Please note that the below announcement is a place holder for the August 2024 lecture that occurred on August 18, 2024, after it was rescheduled for unforeseen circumstances. It is posted now after a website outage.
Next in the Lovettsville Historical Society’s 2024 Lecture Series:
“The Tenants Revolt: The Revolution Comes to Loudoun”
Presented by Anne Marie Chirieleison and Edward Spannaus
Sunday, August 11, at 2:00 p.m.
St. James United Church of Christ,
10 East Broad Way, Lovettsville VA
On Sunday, August 11, two Loudoun County public historians will report on their research into the tenants’ revolt against the feudal land system in Loudoun County during the American Revolution – from 1775, up through, and after, the end of the Revolutionary War.
Our presenters will be:
Anne Marie Chirieleison, the Executive Director of the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum, will be discussing “General” James Cleveland and the Loudoun tenant revolt. She will delve into the economic hardships faced by tenant farmers in Loudoun County, and the complex ideas of freedom that emerged from their struggle. In the winter of 1775, tenant farmers, burdened by high rents, unfair taxation, and trade disruptions stemming from the non-exportation and non-importation agreements, rallied under Cleveland’s leadership to resist their landlords and advocate for their rights. This revolt highlights the tensions and contradictions in the revolutionary ideals of liberty and equality.
Edward Spannaus, Vice-President of the Lovettsville Historical Society, will talk about some of the issues raised by his research into the Tankerville landholdings during the Revolution. The aristocratic British Tankerville family owned the eastern part of the German Settlement prior to and during the Revolution. Their land agents undertook an aggressive drive to collect rents and taxes from the settlers on their lands at the end of the Revolutionary War – which triggered lawsuits and countersuits in the Loudoun courts, in which the tenants complained of the land agents’ abusive practices.
Both of these case studies shed light on the relations between the common people and wealthy landowners in the Revolutionary period, and how they changed during this time. Indeed, freeing the people from feudalistic British land practices took longer than did the war which freed the American colonies from British rule.
The August 11 program will not be live-streamed, but a video recording of the event will be posted on the Lovettsville Historical Society website.
Admission is free, but donations are welcome to defray expenses of the program and to support the activities of the Lovettsville Historical Society.
For more information, visit www.LovettsvilleHistoricalSociety.org or email events@lovettsvillehistoricalsociety.org.
About our speakers:
As the Executive Director of the Loudoun Heritage Farm Museum, Anne Marie Chirieleison has spearheaded numerous initiatives that emphasize community engagement, diversity, and the preservation of Loudoun County’s rich agricultural history. Her efforts include the newest exhibition on Loudoun’s Virginia Indian history through “Loudoun’s First Farmers: Food Ways and Land Use Along the Potomac.” Anne Marie holds a Certificate in Museum Management from the Virginia Association of Museums and a Bachelor of Arts in History from James Madison University. She is also a Certified Tourism Ambassador in Loudoun County and an active member of several professional organizations dedicated to the preservation and promotion of local history, including the Loudoun250 Committee.
Edward Spannaus edits the monthly newsletter of the Lovettsville Historical Society and has written numerous articles on the history of Lovettsville and the German Settlement, including most recently, a six-part series on the Earls of Tankerville and their Loudoun landholdings. Ed is also engaged in extensive research on Revolutionary War Patriots buried at New Jerusalem Lutheran Church and is Past President of the Sons of the American Revolution chapter in Frederick, Maryland. He has been a Trustee of Lovettsville Union Cemetery since 2007, and he served on the Loudoun County Heritage Commission in 2018-19.