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Peumansend

The name Peumansend Swamp refers to a section of Mill Creek, or to Mill Creek as a whole in some references. The term “swamp” is not used literally. Swamp simply means “branch” of the waterway. The following is from “Colonial Caroline: A History of Caroline County, Virginia” by T. E. Campbell and published in 1954.

p. 15. Robert Taliaferro at a latter date (note: later than 1672) established commercial enterprises on land he patented down stream at the mouth of Peumandsend (Mill Creek).

p. 16. A dubious title to the land and pirates appear to have held up settlement along the Rappahannock rather than the Indians . . .

. . . The only pirate whose name may be identified today was Peuman. If tradition is right the settlers chased him up a branch of Mill Creek and killed him on a small stream which after that time became known as Peumansend . . .

. . . In the fourth grant of Caroline land (the third along the Rappahannock) a stream called Powmandsend (Peumansend) appears in the description. This was a grant on April 15, 1667 to John Meders and Henry Peters which reads “4200 acres on the south side of the river about three miles from the river on the main run of a creek called Powmandsend.”

Old Virginia Map containing the Peumansend (you will have to navigate your way in by zooming on the right spot – see instructions on the page)

Detail of Old Virginia Map showing Peumansend