USA > Virginia > Highland County > Highland County > A history of Highland County, Virginia > Part 5
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B Y knowing what Virginia was when settlement began to creep west of the Blue Ridge, we can much more easily understand the early history of the mountain belt.
At this time-1727-the population of the colony was about 150,000, probably a third being negro slaves, while a very large share of the remaining two-thirds was made up of redemp- torists or their descendants. As far inland as a line drawn through where Alexandria and Richmond now stand, and southward to near the Carolina line, the country was well occupied. Westward toward the Blue Ridge was a light sprinkling of settlement, particularly along the streams.
Yet there was no town worthy of being called such. Wil- liamsburg, the capital, was no more than a straggling village, probably no larger than McDowell. Norfolk was a very small place, and Richmond was yet to be founded. In fact, the ruling element of the Virginia people did not like towns and did not encourage them. At a county seat was little else than the little courthouse and jail, a tavern, or ordinary as it was then called, perhaps two or three dwelling houses, and probably a church.
The white inhabitants were derived entirely from the Brit- ish Isles and nearly all of them were English.
As in England itself the people were grouped into classes. At the top of the social structure were the comparatively few planters, owning most of the land and wealth and consequently controlling the government. Next were the pretenders, or "half-breeds," really equal to the planters in birth and culture,
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yet inferior in influence. They had enterprise and energy but no wealth. They were not regarded by the planters as on a par with themselves, yet by sheer ability often crept into their ranks. Third was the yeoman, a free person, yet very poor and very often illiterate. Fourth were the indentured white servants, living in a form of bondage, usually to the planters. Fifth were the negroes, nearly all of whom were slaves to the same class.
The structure of society being aristocratic in a marked degree, class terms were in constant use. The planter, and in great degree the pretender, was called "gentleman." This term was not primarily a mark of culture but of social rank. In theory, but not always in fact, the gentleman was a person whose ancestors had always been free. In actual use, the term was somewhat elastic, since any man who became a justice had a recognized right to the title. In court proceedings the yeoman, servant, or slave is mentioned according to his class. The freed servant became a yeoman, but it was not at all easy for him to pass still upward into the favored planter circle.
Agriculture on the planter system was almost the sole in- dustry in Virginia. In Tidewater, which as we have seen was the only well-peopled section, nearly all the land was held in great estates, usually tilled by servants or slaves, although little tracts would be leased to yeomen. Tobacco was almost the sole money crop, yet some flour was shipped to the West Indies.
The planter was to Virginia what the country squire was to England. His tastes were entirely rural and he had slight use for towns. He wanted land and in this new country he could gratify his desire. He built his "great house" remote from the public road and as far from neighbors as possible. His intimate associates were among the other people of his own class. Through force of custom the other elements of the population looked up to him, and in local affairs his author- ity was nearly supreme. He therefore considered the colony in his own keeping, and he made and administered the laws. He governed well, though always in a conservative manner.
Being a man of power and not backward to use it, the
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planter was dictatorial, yet he was generous, courteous, hon- orable, and high-minded. His high sense of family pride gave him a contempt for baseness, though it also gave him a con- tempt for manual labor. He was public-spirited, jealous of his rights, and not slow to assert them. He kept open house and was open-handed. He was fond of outdoor sports, fine horses, handsome furniture, and elegant table ware. Passing to the other extreme, many of the ex-servants were not only ignorant and uncouth, but disorderly and troublesome. They lived in untidy cabins, subsisting mainly on corn bread and the flesh of razor-backed hogs.
Not only the habits of the people but the geography of the country explained the absence of towns and villages. Nav- igable rivers not far apart reach from the coast half way to the Blue Ridge. The planter could roll his hogsheads of to- bacco by horsepower to the very ship that took them away, and from that ship he received in return, the supplies ordered from England. He could thus get along without the middle- man. Yet the roads were mere lanes through the woods, and were very poor, unless in dry weather. Travel was by horse- back, and streams were crossed by fording or by boats.
Tobacco overshadowed everything else, yet it did not make the colony rich. Merchants were the most prosperous people. Money was scarce. Spanish and French coins were in general use, but a large share of them found their way into Pennsyl- vania, where their purchasing power was greater. The Span- ish piece of eight, the French crown, and the Dutch dollar were each rated at five shillings (83 cents), and in transactions where the consideration was merely such as to satisfy the law, the sum of five shillings would accordingly be specified. A depreciation very early appeared, and to settle a confusion in values the English king decreed that the coin in most general use should be reckoned equal to six shillings. Its value being one dollar of our money, this fixed the Virginia penny at 11/3 cents, the shilling at 1623 cents and the pound at $3.331/3. Where, as in wills, the English shilling is named, the British coin of 24 cents' value is meant. The scarcity of money caused tobacco to come into general use as currency. Even county
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levies were reckoned in pounds of tobacco. What was thus paid into the public treasury was turned into money only in England. The fact that a pound of tobacco once represented but three farthings, or only one cent, shows that the abund- ance of the weed made it very much a drug in the market. But by degrees the value rose and after the Revolution, 100 pounds of tobacco as currency represented one Virginia pound of $3.33 value.
As the king's proxy, the royal governor lived in much pomp and dignity. He was appointed by the king from among his British subjects, but his salary and perquisites of $10,000 a year came out of the colonial treasury. He was no figure- head. He would dodge the instructions of the king, and through his use of patronage he would often control the House of Burgesses.
The Governor's Council was the equivalent of our State Senate and also our Supreme Court. The members held office by appointment. The House of Burgesses was elective, each of the 36 counties of 1743 sending two members. The towns of Norfolk, Yorktown, and Williamsburg, and the one college of William and Mary also sent two members each. Yet the voting privilege was very much restricted. Even so late as 1829, more than two-fifths of the white male adults could not vote.
When a new county was organized, the governor appointed a number of men to act as "worshipful justices." Individually or by group these men were magistrates, and with a quorum present they were the equivalent of our board of supervisors. Vacancies were filled by men recommended to the governor by the court. Thus the county court was self-perpetuating. It remained a close corporation until 1852, and it appointed the clerk of the court, the jailor, and the constables. Quite as a matter of course, the county court represented the more in- fluential families. It was much inclined to provide for its own favorites, and it was within its power to be tyrannical.
A sheriff was a senior justice, and was appointed by the governor on the court's recommendation. Usually, he did not act himself, but sublet his profitable office to another man.
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When his term of two years was out, he resumed his place as justice, and perhaps filled the position a second time.
An official known as the county lieutenant was military commandant within the county and had the honorary title of "Colonel." He was in some degree a deputy governor.
But within the county itself was another system of local government. This was ecclesiastical in its origin. The county contained one to three parishes, each supporting by public taxation one minister of the Church of England. His salary was 16,000 pounds of tobacco. In each parish was a board of twelve men called the vestry, which like the county court was self-perpetuating. The vestry was presided over by the min- ister. It appointed a clerk and also two executive officers called church wardens.
Both the justices and the church wardens were conserv- ators of the peace and looked into the morals of the people, though none too effectually it would seem. The church ward- ens watched the sinners, and bound out apprentices as well as the bastards, of whom there was never any lack. The vestry provided the minister with a farm, or glebe, as it was called, and laid tithes for his further support, these being collected from heads of families. Glebes, churches, and ministers' sal- aries were paid out of the public treasury. The parish levy was laid by the vestry, the county levy by the county court, and the public levy by the colonial Council. The latter source of income consisted of a quitrent of one shilling for each 50 acres, an export tax of two shillings on each hogshead of tobacco, and a port tax of 15 pence per ton on all incoming vessels. Within the county, the sheriff collected all moneys, except when the parish levy was collected by the church wardens.
In 1692 Virginia had established one post office for each county. For a letter of a single sheet, the postage was 4 cents for a distance of not more than 80 miles, and 6 cents for a greater distance. When there were two sheets, the rates were 7 cents and 1212 cents. But until after 1738 there was only one weekly mail to Pennsylvania.
All crimes and chancery matters, unless of too large or grave a nature, were tried before the county court ; otherwise,
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before the governor and Council, although there were at length quarterly courts of four or more members. There was much confusion as to the laws, it being hard to tell what ones were actually in force. County courts often made blunders through their ignorance in this matter. The grand jury of 24 members, sworn for an "inquest on the body of this county," was se- lected by the sheriff from the freeholders.
The Church of England was not only supported by law, but until 1748 no other was tolerated. To a limited degree, attendance on public worship was compulsory. Yet the clergy were at the mercy of the planters and trimmed to suit their humor. Oftentimes, the parish would be without a minister. With not a few worthy exceptions, the clergy were of sporting proclivities, intemperate, and sometimes immoral.
Education was not regarded as a matter of public concern. The well-to-do had their children educated by tutors, and there were some good schools taught by members of the clergy. College education was supplied by the one college of William and Mary at the capital and by the larger colleges of England. If the planter were of studious habits he had for that day a good library. But the education of the mass of the people was quite neglected, except where some philanthropic person main- tained in his own neighborhood and at his own expense what was then known as a free school.
As the lands of the Tidewater were usually in the hands of the planters, the small farmer became more numerous in the uplands beyond the head of deep water navigation in the rivers. This same line was a considerable check to the expansion to- wards the mountains of the plantation system. The great farm was less profitable in the uplands because of the greater distance to navigable water. Hence, as there was more oppor- tunity for the small farmer, this upper section of the colony was less aristocratic than the Tidewater and had a larger per- centage of white people. It formed a middle zone between the European Virginia of the Tidewater and the still more demo- cratic society that was to appear beyond the Blue Ridge. Bacon's rebellion of 1676 was an armed protest of the small farmers of the upland against the policy of the planters of the lowland. And near half a century later, Governor Spottswood
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made this aristocratic complaint: "The inclinations of the country are rendered mysterious by a new and unaccountable humor, which hath obtained in several counties, of excluding gentlemen from being burgesses, and choosing only persons of mean figure and character."
Though the greater portion of Tidewater was yet in a state of nature, the soil was light and the system of farming was thoroughly bad. Fertilization was almost unthought of. When the stumps were gone, the soil had lost its virgin strength and was left to cover itself with a pine thicket, a new field "being cleared to take its place. This pillage of the soil was already causing the Virginians to look toward the stronger lands of the interior. A half century later, Washington was telling his countrymen that if this ruinous policy were con- tinued it would drive the people of the lowlands into the moun- tains for support.
The colonial civilization of Tidewater was picturesque and it contained elements of strength and value. It developed 'strong leadership. It bred the statesmen of the American Revolution. But in an industrial and social sense it was fatally weak. The aristocratic structure brought over from Europe and set up in the wilderness with small alteration was fore- i doomed to decay. The whole tendency of America was toward the unfolding of democratic ideas and practices. It was a los- i ing fight to expect men to put up with tenant farming or to work for wages so long as there was an unoccupied wilderness in the interior. The continued occupation of this interior was destined to overturn the aristocratic edifice, as the clashing of interest between the eastern and western districts of Virginia iprior to 1861 bears witness. The system of indentured servi- tude was not long in giving way. The resort to African slav- ery was an instinctive effort to prolong the old era.
We have described at some length the colonial Virginia east of the Blue Ridge, because it was the Virginia which opened to settlement the country beyond the mountains. It was likewise the Virginia which framed the laws under which the new settlers were to live and gave an impress to their customs and political thought.
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CHAPTER VI
EXPLORATION BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS
Spottswood and His Expedition - The Scotch-Irish Inflow - The German Inflow - How Land was Chosen - The Cowpasture - How Highland was Settled - A Composite Mountain Population - The Calfpasture Settlement - The Lewises and Other Pathfinders.
N 1716 Virginia was more than a century old. There were
already 24 counties and nearly 100,000 people. Yet beyond the Blue Ridge, less than 200 miles from the capital by trail, lay a country as little known as is the interior of Greenland to-day. It is indeed claimed that a very few persons had penetrated the mountains and obtained glimpses of the coun- try beyond. And yet it would appear that little heed was given to the reports of these early pathfinders. The land screened by the Blue Ridge had the repute of being a dismal region that people would do well to keep out of.
In the year above named Alexander Spottswood, a man of enterprise, was governor of Virginia. He not only deemed it important to learn the truth regarding this land of ill-report, but relying on the accounts coming from the Indians, he sup- posed the Great Lakes were only a few days' march beyond the mountains. Here, then, was a country which should be occupied.
Yet Spottswood was not altogether impelled by curiosity or far-sightedness. The land-hunger which has impelled the American step by step to the Pacific was even now making itself felt. The pillaging of the Tidewater soil, of which we have already spoken, had begun to counsel a decisive explora- tion.
So the governor left the capital with a mounted party of 50 gay companions, and as there was no road the greater part of the distance, it took him from August 20th till September 5th to cover a distance of 220 miles. In climbing the Blue Ridge
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through Swift Run Gap, the party encountered many rattle- snakes, and on the summit they found trees blazed by the Indians. Descending to near where Elkton now stands they reached a fine river which they named the Euphrates. Cross- ing to the left bank they held a banquet next day,-September 6th,-and the chronicler of the expedition is careful to enum- erate the considerable variety of wines and liquors which had been brought along. Each toast was followed with a volley from their firearms.
The governor and the "gentlemen" of the party did not go farther. Some rangers remained to prosecute the exploration. At the disbanding at Williamsburg, after an absence of eight weeks, the governor took steps to present each of his com- panions with a miniature horseshoe of gold containing the Latin motto, "Sic juvat transcendere montes." A free trans- lation is, "So let it be a joy to pass over the mountains." That Spottswood then instituted a new order of chivalry styled the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe" is not strictly correct. He would not have presumed thus to encroach on a preroga- tive of royalty.
The expedition had far more solid results than the swilling of liquor or the presentation of badges. Instead of a forbidding region they found one that was highly inviting. On the moun- tains they crossed and on those they saw in the blue distance were noble forests. Between was a broad, grassy prairie with a more fertile, homelike soil than that of Tidewater. The wilderness abounded in game and fish, and there was no Indian village within a hundred miles. The land beyond the moun- tains was now officially and practically discovered, and attrac- tive reports of the same were soon circulating in Europe. When, in 1720, another county was formed, it was named Spottsylvania, in honor of the governor, and it then took in the locality he visited.
Yet the governor declared that his chief purpose was to assure himself that it was practicable to reach the Great Lakes. According to Indian reports they could be seen from the moun- tains in the distance. It is somewhat surprising that he did not push on to those mountains to see for himself, instead of
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merely writing his official recommendation that settlements be established on the Lakes and communication secured by means of a chain of forts. It was a case of passing through : meadow of tall grass to look for another where the grass might be a little taller. His idea was good even though it came to nothing. Other men were more immediately practical than he.
The further exploration of the great Valley of Virginia and the minor valleys beyond was tolerably rapid. By 1727 the Cowpasture Valley had been prospected, and a year or two earlier a Dutch trader by the name of John Vanmeter had ascended the South Branch as far as the vicinity of Franklin. John Vanderpool, another Dutch explorer, discovered the gap which bears his name, and told of a beautiful valley beyond, yet with impassable mountains in the distance.
In the ordinary course of events the newly found country would have been settled from lower Virginia, yet with much less speed than by the people who actually took possession. While hunters and rangers were prospecting this land of promise, a new wave of immigration was setting in, destined within a half-century to supply the colonies with probably at least a fifth of their whole population.
When, in 1732, George Washington was born, the Scotch- Irish and the Germans had only begun to float across the Atlantic. The 600,000 people already here were still in the lowlands and had nowhere penetrated the Alleghany water- shed.
Some of the Scotch-Irish arrived at Charleston and went direct to the Carolina uplands. But by far the greater share of the immigrants of both nationalities came to Philadelphia. This was because of the reputation of the Pennsylvania colony for its civil and religious liberty. By this time the district along the Delaware River and westward toward the mouth of the Susquehanna was quite well occupied by a substantial class of English Quakers. As we have seen, the people already here looked with distrust on the strange appearing immigrants from Ireland and Germany. Such of the newcomers as were not bound to servitude had therefore to push inland through the zone of settlement.
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But this was not all. While the earlier colonists did not receive the new immigrants with wide open arms, they liked the Scotch-Irish the less of the two because of their assertive manner. Restrictive laws were accordingly passed. To some extent the Germans were required to adopt English names, and this circumstance appears to explain the wholly English form of the surnames of not a few of the German pioneers.
Accordingly, many of the newcomers made but a short stay in Pennsylvania. These moved to the southwest, because in this direction lay the door of wider opportunity. Lovers of peace and on the whole the less aggressive of the two races, the larger share of the Germans remained in Pennsylvania and occupied the inland districts as far as the western rim of the Cumberland Valley. The overflow pushed through that valley into the adjacent section of Maryland, and across the Potomac into the valleys of the Shenandoah and the South Branch, the latter then known as the Wappacomac. They occupied the west side of the Shenandoah Valley as far south- ward as the vicinity of Harrisonburg. In the valley of the South Branch, the attempt of Lord Fairfax to make his ex- tensive grant a feudal barony of the English pattern caused much of the immigration to push above his boundary, which lay in the vicinity of Moorefield and Petersburg.
The Scotch-Irish were more numerous and more venture- some, and the area of their distribution was much wider. It was not long until they had occupied the western section of Pennsylvania. They filled the Valley of Virginia southward of the German district. They not only filled the Valley of East Tennessee, but they took possession of the uplands of both the Carolinas. They thus became a frontier community, which extended from the vicinity of the Great Lakes south- ward into Georgia. The development of this frontier was quite rapid and therefore it greatly hastened the westward advance of the American people.
For some cause the attention of the Scotch-Irish path- finders was particularly fixed on that section of the Valley of Virginia which lies southward of Massanutton Mountain. They
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proceeded to occupy this inviting region in force. Yet their earlier selections were not in the smooth, open plain between the mountains. At first blush it is hard to see why they should appear to scorn fertile lands that needed no clearing. Their motive in doing so was substantially the same as that which led the earlier settlers beyond the Missouri to shun the open prairie and cling to the creek bank, where drinking water had only to be dipped out of a spring and where timber was at hand for shelter and fuel. The limestone plain in the Valley is deficient in surface water. The Scotch-Irishman did not shirk at the trouble of felling trees, but he had no mind to dig a deep well if he could help it.
Hence in 1727, a year before the first permanent settlement in Rockingham, and five years before there was anybody at or near where the city of Staunton grew up, we find an attempt to colonize the Cowpasture Valley. In that year Robert and William Lewis, William Lynn, Robert Brooke, and Beverley Robinson petitioned the Governor and Council to this effect:
Your Petitioners have been at great Trouble and Charges in making Discoveries of Lands among the Mountains, and are desirous of taking up some of those Lands they have discovered; wherefore your petitioners hum- bly pray your Honours to grant him an order to take up Fifty Thousand Acres, in one or more tracts, on the head branches of James River to the West and Northwestward of the Cow Pasture, on seating thereon one Fam- ily for every Thousand Acres, and as the said Lands are very remote and lying among the great North Mountains, being about Two Hundred Miles at least from any landing-Your Petitioners humbly pray Your Honours will grant them six years' time to seat the same.
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