John Jamieson (1851-1926)

He was at Dundee in Scotland. When a just a young teenager, he fought with the Union Army as a Drummer Boy and for a time camped out at the Berkeley Plantation. After the war, he and his brother, Walter, became successful lumber and coal merchants at Far Rockaway, New York. Looking for a place to expand his shipbuilding enterprise, her remembered the old plantation in Virginia. In 1907, he paid $28,000 for the ruined house and its 1,400-acres. For the remainder of their lives, he and wife dedicated themselves to bringing Berkeley back to its former splendor.