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A HISTORY OF
ORANGE COUNTY VIRGINIA
From its Formation in 1734 (O. S.) to the end of Reconstruction in 1870 ; compiled mainly from Original Records
With a Brief Sketch of the Beginnings of Virginia, a Summary of Local Events to 1907, and a Map
By W. W. SCOTT State Law Librarian, Member of the State Historical Society, and for ten years State Librarian of Virginia
RICHMOND, VA. EVERETT WADDEY CO. 1907
4 1 232
-
DAY Of CORNRESS 7 . 0 pies Received DEC 21 1500
Copyright Entry
Fine 5 197 CLASS A AXC. No.
193617 COPY A.
COPYRIGHT, 1907 BY W. W. SCOTT
To my Father,
GARRETT SCOTT,
Presiding Justice of the County of Orange from the creation of that office until displaced by the proscription that followed the war. He long enjoyed the confidence, esteem and affection of all the people of his native county, and throughout this tract of years,
" Wore the white flower of a blameless life."
Also, in grateful memory of his niece,
ELIZABETH HENSHAW,
of that part of Orange now called Kentucky; to whose generosity, after the war, I owe my education at the University of Virginia.
Historians ought to be precise, faithful, and unprejudiced; and neither interest nor fear, hatred nor affection, should make them swerve from the way of truth, whose mother is history, the rival of time, the depositary of great actions, witness of the past, example to the present, and monitor to the future .- Cervantes.
-- praecipuum munus annalium reor, ne virtutes sileantur, utque pravis dictis factisque ex posteritate et infamia metus sit. --- Tacitus, Annales III. 65.
PREFACE.
I have undertaken to write this book because I thought that the history of Orange was notable enough to deserve preservation.
It is much to be regretted that some competent person did not do this work long ago; for in the lapse of time and the neglect of opportunity many things that ought to have been preserved can not now be narrated with confidence as history, hardly as tradition.
Though much has perished, much remains. I have read with diligence the minute books of the county court from its organization in 1734 down to 1870; and can assert with complete candor that no known resource which I thought might afford information as to the past has been neglected.
Name after name of places and people once locally historic has passed into oblivion and beyond the reach of the investigator. Regret is vain, and can not restore what is lost ; my effort has been to save what is left, and to perpetuate it for posterity.
Fortunately the county records are in excellent preservation, and the order books of the county court contain the history of the county, in the main, so far as it may now be written.
I have been advised by judicious and well meaning friends to omit some of the more shocking details, such as the burning of Eve at the stake, the beheading of Peter, the cutting off of ears, burning in the hands, etc.
I have not been able to take thisview, deeming it but a sorry attempt at writing history to suppress the truth.
Indeed I think these so-called cruel episodes in the state of society then existing redound rather to the
6
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
credit than to the reproach of our ancestors; when sternness in the administration of the law was an essential, not to say a cardinal, virtue.
The sequence of the chapters, though far from being chronological (which is the ideal sequence) is the best I could devise. Facts, far apart in time but relating to the same general subject, have to be grouped in the chapter treating of that subject. Otherwise there could be no orderly narration of them.
I have gone but little into the deed and will books, fearing that there is already too much detail, which, for the benefit of the antiquarian, has generally been put into appendices of which there are so many that I look for the criticism that "the book has appendicitis:" which, however, is the prevailing fashion.
And genealogy has been altogether eschewed.
Grateful acknowledgements are extended to Mr. Charles E. Kemper, of Staunton, himself a historian of excellent fame; to Mr. W. G. Stanard, the well known antiquarian and editor of the Virginia Historical Magazine; and to our courteous and obliging clerk, Mr. C. W. Woolfolk.
I submit the book to the public with the assurance that it is the truth as far as I have been able to ascertain it after diligent seeking; the simple truth, unwarped by fear, favor, or affection.
It has been written with no sordid motive, but I hope a sufficient number of copies may be sold to reimburse the cost of publication, and, perhaps with too much vanity, I look to the appreciation of my friends and of posterity for my main and enduring reward.
W. W. SCOTT.
-
.
EXPLANATIONS.
As sundry archaic terms are unavoidably employed in this work the following definitions are deemed neces- sary.
"Style." The old style prevailed when the county was formed, and until 1752, when the year began March 25th; January, February, and March, up to the 25th, constituting the last three instead of the first three months of the year. The change of 'style' consisted in dating the year from January Ist instead of March 25th; and the addition of the eleven days was a mere incident.
" Tithable." For many years taxes were levied only on persons, not on property, and a tithable, generally speaking, was such a person as was subject to taxation; usually all male persons sixteen years of age, and serv- ants of that age of both sexes.
"Pounds, shillings, etc." The colonial pound was not the pound sterling. The pound was twenty shil- lings, the shilling twelve pence, equivalent to $3.33}, and 16g cents, respectively.
"Gentleman." This term then, as now, was one of great vagueness, but always imparted a certain social or official distinction. The grades appear to have been servants, yeomen, planters, who appear to have been "gentlemen " or not, according to their property and
7
8
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
family connections. To become a justice, sheriff, vestryman, etc., was to acquire the entitlement, at least, of "Gentleman. "
" Prison Bounds." An area, not exceeding ten acres, about the jail where prisoners not committed for treason or felony had liberty, on giving security, to continue therein until discharged: mostly for the benefit of persons imprisoned for debt, the privilege lasting only one year.
" Benefit of Clergy." This was immunity from capital punishment for a first offense, applying at first only to people who could read, but later greatly extended so as to embrace even slaves. Abolished about 1796.
" The Test." In colonial times this oath was that the affiant doth believe that there is not the "real presence" in the elements of the communion of the Lord's Supper.
The chief authorities relied on are the order books of the county court and other county records, Hening's Statutes at Large, manuscript records in the State Library, the Virginia Magazine of History and Biogra- phy, and other publications of the Virginia Historical Society.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Page
The Seating of Virginia. 13
CHAPTER II.
The Genesis of Orange
17
CHAPTER III.
Organization of the County
26
CHAPTER IV.
The Courthouses
33
CHAPTER V.
The Colonial Churches
42
CHAPTER VI.
Other Old Churches-The Dissenters. 46
CHAPTER VII.
Indian Antiquities.
52
CHAPTER VIII.
French and Indian Wars 58
CHAPTER IX.
Orange in the Revolution.
63
CHAPTER X.
Germanna and the First Settlers.
77
CHAPTER XI.
Progress to the Mines
87
9
IO
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY CHAPTER XII.
Page
The Knights of the Horseshoe. 98
CHAPTER XIII.
Physical Features.
I14
CHAPTER XIV.
Social and Economic. J21
CHAPTER XV.
Crimes and Punishments
I33
CHAPTER XVI.
The Orange Humane Society.
38
CHAPTER XVII.
From 1848 to 1861
144
CHAPTER XVIII.
The War Period.
148
CHAPTER XIX.
Reconstruction, 1865 to 1870.
160
CHAPTER XX.
Fiscal and Statistical, 1870 to 1907. I 66
CHAPTER XXI.
Miscellaneous.
J74
CHAPTER XXII.
Biographical Sketches 181
CHAPTER XXIII.
Historic and Other Homes
202
CHAPTER XXIV.
Being a Personal Retrospect . 216
II
CONTENTS
APPENDICES.
Importations.
225
Census, 1782.
230
Will of President Madison.
War of 1812. 2 39
244
War of The Revolution.
247
Commissions, 1734-1783. 258
Roster of the Montpelier Guards During John Brown Raid, 1859 263
Roster of Confederate Soldiers, 1861 to 1865. 264
Members of the Various Conventions. 278
Members of the Colonial House of Burgesses. 279
Index. 281
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Montpelier
Frontispiece
At Burlington. I26
Barboursville
36
Cameron Lodge 88
Church of the Blind Preacher. 46
Clifton
176
Frascati.
I8
Hawfield.
96
Map of Orange County
13
Mayhurst. 160
Montebello
I12
Mount Sharon
56
Pleasant View
I44
Rocklands.
80
Soldier's Rest.
72
Somerset. 64
Tomb of Madison
206 -
Woodley
168
Wood Park
136
Page
History of Orange County
CHAPTER I.
The Seating of Virginia.
A brief sketch of the beginnings of Virginia seems a necessary introduction to a history of Orange. For though this history will be mainly confined to the present narrow limits of the County, it ought to be known to those who may read it that Orange was once a principality in extent, embracing in her limits five prosperous states of the Union, and parts of two others.
All of North America between Florida and Nova Scotia was known as Virginia for a number of years; Queen Elizabeth having been so charmed by Sir Walter Raleigh's sea captains' accounts of the coasts of the Carolinas in 1585 that she named the country Virginia in honor of herself, the "Virgin Queen."
Unfortunately all of Raleigh's attempts to found a colony on these shores failed, and the unknown fate of the one at Roanoke Island, North Carolina, remains a pathetic mystery.
It was not until 1607, in the reign of James I, that a settlement was made in Virginia proper. The charter of 1606 to the "Virginia Company of London " granted
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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
the right to found a colony one hundred miles square anywhere between the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees of north latitude; that is, between the mouths of Cape Fear river in North Carolina and Hudson river in New York; and to the "Virginia Company of Plymouth" a similar right between the thirty-eighth and forty-fifth degrees; that is, between the Potomac river and Nova Scotia. Either company might occupy in the overlapping region, but neither should make a settlement within one hundred miles of the other.
Under this charter Jamestown was founded May 13, 1607, by the Virginia Company of London. A second charter was granted this company in 1609 by the terms of which the boundaries of the colony were extended along the coast two hundred miles, north and south, from Point Comfort, and "up into the land throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest, and also all the islands lying within one hundred miles along the coasts of both seas."
Of course these boundaries were never actually attained. From 'sea to sea' must have meant from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, and the line projected "west and northwest" embraced nearly all of the Great Lakes and the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and a part of Minnesota. To this latter part, known subsequently as the Northwest Territory, Virginia claimed title under the charter. She also acquired title to it later, by conquest of her own soldiers under George Rogers Clark, under orders from Patrick Henry, the then governor, during the Revolutionary War. But to quiet dissension, she ceded
I5
THE SEATING OF VIRGINIA
it to the federal government in 1784, only reserving land therein sufficient to fulfil her promise of land grants to her soldiers in the Revolutionary and Indian wars.
It was probably all of a hundred years from the set- tlement at Jamestown before a white man, unless simply as a hunter or Indian trader, set his foot any- where in Orange. The movement toward the 'fron- tiers' was very slow, and almost exclusively along the main water courses. In Colonel Byrd's famous "West- over Manuscripts" are published the depositions of Francis Thornton and John Taliaferro. Thornton deposed that in 1703 there were but two settlements above his house on the lower side of Snow Creek, which is about fifteen miles below Fredericksburg, the upper- most of which was about four miles below the Falls, that is Falmouth: Taliaferro, that in 1707 there were but three settlements above his house on Snow Creek, on the south side of the Rappahannock.
Indeed the settlement at Jamestown languished till towards 1620, though soon afterwards the Colony began to grow and prosper. In 1622 the population numbered 4,000 persons, and though from 1609 to 1610, after John Smith's return to England, there had been a period known as the "Starving Time" when many people were famishing or barely subsisting on roots, herbs, acorns, berries, walnuts and even on skins and snakes, in 1622 there was great abundance of grain, fruit, and vegetables; wine and silk were made in considerable quantities, sixty thousand pounds of tobacco was grown, and cattle had increased rapidly.
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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
Women were imported and sold to the colonists, and the price of a wife rose from one hundred and twenty to a hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco.
In that year, 1622, occurred the great massacre, incited by Opechancanough, when hundreds of men, women, and children were treacherously slain, and all the cattle were driven off.
It was long before the colony recovered from this blow, and the extension of the frontiers toward the mountains was greatly delayed by it and by the general hostile attitude of the Indians.
CHAPTER II.
The Genesis of Orange.
In 1634, just one hundred years before the formation of Orange, "the country was divided into eight shires which are to be governed as the shires in England. And lieutenants to be appointed the same as in Eng- land, and in a more especial manner to take care of the war against Indians. Sheriffs shall be elected as in England, to have the same powers as there; and ser- geants and bailiffs, where need requires." (I Hen., 224.)
Of these original shires one was named Charles River; so called after the river as named by the colonists in honor of King Charles. The Indian name of the whole river had been Pamaunkee (spelled Pomunkey by Hening) which means, according to Campbell the historian, "where we took a sweat."
It is not known when these political divisions ceased to be called shires and became known as counties, but in 1642-3 the name of the shire Charles River, then called County, was changed to York, and the river below the confluence of the Mattaponi was called York River. The boundaries of these counties were not defined towards the frontiers, and it is assumed that, like Spotsylvania, they extended as far "as might be convenient."
I7
18
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
The genesis here becomes somewhat confused. Lan- caster County is first mentioned by Hening in 1652, when it had two representatives at a session of the House of Burgesses.
It is included because subsequent formations relate back to it and seem to constitute it a link in the line.
New Kent was formed from York in 1654.
Old Rappahannock from Lancaster in 1656, ceasing to be a county name in 1692, when two counties, Richmond and Essex, were formed from it.
And thus Orange, as will be seen later, furnishes the paradox of being alike the daughter and the mother of a Rappahannock County.
King and Queen was formed from New Kent in 1691.
Essex from old Rappahannock in 1692.
King William from King and Queen in 1701.
Spotsylvania from Essex, King William, and King and Queen in 1720; and
Orange from Spotsylvania in 1734.
This is believed to be the genealogy of Orange, direct and collateral. To complete its geography, its dis- memberment and line of descent is here added.
Augusta and Frederick, embracing all the territory of Orange lying north and west of the top of the Blue Ridge, were formed in 1738.
Culpeper, embracing Madison and Rappahannock, was formed from Orange in 1748.
Madison was formed from Culpeper in 1792, and named for James Madison.
Rappahannock was formed from Culpeper in 1833.
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FRASCATI
Page 204
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THE GENESIS OF ORANGE
Greene, named in honor of Gen. Nathaniel Greene, was formed from Orange in 1838, the last dismem- berment.
While it might be interesting, it would be beyond the scope of this book to attempt even an outline history of the many counties named in this genesis. Spotsyl- vania, as the immediate territory from which Orange was formed, must be briefly considered.
In 1720, the seat of government being at Williams- burg, the following Act "for erecting the counties of Spotsylvania and Brunswick" was passed by the "Gen- eral Assembly," for so the law-making power was called even at that early date:
"Preamble, That the frontiers towards the high mountains are exposed to danger from the Indians, and the late settlements of the French to the westward of the said mountains.
Enacted, Spotsylvania County bounds upon Snow Creek up to the Mill, thence by a southwest line to the river North Anna, thence up the said river as far as convenient, and thence by a line to be run over the high mountains to the river on the northwest side thereof, so as to include the northern passage through the said mountains, thence down the said river until it comes against the head of Rappahannock, thence by a line to the head of Rappahan- nock river, and down that river to the mouth of Snow Creek; which tract of land from the first of May, 1721, shall become a county, by the name of Spotsylvania County." 4 Hening, 77.
The County was named for Lieutenant-Governor Spotswood, then acting governor of the Colony.
Without the help of boundaries subsequently estab- lished and maintained to this time, it would be difficult to define the lines laid down in the statute. Inter- preted by these it may be safely affirmed that on the east and south the County was bounded as now; "Snow
20
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
Creek," the line with Caroline County, empties into the Rappahannock ten or fifteen miles below Freder- icksburg: the North Anna is the southern boundary up to the Orange line: "up the North Anna as far as con- venient" is obscure but unimportant, and may be interpreted as meaning all the way to its source. The ultimate source of this river is a spring on the Johnson place, near the top of the Southwest mountains, and but a few feet from the turnpike leading from Gordons- ville to Harrisonburg. Taking this spring, which is not far from the Albemarle line, as the starting point for the "line over the high mountains to the river on the northwest side thereof so as to include the northern passage through the said mountains," we have approx- imately the present lines of Orange and Greene counties with Albemarle to the top of the Blue Ridge. This about forces the conclusion that the "northern passage" means Swift Run Gap, through which this same 'pike crosses the Blue Ridge. At the time the County was formed the only passage across the mountains had been made by Governor Spotswood in 1716, known as the "Expedition of the Knights of the Horseshoe." The "river on the northwest side" of the mountain is our Shenandoah, then called "Sherrando" and "Shen- ando", and by Spotswood "the Euphrates;" down this river until it comes "against the head of Rappahan- nock:" this would bring us about Front Royal, the county seat of Warren; thence by a line to the head of Rappahannock River, say about the corner of Fau- quier, Warren, and Rappahannock, and then down to the beginning, following the line of the sources of the
2I
THE GENESIS OF ORANGE
Rappahannock, and the Rappahannock itself to Snow Creek. These boundaries can be easily traced on any modern map of Virginia.
By the same Act fifteen hundred pounds was appro- priated, to be paid to the Governor, of which five hun- dred for a church, courthouse, prison, pillory and stocks where the governor shall appoint them in Spot- sylvania, he to employ workmen, provide material, etc .: one thousand pounds, of which one-half to Spotsylvania, to be distributed in arms and ammunition among such persons as shall hereafter go to seat the said County ; that is, to each Christian titheable one fire lock musket, one socket, bayonet fitted thereto, one cartouch box, eight pounds bullet, two pounds powder, until the whole one thousand pounds be laid out, the account to be laid before the General Assembly. The arms appro- priated to the defence of the County, and both the real and personal estate of the persons taking them made liable to their forthcoming in good order; and to be stamped with the name of the County, and liable to seizure of any militia officer if found without the bounds. Inhabitants made free of public levies for ten years, and the whole County made one parish by the name of St. George. Because foreign Protestants may not understand English readily, they and their titheables made free for ten years if any such shall entertain a minister of their own. This last clause was for the benefit of the Germans settled at Germanna.
While Orange was yet a part of Spotsylvania, and, indeed, before Spotsylvania itself was formed, thou- sands and thousands of acres of land to the westward,
22
HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY
even as far as to the Mississippi, had been granted to individuals by the Crown, acting mainly through the Governors of the Colony; and titles to much land in Orange of today are traced back to Spotsylvania, King and Queen, and the land office at Richmond. The "Madison Grant," for example, was made while the grantee was still a resident of King and Queen.
ORANGE COUNTY was formed from Spotsylvania in 1734, and was named not from the "color of its soil" as erroneously stated by Howe and others, for there is no soil of orange color in the County ; but for William, Prince of Orange, one of England's most worthy kings. Next to "good Queen Anne" he appears to have been the best beloved by the colonists of all their kings; King William, King and Queen, Williamsburg, and William and Mary College were all named in his honor, two of them in honor of him and his Queen.
In colonial times it was not uncommon for parishes to be formed before the counties which afterwards con- tained them were established. Such was the case with Orange, and the boundaries of the County can only be stated in connection with those of the parish of St. Mark. The Act defining St. Mark is as follows:
{' E Enacted, Whereas many inconveniences attend the parishioners of St. George parish, in the county of Spotsylvania, by reason of the great length thereof, that from January 1, 1730, the said parish be divided into two distinct parishes: From the mouth of the Rapidan to the mouth of Wilderness Run; thence up the said Run to the bridge; and thence southwest to Pamunkey River: the part below the said bounds to be known as St. George Parish, and all that other part which lies above the said bounds be known as St. Mark.
23
THE GENESIS OF ORANGE
The freeholders were required to meet at Ger- manna on that day and there "elect and choose twelve of the most able and discreet persons of their parish to be vestrymen." When Orange was established, just four years later, the dividing line between these parishes was made the boundary line between Orange and Spot- sylvania, so it becomes necessary to determine what that line was. It is manifest that Orange never touched the Pamunkey River as we now know that river, and the conclusion is unavoidable that we must understand some point on the North Anna, which prob- ably, at that time, was called the Pamunkey, because it was the main branch of that stream; which point is the present corner of Spotsylvania with Orange on the North Anna.
The Act establishing the County was passed at the August session, 1734. (4 Hen., 450.) Leaving out unnecessary words it reads :
An Act for dividing Spotsylvania County.
Whereas divers inconveniences attend the upper inhabitants of Spotsylvania County, by reason of their great distance from the Courthouse and other places usually appointed for public meetings : Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-governor, Council and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same; That from and immediately after the first day of January now next ensuing, the said County of Spotsyl- vania be divided by the dividing line between the parish of St. George and the parish of St. Mark; and that that part of the said county which is now the parish of St. George remain and be called and known by the name of Spotsylvania County; and all that territory of land adjoining to and above the said line, bounded southerly by the line of Hanover County, northerly by the grant of the Lord Fairfax, and westerly by the utmost limits of Virginia, be thenceforth erected into one distinct county, to be called and known by the name of the county of Orange.
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