, Ma., by Rev. James Freeman. David B. Nye was a mariner, and he had previously been married to Hannah Bloomer (d. 12 Apr 1876, Boston, Ma). David B. and Hannah B. Nye had 3 children: Emma M. Nye (b. 1855; m. John T. Hopkins 22 Feb 1877); Stowell Tilton Nye (25 Aug 1861 - 14 Jul 1926), who married Evelina Jayne Winslow (23 Oct 1867 - 30 Mar 1914); and Walter David Nye (4 Apr 1876 - 2 Oct 1945), who married Daisy Hoge (19 Dec 1878 - 19 Feb 1956). He was only 8 days old when he lost his mother. Apparently the Nyes left Poplar Branch and moved to Norfolk by the mid 1880's. Mrs. Caroline B. Nye died in Norfolk on 2 Jun 1890, and she is buried in Elmwood Cemetery along with Stowell T. Nye and Walter D. Nye. David B. Nye (1830 - 1898) remarried and, he is buried in the Seaside Cemetery, Chatham, Barnstable Co., Ma. Both Stowell T. and Walter D. Nye are found in Norfolk City directories as commission merchants/produce dealers. Also the "Industrial and Shippers Guide" by the Norfolk and Western Railway Company lists under produce dealers: S. T. Nye & Company, and Walter D. Nye. When the 1880 census was taken, the Nyes - David, Caroline, Stowell, and Walter, were living at Poplar Branch, and David Nye's occupation was listed as farmer.In 1925, Samuel Russell of Middletown Connecticut, published with Pelton & King his "History and Notes Relating to the Currituck Shooting Club. He described Mrs. Van Slyck as being "a young Englishwoman of ruddy complexion and sanguine temperament". The club suspended hunting during the Civil War, and Mr. Russell said that club members stayed at the Van Slyck Inn while the old clubhouse was made ready for members after the hostilities had ceased.In 1881, a promoter, E. Everett Pray, began accumulating a great tract of land in Atlantic and Poplar Branch townships in NC. Most tracts from Kitty Hawk to Coinjock were included. On 18 Jul 1881, Pray organized The Kitty Hawk Bay Sportsman's Club, and he boasted in brochures circulated in New York City that the club property controlled 240,000 acres of land and 170 miles of waterfront! In Sep, 1881, the name was changed to Kitty Hawk Club. In the autumn of 1881, a number of club members visited the area, then known as Van Slyke's Landing and occupied a house owned by H. H. Halstead - apparently the Nyes had moved out of the house by that time and were already in Norfolk. In 1882, arrangements were made for the club to occupy the Van Slyke house near the landing until their clubhouse was completed in 1884. Disputes over club owned lands continued until about 1905, because E. Everett Pray had paid for only a small portion of the property he claimed to control - he was voted out of the club in 1883 for non payment of dues. The only property owned with a clear title was the Narrows Island property at Poplar Branch. In Dec, 1882, the club's name was changed to "Narrows Island Club". Negotiations began about this time to purchase the Nye property, and the deal came to fruition later. The purchase of the Nye property called for assessments of $500 on each share of stock in the club. Narrows Island Club developed into a highly prestigious hunting club, second only to the Currituck Shooting Club - the two clubs merged in 1940 under the Currituck Shooting Club. Among the famous members of Narrows Island Club were David Dows, Jr., and William Rockefeller (head of Standard Oil of New Jersey, brother of John D. Rockefeller - 3 of his sons married 3 of the daughters of James Stillman, member at the Currituck Shooting Club, and controlling shareholder at First National City Bank, now CITIGROUP). (Source for this paragraph: 1923 Membership Book, Narrows Island Club)Wilfred "Buck" Yeans in his "THE PAPERS OF THOMAS JORDAN JARVIS, Vol. I", State Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, NC, 1969, includes correspondence between Gov. Jarvis and Caroline Nye regarding the practice of dredging material from the sound's bottom to create islands of marsh, building dikes around them, then applying for land grants from the state for these islands of marsh.Here is what is amazing about this one household - there were 3 West Point graduates! David Nye graduated in 1937; Robert H. Mattox, Jr. (Presidential appointment from FDR - became a colonel, d. 1999) graduated in June 1943; and Walter S. Mattox graduated in 1946. The son-in-law, Robert H. Mattox, was a lieutenant in the US Navy. When we remember about Mrs. Caroline Campbell Van Slyck and her trouble with Gen. Ben Butler - maybe this was Karma! Joking aside, this was an accomplishment to be proud of.
A look at the 1930 census gives insight into the family of Caroline B. Nye's stepson, Walter D. Nye and his family. They were then living in Ghent in Norfolk on Colonial Ave.
Walter D. Nye Head M 54 Mass. Daisy W. Nye Wife F 51 VA David Nye Son M 16 VA Robert H. Mattox Son-In-Law M 39 GA Bessie E. Mattox Dau F 30 VA Robert H. Mattox, Jr. Gr. Son M 10 VA Walter S. Mattox Gr, Son M 6 Philippine Is. Caroline Burgoyne Campbell Van Slyck Nye was an extraordinary lady in Currituck County's history. It is my wish that someone who sees this will be interested in doing further research into her fascinating life. Please feel free to share with anyone who you believe might be interested or might perform further research.
Roy E. Sawyer, Jr.229 Foster Forbes RdPowells Point, NC 27966
