Calmes of Stafford County, Virginia and Woodford County, Kentuccky

The son of Guillaume William de Calmes "Seigneur de Barbeiran" and his wife Francoise de St. Cernin. Marquis Guillaume De Calmes was born in 1675 in Trebs Dioc de Carcassone Languedoc France. While the family was titled, Marquis was probably not a rank. The family was Huguenot, and Marquis fled with his parents from France to England in about 1685 to avoid the religious persecution in France, as the Edict of Nantes, promulgated in 1598 by Henry IV, was revoked by Louis XIV in 1685. King James II granted Marquis De Calmes English citizenship on 5 January 1687. He was a member of Huguenot Church on Threadneedle St., London in 1687 and 1688, and while in England, he married Isabella Elliche. Marquis De Calmes and his wife Isabella arrived in along the James River; but were later granted 711 acres on the North Run of Acquia Creek in Stafford County on 11 May 1706. He was granted another 744 acres on the South Run of Acquia creek adjoining his other acreage on 01 Sep 1709. He died prior to 1741 (although this cannot be confirmed due to the destruction of records during the Civil War), and his wife died in 1742.

Marquis Calmes II, son of Marquis Calmes, was born in Stafford County, Virginia in 1705. He was educated in France, returned to Virginia about 1723, and lived for a while in Williamsburg. He was married to Winnifred Waller in 1725 and in 1734 they left Stafford County to settle in the Shenandoah Valley, in the part of Frederick County that eventually became Clarke County. In 1747, Marquis Calmes secured one of the Minor Grants for Land West of the Great Mountains, which Lord Fairfax confirmed by a deed when he took up his abode at Greenway Court. That tract was Calmes Neck. When Frederick County was organized in 1743, Marquis II was appointed one of the original twelve justices, serving until 1753. He was a church warden of Frederick Parish in 1746 and several succeeding years; Captain in the militia against the Indians and attained the rank of Major in the Virginia Militia during the French and Indian War. Marquis II and Winnifred lived on the "Vineyard Plantation" (the main house of which is on Route 621, across the river south from the Calmes Neck recreation area, now owned by Charles Burwell). A 1747 deed shows the Calmes house situated across the river west of Calmes Neck. In 1741 he purchased 108 acres in Stafford County. He and others were granted 60,000 acres on the Monongahela River in what is now West Virginia. In addition, Marquis II owned a lot in Winchester when it was laid out in 1753, as did George Washington. On at least one occasion, Marquis II employed Washington to conduct a survey. Marquis Calmes II, served as a Major in the Virginia Colonial Militia along side a young 21 year old Major George Washington. Major Marquis Calmes died in 1755 as the main French and Indian War of 1755-1763 began and he was buried on the Vineyard Plantation next to his wife. A century later, the tombstone of Winnifred was removed to Old Chapel Cemetery, but that of Marquis was beyond repair, not moved, and lost to history. The marker of his wife is the oldest marker at the old stone chapel near Millwood, Virginia. This chapel is marked as the oldest Episcopal Church west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The old chapel is located across the street from the old Burwell-Morgan Mill that was co-owned and run by Revolutionary War Heroes Colonel Nathaniel Burwell and General Daniel Morgan.

General Marquis Calmes was born in Woodford County, Kentucky in 1745, and was a native of Shenandoah Coounty. His homestead was known as "the Vineyard" in (now) Clark County, Virginia. General Calmes was one of eight children of William Waller Calmes and Lucy Neville, daughter of Captain George Neville of Lancaster County, Virginia and grandson of Major Marquis Calmes, immigrant, one of the first settlers to Frederick County, Virginia. General Calmes served as a captainn of the Virginia Continental Line during the Revolutionary War. He was a pioneer to Clark and Woodford Counties in Kentucky and a founder of Versailles, Kentucky. Served as justice and representative of Woodford County in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1795; was brigadier general of the 1st Kentucky Brigade of Riflemen in the War of 1812. His home was known as "Caneland" in Woodford County. General Calmes was married to Priscilla Hale and by her had nine children.