The tale of Conway and Fortescue Whittle only gets better once they come to America and establish a shipping business out of Norfolk. They did well until Thomas Jefferson closed down the shipping due to the Barbary Pirates. The Whittles sent out one last run of ships to the Indies which were, alas, seized by the fricking French, bankrupting the Whittles. Not to worry. Fortescue had his eye on Mary Davies, the only daughter of Col. William Davies, an original member of the Sons of Liberty, valiant patriot and chief of staff to George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. Fortescue married Mary and fathered a prominent family in Mecklenburg County. Their gristmill -Whittle's Mill - was just added to the National Register of Historical Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior. There is a very good book written about the Whittle's in Virginia. Whittle's Mill: An American History.
