USA > Virginia > Albemarle County > Albemarle County > Albemarle County in Virginia; giving some account of what it was by nature, of what it was made by man, and of some of the men who made it > Part 1
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ALBEMARLE COUNTY
IN VIRGINIA
Giving some account of what it was by nature, of what it was made by man, and of some of the men who made it.
By Rev. Edgar Woods
1.00
BARY
"It is a solemn and touching reflection, perpetually recurring, of the weakness and insignificance of man, that while his generations pass away into oblivion, with all their toils and ambitions, nature holds on her unvarying course, and pours out her streams and renews her forests with undecaying activity, regardless of the fate of her proud and perishable Sovereign."-Jeffrey.
OF NEW YORK FFIC LIEE ARY 226390
A
Copyright 1901 by Edgar Woods.
THE MICHIE COMPANY, Printers, Charlottesville, Va. 1901.
PREFACE.
An examination of the records of the county for some in - formation, awakened curiosity in regard to its early settle - ment, and gradually led to a more extensive search. The fruits of this labor, it was thought, might be worthy of notice, and productive of pleasure, on a wider scale.
There is a strong desire in most men to know who were their forefathers, whence they came, where they lived, and how they were occupied during their earthly sojourn. This desire is natural, apart from the requirements of business, or the promptings of vanity. The same inquisitiveness is felt in regard to places. Who first entered the farms that checker the surrounding landscape, cut down the forests that once covered it, and built the habitations scattered over its bosom? With the young, who are absorbed in the engagements of the present and the hopes of the future, this feeling may not act with much energy ; but as they advance in life, their thoughts turn back with growing persistency to the past, and they begin to start questions which perhaps there is no means of answering. How many there are who long to ascertain the name of some ancestor, or some family connection, but the only person in whose breast the coveted knowledge was lodged, has gone beyond the reach of all inquiry. How many interesting facts of personal or domestic concern could have been communicated by a parent or grandparent, but their story not being told at the opportune season, they have gone down irrecoverably in the gulf of oblivion.
Public affairs are abundant y recorded. Not only are they set forth in the countless journals of the day, but scores of ready pens are waiting to embody them in more permanent form in histories of our own times. Private events-those connected with individuals and families-are less frequently committed to writing. They may descend by tradition through one or two generations, and then perish forever
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PREFACE
from the memory of mankind. Some general facts may be found in local records; but memorials of this kind are dry and monotonous in their nature, and never resorted to by ordinary readers. Their contents are soon lost sight of except by the antiquarian, or by those who are compelled by professional duty to unearth them from the forgotten past.
Such considerations induced the collection of the facts compiled in this volume. They were taken mainly from the county archives ; in cases where they were derived from tradi- tion, or where suggestions were made from conjecture, it is generally so stated. Except in a few particulars, the narra- tive was not designed to extend to the present generation.
Some matters that may be of interest to many, may be found in the appendix. To some now living in the county, and to others descended from those who once lived in it, the long list of names therein inscribed may show in some meas- ure how their ancestors were employed, whither their wander- ings led, or at what time they passed away from the present scene of action.
July 1st, 1900.
CHAPTER I.
The settlement of Virginia was a slow and gradual pro- cess. Plantations were for the most part opened on the water courses, extending along the banks of the James, and on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. It was more than a century after the landing at Jamestown before white men made the passage of the Blue Ridge. As soon as that event was noised abroad, it was speedily fol- lowed up, and in the space of the next twenty years the tide of population had touched the interior portions of the colony, one stream pushing westward from the sea coast, and another rolling up the Shenandoah Valley from the wilds of Pennsylvania.
Besides the restless spirit animating the first settlers, the occupation of the country was hastened by the rage for spec- ulation. The laws of the colony allotted fifty acres for every person transported into its territory ; and men of wealth, in addition to availing themselves of this provision, largely invested their means in the purchase of land. While the wilderness was thus peopled, the institutions of civil government did not linger far behind. As growing numbers reached the frontiers, and were removed a great distance from the seats of justice and trade, these necessities of civilized life were soon established. One by one, the older counties were cut in two, the limits of the new ones stretch - ing westward as far as the limits of the colony itself. Those recently formed were at first represented by public buildings made of logs, and by the scattered clearings and cabins of the pioneers ; but men of knowledge and experience were always at hand to hold the reins of government and admin- ister the laws. At once the courthouse was erected, and the power of the magistrate exerted to preserve peace and order in the community.
The county of Goochland was formed in 1727, a little more than ten years after Gov. Spotswood's expedition to the Blue Ridge. The first settlements within the present
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
bounds of Albemarle were made while they were still parts of that county and Hanover. They ascended the courses of the South Anna, the James, the Rivanna and the Hard - ware, and were met by others proceeding from the foot of the Blue Ridge, and planted by immigrants who had come up the Valley, and crossed that mountain at Woods' Gap.
The first patents were taken out on June 16, 1727. On that day George Hoomes obtained a grant of thirty-one hundred acres "on the far side of the mountains called Ches- nut, and said to be on the line between Hanover and Spot - sylvania," and Nicholas Meriwether a grant of thirteen thousand seven hundred and sixty-two acres "at the first ledge of mountains called Chesnut," and said to be on the same line. That was the first appropriation of the virgin soil of Albemarle, as it is at present. These locations occurred in the line of the South Anna River, up which the increasing population had been slowly creeping for a number of years. The patent to Nicholas Meriwether included the present seat of Castle Hill, and the boundaries of the Grant, as it was termed by way of eminence, were marks of great notoriety to surveyors, and others interested in the descrip- tion of adjacent lands, for a long period afterwards.
The next patent for twenty-six hundred acres was obtained nearly two years later by Dr. George Nicholas. This land was situated on James River, and included the present village of Warren. In the year following, 1730, five additional patents were issued : one to Allen Howard for four hundred acres on James River, on both sides of the Rockfish at its mouth; one to Thomas Carr for twenty-eight hundred acres on the Rivanna at the junction of its forks, and up along the north fork; one to Charles Hudson for two thousand acres on both sides of the Hardware, the beginning evidently of the Hudson plantations below Carter's Bridge; one to Secretary John Carter for nine thousand three hundred and fifty acres "on the Great Mountain on Hardware in the fork of the James," and to this day called Carter's Mountain ; and one to Francis Eppes, the grandfather of Mr. Jefferson's son-in-law of the same name, for six thousand four hundred
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
acres "on the branches of the Hardware, Rockfish, and other branches of the James"-one of the branches of Hard- ware being still known as Eppes Creek. The same year Nicholas Meriwether located four thousand one hundred and ninety acres more, adjoining his former tract, and running over the South West Mountain on Turkey Run, taking out an inclusive patent for seventeen thousand nine hundred and fifty-two acres in one body. From the recital of this patent, it appears that Christopher Clark was associated in the first grant, although it was made out to Nicholas Meriwether alone.
In 1731 only three patents were obtained within the present - county : one by Charles Lewis for twelve hundred acres on both sides of the Rivanna, at the mouth of Buck Island Creek; one by Charles Hudson for five hundred and forty acres on the west side of Carter's Mountain; and one by Major Thomas Carr for two thousand acres "on the back side of the Chesnut Mountains." Several other patents were taken out the same year along the Rivanna within the present limits of Fluvanna County, one of which was by Martin King, whose name is still kept in remembrance in connection with the road which runs from Woodridge to the Union Mills, where was a ford also called by his name.
In 1732 were made eight grants, still confined to the James River, and the western base of the South West Mountain. One of these was made to Thomas Goolsby for twelve hun - dred acres "on the north side of the Fluvanna," that is, the James; another in the same region to Edward Scott for five hundred and fifty acres "at a place called Totier;" another for four hundred acres to John Key, the head of a family which subsequently owned all the land between the South West Mountain and the river from Edgemont to the bend below the Free Bridge; and another to Dr. Arthur Hopkins for four hundred acres "on the south side of the Rivanna, running to the mouth of a creek below Red Bank Falls, called Lewis' Creek." This last entry included the site of the future town of Milton.
Only four patents were taken out in 1733. None of them
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
reached further west than the west bank of the Rivanna under the shadow of the South West Mountain. One was obtained by Charles Lynch for eight hundred acres, which extended up the Rivanna from the mouth of Moore's Creek, and included the plantation of Pen Park.
In 1734 thirteen grants were made. These were mainly located near the bases of the South West Mountain on the Rivanna and Mechunk. One was obtained by Henry Wood, the first clerk of Goochland, and great grandfather of V. W. Southall, for two hundred acres on the south side of the Rivanna at the mouth of Buck Island Creek, increased subse- quently to nearly three thousand in different tracts ; and another by Edwin Hickman, Joseph Smith, Thomas Graves and Jonathan Clark for three thousand two hundred and sev- enty-seven acres on the north side of the Rivanna, running down from Captain MacMurdo's place and embracing the estates of Pantops and Lego. Another formed a notable exception to what had hitherto been the rule. It was the first to leave the streams, and strike out towards the middle of the county. It was obtained by Joel Terrell and David Lewis for twenty -three hundred acres, and shortly after for seven hundred more, lying on both sides of the Three Notched Road and extending from Lewis's Mountain, which it in- cluded, to a point near the D. S. The Birdwood plantation was comprehended in this tract.
From this time the county was settled with greater rapid- ity. Most of the entries thus far noted were made in large quantities, and by wealthy men for the purpose of specula- tion. Few of those who have been mentioned occupied their lands, at least in the first instance. They made the clearings and entered upon the cultivation which the law required in order to perfect their titles, but it was done either by tenants, or by their own servants, whom they established in "quar - ters." Now, however, a new order of things began. Grants were more frequently obtained in smaller amounts by persons who left the older districts with the design of permanently residing in the new country. Accordingly in 1735 the num- ber of patents rose to twenty-nine. Not that this number
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
was constantly maintained ; in some years, on the contrary, it greatly diminished. The population of the colony was yet comparatively sparse. The whole Piedmont region, and the fertile plains of the Valley were simultaneously opened, and held out strong inducements to settlers; and at the same time, inviting sections in the western portions of North and South Carolina were presented in glowing colors before tlie public eye, and soon drew largely on the multitudes given to change. Still the county steadily filled up. Patents were taken out this year on Green Creek in its southern part, on the south fork of Hardware near the Cove, on the south fork of the Rivanna, on Meadow Creek, on Ivy Creek, and on Priddy's and Buck Mountain Creeks in the north. Among the patentees were John Henry, father of the famous orator, to whom were granted twelve hundred and fifty acres situated on tributaries of the south fork of the Rivanna called Henry, Naked and Fishing Creeks, the same land afterwards owned by the Michies southwest of Earlysville; William Randolph, who was granted twenty-four hundred acres on the north side of the Rivanna and Mountain Falls Creek, including the present Shadwell and Edge Hill; Nicholas Meriwether, who was granted a thousand and twenty acres west of the Rivanna, embracing the plantation known as the Farm ; Peter Jefferson, who was granted a thousand acres on the south side of the Rivanna, including Tufton; Abraham Lewis, who was granted eight hundred acres on the east side of Lewis's Mountain, then called Piney Mountain, including the present lands of the University ; Thomas Moorman, who was granted six hundred and fifty acres, extending from the branches of Meadow Creek to the south fork of the Rivanna, "including the Indian Grave low grounds ;" Michael Hol - land, who was granted four thousand seven hundred and fifty-three acres on both sides of Ivy Creek, including the pr sent Farmington estate; and Charles Hudson, who was granted two thousand acres on Ivy Creek adjoining the Holland tract, and lying southwest of Ivy Depot.
In 1736 Robert Lewis obtained a patent for four thousand and thirty acres on the north fork of Hardware in the North Garden.
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
Nineteen patents were taken out in 1737. Michael Woods, his son Archibald, and his son-in-law, William Wallace, secured grants for more than thirteen hundred acres on Lickinghole, Mechum's River and Beaver Creek, embracing the present M chum's Depot and Blair Park. The same day Michael Wo is purchased the two thousand acre patent of Charles Hudson on Ivy Creek. These transactions took place at Goochland C. H., or more likely at Williamsburg ; and this fact lends probability to the tradition that the Woods settlement occurred at the mouth of Woods's Gap in 1734. Crossing from the Valley into an unbroken forest, as Michael Woods did, it is almost certain that he made a clearing and built a cabin, and thus established his right to the estate the law gave, before he set himself to acquire a knowledge of the surrounding country and its owners, and to make large pur- chases. The axe had commenced to resound amidst the deep solitudes at the foot of the Blue Ridge, while yet no white settler had gone beyond the Rivanna at the South West Mountain. The same year, 1737, Henry Terrell, of Caroline, obtained a grant of seventeen hundred and fifty acres on the head waters of Mechums, including the present village of Batesville. As a suggestion of special interest, it may be mentioned that in October of that year a William Taylor patented twelve hundred acres lying on both sides of Moore's Creek. It can scarcely be questioned, that this was the tract of land which in process of time passed into the hands of Colonel Richard Randolph, which was sold by him to the county, and on which was laid out in 1762 the new county seat of Charlottesville.
It was not until 1739 that the first patent was located on Moorman's River. David Mills was by that instrument of writing granted twenty eight-hundred and fifty acres on its north fork. Two years later Dennis Doyle obtained the grant of eight hundred acres on the same stream, and from him was derived the name it has borne ever since. The same year, 1741, Thomas Moorman patented seven hundred and fifty acres lower down the main river, and as often as men now speak of it, they perpetuate the memory of his name.
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
All sections of the county had at that time been occupied in soine degree, and the work of laying claim to its unappropri- ated lands constantly progressed from year to year. As late however as 1796, Matthew Gambell procured the grant of twenty five thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight acres lying in Albemarle, Orange and Rockingham Counties near Seamond's Gap; and still later in 1798, John Davidson, who subsequently removed to Hardin County, Ky., took out a patent for eighteen hundred and seventy-seven acres on Buck's Elbow.
Reference has been made to the entry of bodies of land extending over a wide area. It may be further stated, that Major Thomas Carr patented altogether upwards of five thousand acres; George Webb, of Charles City, in 1737 upwards of seven thousand, near a mountain north of Ear- lysville still called by his name; Secretary John Carter in 1738, ten thousand within the present limits of Amherst; John Chiswell in 1739, nearly thirty thousand on Rockfish River, mainly within the present bounds of Nelson; William Robertson in 1739, more than six thousand on Naked and Buck Mountain Creeks; Robert Lewis in 1740, more than six thousand on Ivy Creek; Ambrose Joshua Smith in 1741, more than four thousand on Priddy's Creek; Samuel Garlick, of Caroline, in 1741 and 1746, thirty-six hundred on Buck Mountain Creek; Rev. Robert Rose in 1744, more than thirty- three thousand within the present counties of Amherst and Nelson; Rev. William Stith, President of William and Mary, from 1740 to 1755, nearly three thousand, and Dr. Arthur Hopkins in 1748 and 1765, nearly four thousand, on Totier and Ballenger's Creeks; and Allen Howard in 1742, more than two thousand on the lower waters of Rock- fish.
Mr. Jefferson, in a brief sketch of his family, wrote of his father, "He was the third or fourth settler, about the year 17 37, of the part of the county in which I live."
The act establishing the county of Albemarle was passed by the Legislature in September, 1744. It ordained its existence to begin from the first of January, 1745; and the
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
reason alleged for its formation was the "divers inconven- iences attending the upper inhabitants of Goochland by rea - son of their great distance from the courthouse, and other places usually appointed for public meetings." The dividing lines were directed to run from the point of fork of James River-that is, from the mouth of the Rivanna, where Col - umbia now stands-north thirty degrees east to the Louisa line, and from the same point a direct course to Brook's Mill, and thence the same course continued to the Appomat- tox River. These boundaries embraced the county of Buck- ingham, parts of Appomattox and Campbell, and the counties of Amherst, Nelson and Fluvanna, the Blue Ridge being the western line. That portion of the present county north of a line running past the mouth of Ivy Creek with the course of north sixty -five degrees west, remained in Louisa for sixteen years longer.
In accordance with a custom already begun of commemo- rating the governors of the Commonwealth, the name of Albemarle was given to the new county, from the title of William Anne Keppel, second Earl of Albemarle, at that time Governor General of the colony.
The organization took place the fourth Thursday of Feb- ruary, 1745, doubtless on the plantation of Mrs. Scott, near the present Scottsville, where the next court was directed to be held. The commission of the first magistrates was dated the second of the preceding January. Those present were Joshua Fry, Peter Jefferson, Allen Howard, William Cabell, Joseph Thompson and Thomas Ballou. Howard and Cabell administered the oaths to Fry and Jefferson, and they in turn to the others. The oaths taken were those of a Justice of the Peace, and of a Judge of a Court of Chancery, and the Abjuration and Test oaths were subscribed,-the former renouncing allegiance to the House of Stuart, and the latter affirming the receiving of the sacrament according to the rites of the Church of England. William Randolph was appointed Clerk by a commission from Thomas Nelson, Secretary of the Council, and Joseph Thompson, Sheriff, Joshua Fry, Surveyor, and Edmund Gray, King's Attorney,
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
by commissions from William Gooch, the Governor ; and all were sworn in. Patrick Napier and Castleton Harper were made Deputy Sheriffs, and Benjamin Harris, Deputy Clerk, the following May. As appears from the Deed Books, John Fleming was also Deputy Clerk. Thomas Turpin was appointed Assistant Surveyor, and John Hunter, Adrian Angle, John Hilton, John Harris, Robert White and Abra - ham Childress, Constables. The civil offices being filled, the military side of the organization was duly constituted. Joshua Fry received the appointment of Lieutenant of the county, Peter Jefferson of Lieutenant Colonel, and Allen Howard of Major. William Cabell, Joseph Thompson, Charles Lynch, Thomas Ballou, David Lewis, James Daniel, James Nevel, and James Martin were sworn as Captains. Charles Lynch, Edwin Hickman and James Daniel having been named magistrates, were subsequently inducted into office by taking the oaths. Of these officers, Jefferson, Howard, Cabell and Lynch had already been magistrates, and Jefferson had also acted as Sheriff, in Goochland. The William Randolph, who was the first Clerk, was unquestion- ably Colonel William Randolph, of Tuckahoe, who had some years before entered the tract of land known as Edgc Hill.
The original attorneys who practiced in the courts of the county, were Edmund Gray, Gideon Marr, William Bat- tersby-whose daughter Jane, the wife of Giles Allegre, was the mother-in-law of the eminent statesman and financier, Albert Gallatin-James Meredith, Clement Read and John Harvie. All except Harvie, and probably Meredith, resided on the south side of James River.
The routine of public business was at once begun and prosecuted with stated regularity. The location of the court- house was a matter of deep interest. It was a conceded point that it should be fixed on James River. Jefferson, Howard, Lynch and Ballou were appointed to view the river and make a report; and as the result, Samuel Scott, son of Edward, agreed with proper security to erect at his own cost a courthouse, prison, stocks and pillory, as good as those
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
of Goochland, the site to be selected by the Court, provided it was placed on his land. The site actually chosen was on the plantation of his brother Daniel, and is still pointed out about a mile west of Scottsville and a quarter of a mile north of the river bank.
The
During the next three years a number of ordinaries were licensed-Giles Allegre, to keep one on Mechunk ; Daniel Scott and John Lewis each, one at the courthouse; Wil- liam Battersby, opposite the courthouse; John Anthony, in the_Glendower section; James Fenly, Isaac Bates and Gideon Marr, in Buckingham; William Morrison, in the Rockfish Valley ; Charles Bond, on Briery Creek, a branch of the lower Hardware; Joseph Thompson, in the vicinity of Palmyra; Hugh McGarrough, not far from Afton, and John Hays, probably in the same neighborhood; and Wil- liam Cabell, at his ferry at Warminster. Daniel Scott was licensed to establish a ferry from the courthouse landing to the opposite side of the river, and William Battersby, one from his land to the mouth of Totier Creek on Daniel Scott's land.
The roads received much attention. At that time they were not so much to be worked, as to be opened and cleared ; and permission to this end was readily granted under the restriction, that they should not be conducted through any fenced grounds. John Henderson was summoned to show cause why a road should not be cleared through his land from the Three Notched Road to the Hardware River; that is, from near Milton to the vicinity of Mount Air. John Defoe was made Surveyor of the road from Number Twelve to Number Eighteen-numbers used to designate the dis- tance, probably from the courthouse to certain trees, as mention is subsequently made of the road from the late Secretary's Ford to the Twelve Mile Tree. David Lewis was Surveyor of the road over Capt. Charles Lynch's Ford, or Ferry; this was a road which ran from some point 011 the Three Notched Road near the University, over the shallows of the Rivanna, a short distance southeast of the Pen Park mansion, and down the west side of the South
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