USA > Virginia > Highland County > Highland County > A history of Highland County, Virginia > Part 14
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The ledger of John Bird shows that for a term beginning December 3d, 1855, and ending March 6th, 1856, his tuition fees amounted to $52.92, not all being paid until nearly three years later. One patron gave his bond for $4.28, while an- other paid with a half bushel of onions. In 1857, Margaret P. Jones received $15.65 as the tuition for her twelve indigent pupils, the rate per day for each being five cents. To get this source of income the teacher had to make oath before a justice, an order then being given on the superintendent of schools. The teacher's account specified the name of parent or guardian, the date of entrance, the branches studied, and the textbooks
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used. The mark (1) meant "attentive"; (2) meant "progress- ing well," and (3) meant "indicating superior genius."
Among the "old field" schoolhouses were the Kincaid, five miles above Williamsville on the Cowpasture; another south of Doe Hill near J. B. Wilson's; those on Back Creek at An- thony Wade's and J. O. Wade's; and another at Pisgah.
Among the earlier teachers were James McNulty, William C. Holcomb, Jacob Bird, David H. Bird, James Slaven, William Lowery, Mitchell Meadows, William S. Thompson, John Brad- shaw, Patrick Maloy, Joel Hidy, John A. Hidy, William Life, James Ervine, George Dameron, and S. C. Lindsay.
Some teaching was done by Presbyterian and Methodist ministers. Thus the Rev. Mr. Blaine, Presbyterian pastor at Williamsville, gave secondary instruction in that vicinity about 1837. The Rev. W. T. Price also taught here. About 1852 the wife of the Rev. Henry Brown, a lady from Massachusetts, was teaching a select class of girls in the Crabbottom.
Another effort in the direction of better schooling was the Highland Academy at Monterey, authorized in 1850, with a capital stock of not over $15,000. The trustees named in the Act of Assembly were W. W. Fleming, Adam Stephenson, Jr., Dr. G. N. Kinney, W. C. Jones, and Jacob Hiner. The Doe Hill Academy, established about 1872 by W. R. McNeer, com- prised a two-storied schoolroom and a boarding hall. Its doors were open a number of years and it educated many young people. Like the high school next to be named, its impress is yet in evidence in its own locality. Still another and much later effort was an academy under Presbyterian auspices near Hightown. After doing good work for several years, the build- ing was closed. At the present time the high schools of Mont- erey and Crabbottom afford broader local facilities than the youth of Highland have hitherto been afforded.
Three of the veteran pedagogues of Highland have retired from service under the provisions of the law for pensioning teachers.
Not a few of the young men and women of the county have gone without to secure a collegiate or academic training.
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Washington and Lee University, since 1796 the nearest colle- giate institution, has been much in favor.
The following is believed to be nearly a full list of resi- dents or natives of Highland who have taken college or pro- fessional degrees. Where known the style of the degree is also given. Names with a star are not natives of Highland.
H. H. Bird, LLB.
Andrew L. Jones, A. B., LLB.
A. M. Bird, M. D.
Martha V. Jones, A. B.
Adam M. Byrd, M. D.
William Life, -.
H. Houston Byrd, LLB.
Henry Life, M. D.
Clifton E. Byrd, -.
George M. Life, -.
Miller V. Bishop, A. B.
J. McGuinn*, M. D.
M. S. Campbell, M. D.
C. S. McNulty, A. B., M. D.
John M. Colaw, A. M.
William McNulty, B. S.
Owen D. Colaw, B. S.
Jesse Maloy, M. D.
John M. Cunningham*, M. D.
H. M. Patterson*, M. D.
J. R. S. Sterrett, Ph. D.
J. Adam Fleisher, M. D. H- S. Fleisher, M. D.
Robert Sterrett, A. B.
Robert H. Fleming, D. D.
John W. Stephenson, LLB.
Charles B. Fox, M. D.
Boyd Stephenson, LLB.
James B. Stephenson, LLB.
M. Ernest Hansel, A. B. George F. Hull, M. D.
F- S. Suddarth, M. D.
T- R. Jones, A. M. Harrison H. Jones, M. D.
J. M. Seig, A. B. Joseph Snyder, B. L.
A- C. Jones, M. D.
William R. Siron, M. D.
M- P. Jones, M. D.
Charles L. Siron, A. B.
Thomas M. Jones, Ph. D.
Kenton H. Trimble, M. D.
Harry C. Jones, B. S.
A. S. Vaiden*, M. D.
Charles P. Jones, LLD.
Edward B. Jones, A. B., LLB.
I. Roy Wagoner, M. D.
Toward the middle of the last century, the "literary" meet- ing in the schoolhouse during winter evenings, was a useful adjunct to the schoolroom in stimulating to further effort and especially in affording some practice in debate. A weekly jour- nal in manuscript was a frequent feature. One of these, of which copies are yet preserved, was the "Old Whig," which flourished about 1840 at the head of Jackson's River.
In addition to the attorneys named in the list of graduates, Lucius H. Stephenson has practiced at the local bar.
Among the attorneys from without who have practiced in
R. B. Stephenson, LLB.
E. J. Jones*, M. D.
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Highland and in some cases resided here are these, given in the order of their mention in the county records :
Sylvanus A. Byrd.
David Fultz.
William Frazier.
John B. Watts.
Reuben D. Hill.
Thomas J. Michie. ¿
Henry H. Masters.
John D. Imboden ..
Jacob Shaver.
Warwick Stewart.
William Skeen.
James Skinner.
William H. Terrill.
John D. Brooks.
John C. Woodson.
Adam C. Snyder.
Alexander S. Norment.
D. M. Auvil.
David J. Woodfin.
David H. Lilly.
John B. Moomau.
George A. Blakemore.
Thomas A. Bradford.
Charles E. Haas.
Alexander H. H. Stuart.
For many years the physicians who practiced in the county were non-resident. The first to live here was Dr. Kenny, who married a Sitlington. Under him studied William C. Jones, who was at first a carpenter. Later physicians, given in about the order of their beginning to practice, are these :
Henry M. Patterson. - Bird.
William R. Syron.
Isaac T. Trimble.
Jeremiah S. Arbogast.
Kenton H. Trimble.
Harrison H. Jones.
Morgan Campbell.
- Mackey.
E. J. Jones.
- McKean.
Charles B. Fox.
Leroy L. Quidore.
Charles P. Rexrode.
J. R. Cook.
A. S. Vaiden.
In the field of authorship, John M. Colaw has been for eight years associate editor of the American Mathematical Monthly, and is a frequent contributor to other mathematical journals. He is the author of a series of mathematical textbooks well known throughout the South and largely used. The series includes arithmetics, algebras, geometry, and teachers' man- uals. Reuben A. S. Wade, now of California, has written one or two volumes of verse.
Professor J. R. S. Sterrett has done very important work in the field of authorship. It includes several archæologic monographs, editions of Homer's Iliad, the article on Myth- ology in Johnson's Cyclopedia, articles on Asia Minor in the
7
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History of Highland County
Standard Bible Dictionary, and numerous contributions to Harper's Magazine, the Century, and other well-known peri- odicals.
The "Highland Recorder," the only newspaper this county has ever possessed, was established at the county seat in 1877 by Witz and Jordan. The firm came here from Franklin, West Virginia, with the presses and type of their defunct "Pendle- ton News." After passing through nine changes of ownership, it is now in the hands of H. B. Wood. The circulation is 1,200. The office is well equipped and has a power press.
Until the rise of the Whig party in the 30's, Highland was Democratic. During the thirty years prior to the great war, the new party had a very strong following. The reconstruc- tion period had the effect of bringing the great mass of the Southern whites into the Democratic party. Accordingly there were few Republicans in Highland prior to the Readjuster movement of 1880. The subsidence of the Readjuster party as a distinct organization left a large share of its followers west of the Blue Ridge in the Republican ranks. Since then the two great political parties have been rather evenly represented in Highland, although in local elections Democratic candidates are more frequently chosen.
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History of Highland County
CHAPTER XVI
TOWNS, VILLAGES, AND HAMLETS
McDowell - Monterey - Crabbottom - New Hampden - Doe Hill - Bolar
W ITH 4,000 people when Highland was organized in 1848, the only center which might be termed a village was the little place of McDowell; more properly a hamlet than a vil- lage. For that period this fact was nothing unusual. In our time a new county in the West, having the same population, is nearly sure to contain a town of at least a thousand people provided with electric lights and the other usual adjuncts of our modern civilization. Such is the difference between the America of to-day and the America of yesterday.
Natural conditions foreshadowed the village which grew up on the Bullpasture. A gorge on the left bank of the river affords an easy ascent to the top of the Bullpasture plateau. Crab Run, meeting the river at right angles, provides a still more easy approach to the Straight Creek Valley. At the intersection of the two streams is a large area of bottom land and low table, wholly on the right side of the larger stream. In 1832, the place was known as Sugar Tree Grove. It then contained a Presbyterian church, a store, a schoolhouse, a saw- mill, a blacksmith shop, and a few dwellings. By 1860 it con- tained several more houses, especially the brick residences of Felix K. and George W. Hull. The schoolhouse was still a log building. The stage came every other day. The tavern had little custom, except from people passing through the county. Some years earlier it had received its present name in honor of one of the Virginian governors.
The battle fought on the ridge above in 1862 gave it a name abroad but nothing more substantial. Yet while the census of 1910 registered a six per cent. decrease in the popula- tion of Highland, it showed a slight increase in that of Mc- Dowell. The place has now two churches, a schoolhouse of
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three rooms, three stores, a hotel, a blacksmith shop, two sad- dler shops, and twenty-six families. Two rising industries are the large, modern flouring mill at the iron bridge, and the tan- nery which is taking form just below.
In the spring of 1848 the site of Monterey was an opening in the woods and laurel thickets on the saddle between the two Straight Creeks. Here was a solitary dwelling on the pike which followed the crown of the saddle. Yet so far back as 1774, Samuel Black appears to have had a cabin in the near vicinity, and a portion of his patent is now included within the corporate boundary. The site of Black's cabin is unknown.
The decision to put the county seat here was enough to in- sure the early appearance of a village. The log house owned by James Bell and occupied by John Cook became a temporary courthouse and also the first tavern. The turnpike, sixty feet broad and also quite straight, became High Street. The town site as laid off by Bell covered thirteen acres, including the public lot of three acres. The house lots were made 721/2 by 200 feet.
Samuel Ruckman, one of the justices, proposed the name Highland, and it was at first adopted, yet almost at once gave place to that of the Mexican city where General Taylor had just won a victory. The meaning of the Spanish term Mont- erey is the same as that of the French term Montreal-Kingly, or Royal, Mountain.
When the war came on, thirteen years later, Monterey was a village of about one dozen houses, mostly log. One of the very oldest of these, standing a little above the Bishop store, was recently torn down. The Methodists had built a little church on the lot occupied by their present building. On the rise of ground just east of the present cemetery stood the brick academy, afterward succeeded by an adobe structure just north of J. A. Whitelaw's.
The half century since the outset of the war, but far more especially the last two decades have witnessed the clearing away of the woods in the hollow between the bordering moun- tains, and the steady evolution of the place itself into one of the handsomest small towns of the state. In descending the
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slope of Jack Mountain one catches a glimpse of a seemingly compact village of red-roofed and white-walled houses of sub- stantial size embowered in rows of handsome shade trees. The original courthouse, now inclosed by an iron fence and flanked on one side by a new jail, is still in use and suffices ordinary needs. But the log houses of an earlier day have either been leveled, or their walls have been covered with weatherboard- ing. The town has a large proportion of very modern and handsome residences.
The stores, shops, and offices of Monterey are in number and variety about what might be expected in a town of its size. The Methodist church was rebuilt about 1875 by the two wings of Episcopal Methodism. The Church South bought out the interest of the older body, and afterward built the pres- ent fine structure. The Presbyterians have, during the writing of this book, completed a new and handsome edifice of their own. The high school is a modern building provided with an auditorium. The Masonic Temple is an imposing brick struc- ture near the center of the town. Of the two hotels the Mont- erey House is a commodious three-storied building, its size being significant of the attractive summer climate. Consider- able local wealth is represented in Monterey, and the financial interests of the county and town are cared for by two banks.
The situation of the county seat on a saddle extending a mile from one mountain ridge to another and parting the waters in opposite directions, is very sightly. Thus the town is at once on a hilltop and in a valley. In the north is a hand- some vista, embracing the valley of Straight Creek, but reach- ing well into Pendleton, and disclosing at the left the Devil's Backbone on the farther side of the Crabbottom Gap. In the south the view is dominated by Sounding Knob, rising 1,300 feet above the town, which itself is 3,100 feet above sea level.
It is interesting to reflect on the changes which would have resulted, had the turnpike followed the Campbell survey al- ready mentioned. Three mountain ridges would have been avoided, and to the greater ease of travel. Sugar Tree Bottom would have had to compete with a village at the mouth of Davis Run, and the county seat would have grown up at the
THE TOWN OF MONTEREY Looking west. The turnpike is seen entering the town
l'hoted by A. C. Suddarth
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History of Highland County
lower entrance of Vanderpool Gap. The situation on Jackson's River would have given the town more industrial advantage, though proving somewhat less sightly and picturesque. The steam flouring mill of Monterey would here be represented by a water mill.
Ten miles nearly north of Monterey, and just above the upper entrance to the Crabbottom Gap is the village of Crab- bottom, called into being by the well-peopled and wealthy basin beyond and the tributary region below. Here are three general stores, a water mill, two churches, a high school, sev- eral shops, and about twenty families. Crabbottom was a long while known as Hull's Store, and was but a mere hamlet until after the war.
A mile up the Crabbottom Valley we reach the somewhat newer village of New Hampden, a place half as large as the lower village, and also possessing a mill, a hotel, and a resi- dent physician, but with one church and one store. New Hampden was laid out about 1858 by Dr. Life and others and has a regular appearance, in contrast with the village which grows up by chance along a crooked road.
Doe Hill, eight miles above McDowell, is at the confluence of the three brooks which form the Bullpasture River. It takes its name from the foothill ridge near by, on which many does could in former times often be seen. Oliver McCoy shot nine deer one morning before breakfast and within sight of his house. Doe Hill is an old place, having possessed a church and a store earlier than 1835. It once had a mill and a tannery. Its academy, which, unfortunately, had a rather short career, was on the border of the little village, a place with church and two-roomed school, two stores, hotel, and about a dozen families.
Bolar lies in the narrow Bolar Gap, and is partly in Bath, the county line approximating the course of the highway run- ning through the gorge. The name comes from Colonel John Bollar of Bath, whose wife inherited the land from her father, William Wilson. The place is no more than a hamlet, there being only seven families, although two or three stores and several boarding houses are found here. The chief interest of
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History of Highland County
the locality lies in its mineral springs, the largest and best known of which is at the county line on the land of Adam G. McGuffin. Here at the base of a steep hillside is a thermal spring with a temperature of 74 degrees and an outflow of 52 barrels a minute. In the basin the waters have a greenish tinge and bubbles of gas are constantly rising. The discharge passes into a bath house and fills to a depth of four feet a tank 24 by 42 feet in dimensions.
This spring does not appear to have had a quantitative an- alysis. It appears to contain arsenic, iodine, chlorine, potas- sium, sodium, and carbonic acid gas, besides, possibly, a few other ingredients. In ailments of the skin and of the internal lining tissues the water has been found to have a very bene- ficial effect. Taken as a beverage it is diuretic and alterative and mildly aperient. At an early day it was found to be a speedy cure for itch and poison oak. Many people have de- rived great benefit in cases of eczema and other cutaneous affections, but in nasal catarrh its repute is even higher.
A mile above another thermal spring was found in 1910 on the land of J. Hamilton Burns. This spring is of less vol- ume, but has a temperature of 79 degrees and appears to be rather stronger in mineral properties than the other, in addi- tion to containing lithia in small amount. The curative effects of this spring appear to be identical with those of the lower.
At the Eakle House is a mildly thermal soda spring, very wholesome as a beverage and beneficial to the digestive organs. Still lower down is a cold spring of sweet chalybeate water, and toward the mouth of Bolar Run are two sulphur springs.
Bolar is frequented in some degree by summer guests, though not as much so as would be the case if it were still better known and more easy of access. The cool, shaded val- ley, swept by a downward draft of air through the gorge, is very comfortable during a heated term.
A
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CHAPTER XVII
LAND OWNERSHIP
Colonial Method of Parceling out Public Lands - The Order of Council - The Crown Patent - List of Early Surveys and Patents - Transfers under Augusta, Pendleton, and Bath.
B Y the letter of the law, the unoccupied lands of colonial Virginia belonged to the king, as a personification of the state. The public domain was parceled out to private indi- viduals in a way very much like the homestead law by which a great part of the West has been settled during the last half- century.
The land-hunter had a tract set off by the county surveyor, this survey being the basis on which a patent was issued after a lapse of one, two, or perhaps more than a dozen years. The patent was signed by the royal governor as the king's proxy. The fees for the survey and patent were small. But the "head right," without which the land-seeker might not lawfully enter a selection, was dependent on his having paid his passage from Europe. The intent of this condition appears to have been the elimination of worthless persons, so that the land might be held by men who would make desirable citizens. Furthermore, the patent required that at least six per cent. of the entry be reduced to tillage within a specified time. The fulfillment of this condition was in favor of the genuine settler and against the land monopolist.
The survey might be transferred, and it was often patented by another person. Oftentimes, the size of the entry seems very small, considering the unlimited appearance of the public domain. But in an age of hand labor, only a small tract could be made use of by a person controlling no labor but his own. The land grabber was in evidence then as now, but the times were less feverish than in the present ones of gilded oppor- tunity.
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It was then thought proper and expedient to grant a large body of land to an individual or a company, who in turn would put settlers upon it within a stated time. So the governor and his senate would issue an Order of Council in favor of one, but usually a number of persons, authorizing the grantee or gran- tees to select perhaps 30,000 acres from the public lands. This would not be taken in a single body but in choice tracts, the cull lands being left on the hands of the state. These choice selections were then sold to actual settlers at what might seem a nominal price, but which must have seemed none too light when money was not plenty and when a little would go a great way. But when, as in the case of the Bullpasture Valley, the surveyors found settlers already on the ground, their selections might at the pleasure of the grantee be confirmed to them without purchase.
The homestead regulations of the colonial and early state governments were generally good. But the advantage of sur- veying a county by a regular system, such as was afterward used in the West, was not observed, and consequently the indi- vidual survey was likely to have some complex and perhaps absurd outlines. The lines run for different persons would often interfere with one another, and the patches of cull land would be left in shapes that would throw into the shade the figures on a crazy quilt. This utter lack of system was, there- fore, a fruitful source of confusion and lawsuits.
At a later day the state was less careful of the rights of the actual settler, and huge areas would be conveyed to an indi- vidual or a company, the same being held indefinitely by ab- sentee owners to the disadvantage of the counties in which they lay. This indefensible monopoly appeared in Highland in the Hollingsworth survey on the west side of the county, and the Chambers survey on the east side.
Before the crown government passed away in 1775, all the more desirable lands in Highland had passed into individual or corporate ownership. Thenceforward, the second-class and the cull lands were gradually absorbed, it being a long while before the entire area had come under private ownership.
The crown patent, under which all lands were conveyed
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by the state prior to American independence, was a cobweb of finely-spun legal verbiage, as will appear from the specimen given below. In fact, it seems to have been the intent of the lawmakers of that age to throw a mystery into the processes of law, and to render them hard of comprehension to the un- informed. Under independence a much simpler method of wording deeds came into use.
The crown grant given below was signed by Francis Fau- quier, and was issued on a survey lying on a "draft of New Found Land Creek" (Bullpasture River). Like all crown deeds of that day it is printed on parchment. The original is fol- lowed without change. Notice the lack of punctuation.
GEORGE the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c. TO ALL TO WHOM these Presents shall come Greeting Know ye that for divers good Causes and Considerations but more especially for and in Consideration of the Sum of Ten Shillings ($1.67) of good and Lawful Money for our Use paid to our Receiver General of our Provinces in this our colony and Dominion of Virginia WE HAVE Given Granted and Confirmed and by these Presents for us our Heirs and Successors Do Give Grant and Confirm unto Hugh Hicklin (here follows a description of the tract of land and its boundaries.)
WITH ALL Woods Under Woods Swamps Marshes Cowgrounds Mead- ows Feedings and his due share of all Veins Mines and Quarries as well dis- covered as not discovered within the Bounds aforesaid and being Part of the said Quantity of one hundred Acres of land and the Rivers Waters and Water Courses therein contained together with the Privileges of Hunting Hawking Fishing Fowling and all other Profits Commodities and Hereditaments what- soever to the same or any Part thereof belonging or in any wise appertaining TO HAVE HOLD Possess and Enjoy the said Tract or Parcel of Land and all other the before granted Premises and every Part thereof with their and every of their appurtenances unto the said Hugh Hicklin Heirs and Assigns forever to the only Use and Behoof of him the said Hugh Hicklin Heirs and assigns forever TO BE HELD of us our Heirs and Successors as of our Manor of East Greenwich in the county of Kent in free and Common Soccage and not in Capite or by Knightly Service YIELDING AND PAYING unto us our Heirs and Successors for every fifty Acres of Land and so proportionably for a less or greater Quantity than fifty Acres the Fee Rent of one Shilling Yearly to be paid upon the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel and also Cultivating and Improving three Acres part of every fifty of the Tract above mentioned within three Years after the Date of these Presents PROVIDED always that if three Years of the said Fee Rent shall at any time be in arrear and unpaid or if the said Hugh Hicklin Heirs or Assigns do not within the space of three
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