USA > Virginia > Rockbridge County > Rockbridge County > A history of Rockbridge County, Virginia > Part 30
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A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
fresh, racy, nervous, pictorial, and yet familiar, colloquial, casy and natural. Captain Echols's success in that happy effort is easily explained. He felt warmly, the scenes were distinctly pictured on his heart, and his pen naturally copied them. Feeling is the source of eloquence, and simplicity is the source of refinement. It is but simple justice to a ma" to say that Captain Echols was untiring in his efforts to save these unfortunate men and that they probably owe him their lives. The same praise is due to another worthy man, Peter A. Salling. A negro named Frank Padgett, who belonged to a gentleman of that name in Amherst, was drowned in a voluntary and heroic effort to save some of these imperilled men. The humane and martyr-like conduct of this poor slave, who simply yielded to his natural sympathies for his suffering fellows made a deep impression on Captain Echols's susceptible heart, and most justly encited his warm admiration. To com- memorate this noble deed he erected at his own cost an enduring monument to Frank's memory at the lock opposite the "Velvet Rock" about a mile and a half below the dam, in the midst of the wildest and grandest scenery in Virginia, where the gurgling and foani- ing river dashes in tiny cascades through the overhanging mountains, and sweeps off in a glittering stream of silver. The traveler may observe a stout obelisk of dark marble bearing the following inscription :
"IN MEMORY OF FRANK PADGET" "a colored slave who during a freshet in James River in January, 1854, ven- tured and lost his life by drowning in a noble effort to save some of his fellow creatures who were in the midst of the flood from death."
If the hearty admiration and commendation of noble and generous action is the next thing to performing them, then when Captain Echols so generously erected this monu- rrent to this poor, humble negro, who deserved it far better than many an overpraised and vulgar hero who dies on the field of battle, he illustrated the nobleness of his own heart and built for himself, let us hope, an enduring monument in the hearts of his countrymen.
When the canal was sold to the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad Com- pany, it was stipulated that the monument should not be disturbed, and a railing was placed around it.
Edmondson. During a long while the Edmondsons were numerously rep- resented in this county. The name is now extinct, although it maintained itself more than a century and a half. James K., a son of James and Margaret, was a lawyer by occupation and was county judge from 1870 until 1881. In the Se- cession war he was colonel of the 22nd Virginia Infantry and lost an arm at Chancellorsville. He was married to Emily J. Taylor. No children were born to the union. Colonel Edmondson died in 1898 at the age of sixty-six.
Estill. The Estills who have been identified with Lexington, and have distinguished themselves in literary and professional lines, are of the numerous progeny of Wallace Fstill, a grand nephew to the first white child born in New Jersey. Wallace lived in the Bullpasture valley from 1745 to 1773, and was high sheriff of undivided Augusta. When seventy-five years of age he moved to what is now Monroe county, a region then on the very border-line of settlement.
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At the time of this migration to Indian Creek, all-or all but one-of the nine children of his last wife were under age. The Estills have been people of strong mental power, and many of them engaged in public or professional life. The Estills of Lexington, sprang from Benjamin, the oldest son of Wallace, and a member of the first county court of Botetourt. Doctor Andrew D. Estill was born in 1853 in Tazewell, but married Lavellette Davidson, of Rockbridge. Henry Estill, who died in 1880 at the early age of thirty-five, was a graduate of Washington College. He edited the Virginia Educational Journal, and was an author of school books. In 1878 he became McCormick Professor of Natural Philosophy in his alma Mater.
Gay. William Gay, who fought at the siege of Londonderry, had at least six children who came to the Calfpasture. These were William, John, James, Robert, Samuel, and Eleanor. Robert and Samuel did not long remain in this locality. Eleanor married William Kincaid. William Gay, who owned 900 acres on what is wrongly called Guy's Run, died in 1755. His wife, who was Mar- garet Walkup, aftreward married William Hamilton. James Gay, son of the pioneer James, and his brothers-in-law were the first men to introduce cattle of an improved breed into Kentucky. The Gays of Kentucky are derived from the Rockbridge families. They are among the largest landholders in the Bluegrass region and are connected with scores of the historic families of that state. Henry Gay, who married Jane Henderson, was a brother to the pioneer Gays, or at least a near relative, and he lived a while on the Calfpasture. His son, John H., born in 1787, became a millionaire merchant of St. Louis. Edward J. Gay, son of John H., was the largest sugar planter in Louisiana, and left an estate worth $12,000,000. The sugar mills and plantation are still in the Gay family.
Glasgow. Three brothers of this name, Arthur, Robert, and Joseph, came to America late in the eighteenth century. They first settled at "Green Forest" within the present limits of Buena Vista. The second located at Max Meadows, while the third went with his large family to Ohio in 1806. The wife of Ar- thur was the widow of John McCorkle who fell in the battle of Cowpens. Of the three sons, Joseph settled at Balcony Falls, John at "Tuscan Villa" at the mouth of South River, and Robert on his father's homestead. Alexander McN., the only son of John who attained his majority, inherited his own fatlı- er's estate. He and his two sons were educated at Washington and Lee Uni- versity. Of the four sons of Robert who arrived at maturity, Joseph R., and William A., settled at Fincastle as lawyers, but the latter removed to Lexington in 1887, living here till his death in 1910 at the age of eighty-five. Frank T. settled at Richmond, and during nearly all of his business life was superintend- ent of the Tredegar Ironworks. Robert died of fever in the Confederate ser-
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A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
vice. The sons of William A., who was many years a trustee of Washington and Lee University, are Frank T., and Robert of Lexington, the former an at- torney, the latter a physician. With few exceptions the Glasgows have been Presbyterians, and the record of the family is very honorable in every respect. They have been very strongly attracted to the professions, particularly that of the law. Quite a number have been graduated from college, in several in- stances with much distinction. The town of Glasgow derives its name from the family.
Graham. William Graham, so prominent in the pioneer history of Liberty Hall Academy, was born at Harrisburg, Penn., Dec. 19, 1746. In his youth he was inclined to be wild, but his viewpoint changed as he neared his majority. Aided more by his mother than by his father, he then began to prepare for the ministry, and was graduated from the College of New Jersey in the same class with General Henry Lee. About the same time he was licensed to preach. In the fall of 1774 he came to Rockbridge to act as principal of the Presbyterian school that had just been authorized. Ile remained its head until 1796, when he resigned and went to the Ohio River with the intention of settling. But he was injudicious and the result was financially disastrous. He died at Richmond in 1799, while on a visit to the state capital in behalf of his land title. Some years later his remains were interred on the campus of Washington and Lec University. As the head of Liberty Hall Academy for twenty-two years. Gra- ham had to struggle against some very untoward circumstances, and it is much to his credit that the school did not succumb. For the ministry he seems to have been rather less adapted. Ilis strong point was in the teaching of political science, and he was a member of the convention that drafted the constitution of the state of Franklin, a commonwealth that had only a brief existence. It is unfortunate that this state did not come fully into being. It was not co- terminons with the present state of Tennessee. The proposed boundaries, as stated by Arthur Campbell-a trustee of Liberty Hall,-included that part of Virginia sometimes called Little Tennessee, all of North Carolina west of the Blue Ridge, very small slices of West Virginia, Georgia, and Alabama, and rather less than one-half of Tennessee. It would have made a mountain state. homogeneous in geography and population.
Greenlee. In all the annals of Rockbridge there is no individual of more striking personality than Mary Elizabeth McDowell, who became the wife of James Greenlee. So far as we have positive knowledge, she was the only woman in the little hand of homeseekers, who in October, 1737, made the first actual settlement in Borden's Great Tract. At this time she was thirty years of age. and two of her eight children had been born. She lived many years a widow. and di played much ability in managing a considerable estate. Its appraise-
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ment by William and John Paxton and Jacob Hickman showed that the per- sonality was $2,970, inclusive of eight slaves, these being valued from $100 in the case of a child to $500 for an adult. No books are mentioned. Illiteracy relieved her husband from serving as constable, and it would seem that the wife cared little for the printed page. Yet her mental faculties were keen and alert to the end, she used good language, and in a verbal passage at arms, she ap- pears to have been a match for all comers. Various legends cluster about her name, and it has been handed down that her wit and her nimbleness of mind came near causing her to be proceeded against for witchcraft. This is not im- possible, since it was in her own girlhood that a woman was ducked by the civil authorities in Princess Anne county on a charge of being a witch. In cer- tain Alleghany valleys a belief in the delusion exists to this day among people of German descent. In her widowhood Mary Greenlee kept a tavern, and as hostess she showed her eye for the main chance by flouting the regulations of the county court relative to the sale of ardent spirits. She moved from Timber Ridge to Greenlee's Ferry in 1780. If Mrs. Greenlee was keen in business, she was also something of a shrew. It was perhaps a victim of her caustic tongue who perpetrated the following lines of doggerel, which, let us hope, were written in pleasantry and not in malice.
Mary Greenlee died of late; Straight she went to Heaven's gate: But Abram met her with a club, And knocked her back to Beelzebub.
As a result of a lawsuit instituted by Joseph Borden, Mrs. Greenlee was called upon for a deposition. When asked how old she was, she made this tart rejoinder : "What is the reason you ask my age? Do you think I am in my dotage? Ninety-five, the seventeenth of this instant." It is evident that her mental processes were in extraordinarily good working order, even at another deposition, taken at her home four years later, November 10, 1806. Two-thirds of a century had elapsed since she came to Rockbridge. Her reminiscences of the early pioneer days are numerous and precise, and of much historical im- portance ; more so than any other statements given by the old residents. Mary Greenlee became a centenarian, since her span of life reached from November 17, 1707 until March 14, 1809. This tendency to longevity seems to have been inherited from her father, who reached a great age, and to have been passed on- ward to her grandson, John F. Greenlee, who died in 1915, when in his ninety- ninth year. Mr. Greenlee never married and was the last of the name in this county. Like his ancestress, he was in his old age a great source of information on local history. His habits were favorable to a long life, since he used no tobac- co and rarely touched liquor. James, the husband of Mary Greenlee, died about
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A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
1764, leaving an estate appraised at $2,767.67. By owning six slaves he was the heaviest slaveholder of that period of whom we have any certain knowledge. Exceptional items in the inventory are seven silver watches, valued at $20 cach eight geese, and five pounds of beeswax. Yet the watches were not so low priced as they would seem, since it would have taken a very good horse, or three cows, to buy a single one of them. John, the oldest son of James and Mary Greenlee, disregarded his privilege under the British law of entail, and took steps to divide the estate equally among the five brothers. He had no issue, and as only one or two of his brothers remained in Rockbridge, the Greenlee name was never extensively represented here.
Grigsby. The Grigsby family appeared in this county at the close of the Revolution, having come from the other side of the Blue Ridge and being of English derivation. The members of the connection were well-to-do, able, and influential, and owned several large farms, each with its distinctive name. As in several other instances, the name is now entirely gone. Benjamin Grigs- by, son of James, was graduated from Liberty Hall Academy in 1789, and was licensed as a Presbyterian divine in 1792. He died at Norfolk in 1810 at the carly age of forty. His only son was Hugh Blair Grigsby, who achieved more than a statewide reputation as scholar, educator, and historian.
Houston. The most famous character to come out of Rockbridge was General Samuel Houston, whose name and fame are inseparably associated with Texas. He was a grandson of John, the founder of the Rockbridge line of Houstons, and a son of Samuel and Elizabeth ( Paxton ) Houston. In a log house that stood seventy years ago in the rear of Timber Ridge meeting house. the future general was born March 2, 1793. He lost his father in 1806, and three years later he accompanied his mother and his younger brothers and sisters to Blount county in the valley of East Tennessee. He was daring and ambi- tious from the first, and in his new home he soon showed the venturesome- ness which does not seem characteristic of the Houstons as a family. He went for a while to the Cherokees, and was adopted as a son by one of their chiefs. After his return he taught school. When nineteen years old he enlisted to serve against the Creek Indians, and in the battle of Tohopeka he was several times wounded, both by arrow and ball. His gallantry in this engagement made the youth a lieutenant. About 1820 he took up the practice of law. In 1823 he was elected to Congress and served two terms in the lower house. Houston was a born leader of men. So rapidly and effectively did he rise in the at- tention of the public that in 1827 he was elected governor of Tennessee. He did not serve out his first term Just after his first marriage he suddenly re- signed his office, not making public any reason for doing so. He went beyond the Mississippi to live with an Indian chief whom he had known eleven years
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earlier. This chief owned a large plantation worked by a dozen slaves. Hous- ton lived among the Cherokees at least three years. This period must be re- garded as the low-water mark in his varied career, since it was now that he gave way to the vice of intemperance. But the friendship between himself and the Indians was never broken, and where they were wronged he was always ready to uphold their cause. So far back as 1817, he acted as a sub-agent in the removal of the Cherokees from Georgia, but resigned the following year because of some reflections on his official conduct, and also because of a reproof from Calhoun, Secretary of War, for coming into his presence in Indian attire. During his present residence among the Cherokees he twice visited Washington to protect them from fraud and greed.
At the very close of 1832, when Houston was in his fortieth year, there began the most eventful period of his life. By request of the Federal govern- ment he visited Texas to make treaties with the border tribes for the protection of traders. Deciding to remain, the Texans sent him to their constitutional convention of April 1833, and he took a leading part in its deliberations. Near the close of 1835, when there was war with Mexico, Houston was made com- mander-in-chief of the armies of Texas. April 21, 1836, he won the decisive battle of San Jacinto, fighting 1800 men with 700, and inflicting a loss of 1690 against thirty-one on his own side. The invading army was annihilated. Santa Anna, who was not only its leader but also president of Mexico, was taken prisoner. It shows a humane spirit in General Houston that he did not cause the Mexican commander to be executed because of his atrocious cruelty on several occasions. The victory of San Jacinto established the independence of the republic of Texas and is a holiday in that commonwealth. When Texas was admitted as a state in the Federal Union, Houston was chosen senator and in this capacity he represented his state at Washington from 1846 until 1859. He was then elected governor of Texas, but because he was inflexibly opposed to se- cession, General Houston was removed from office in March, 1861. He ignored the secession convention, refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy, and believed in fighting within the Union if there was to be any war at all. In 1860 he ran next to John Bell in the presidential convention of the Constitutional Union party. After being deposed, Houston went to his home at Huntsville, where he lived quietly until his death, July 26, 1863.
General Houston was of commanding presence. He was six feet three inches tall, large-framed, and well-proportioned. In manner he was courteous and pleasing. As a senator he wore coat and breeches of the best broadcloth, a tiger- skin vest, a sombrero, and a bright-colored blanket. He did not care to make money, although he did not lack opportunity. His habits were simple. He lived plainly in a log house and went to bed at nine o'clock. Houston had a melodious
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A HISTORY OF KOCKERING COUNTY, VIRGINIA
voice and was a fine orator. He was a good stump speaker, and could address the borderers in their own dialect. As a legislator he was noted for impartiality and unusual foresight. In the Senate chamber at Washington, he had the curious habit of whitthing all day long, fashioning darts, crosses, and other objects that he gave away as curios. As a military leader he was wary, yet brave, able and resolute. In 1854, General Houston became a member of the Baptist Church. By his second wife, Margaret M. Lea, he had four sons and four daughters. Of these, Nettie P'. has a record in prose and poetry, while Samuel. Jr., a physician has written for the periodicals.
John Houston, the pioneer, figured in an exploit during his voyage from Ire- land to Philadelphia. He and his fellow passengers became convinced that the captain and crew meant to rob them. So the passengers put the suspects in irons and navigated the vessel themselves.
Samuel, Sr., the father of General Houston, was himself a soldier, having served in the Revolution as one of the famous riflemen of Daniel Morgan. Af- terward he was an inspector-general of troops on the frontier and held the rank of major. A first cousin was the Reverend Samuel Houston born on Hays Creck, January 1, 1758. He was a graduate of Liberty Hall and was licensed as a l'e byterian minister about 1784. He spent several years in the proposed state of Franklin, which he took a leading part in trying to establish, being a member of the committee that drafted its constitution. Returning in 1789 he now became pastor of the churches at Falling Springs and Highbridge. Mr. Houston was a pohshed writer and for about twenty years he taught a clas- sical school in a building on his own place. He was original in his ideas and was the inventor and patentee of a threshing machine. His house and barn were built on plans of his own, and his farm of six hundred acres was tilled on more scientific methods than were usual in his day. During his long pastorate he per- haps united more couples than any other minister in Rockbridge. He became bind near the close of his long life, but was to have preached the day he died. which was January 29, 1839. He was tall, erect, and square-shouldered. digni- ford in manner, and was both particular and old-fashioned in the matter of dreis
A ton of the last-named, and therefore a second cousin to the general, was the Reverend Samuel K. Houston, born March 12, 1806 He was graduated from Dickenson College in 1825, and after teaching six years at Philadelphia in a cheol for the deaf and dumb, he was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, and mailed in 1835 as a missionary to Greece. At historic Sparta he conducted a large ni on school In 1841 he returned to America because of ill-health in his fam- al Dining forty-four years Fe was pastor at Umon. W. Va. The diaries that Doctor Houston kept during his résidence in foreign lands and as a non-com-
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batant in the war of 1861 are of much historical and descriptive value. He was the father of the late Judge William P. Houston, of Lexington, a gentleman who was a cyclopedia of the local history of Rockbridge. Doctor Houston was also the author af "A History of the Houston Family." In this work he relates that of the progeny of John, the pioneer, nearly fifty were Presbyterian elders, and more than thirty were ministers of the same or other communions. Many of the connection had held civil or military office, while many in the female line married men engaged in the learned professions, or who were otherwise of force and influence. Few had become wealthy and none had fallen into gross crime.
Jordan. Colonel John Jordan came from Hanover county soon after his marriage to Lucy Winn in 1802. His home, "Jordan's Point," now known as "Stoner," was built in 1818. It is a fine mansion in the colonial style, with hand- some grounds. Rockbridge was almost wholly rural when he came to Lexington. Colonel Jordan had much to do with its industrial development. He became in- terested in iron smelting, flour and grist mills, lumber mills, blacksmith shops, and the weaving of woolen and cotton goods. As a contractor, he built Washing-
ton College and Ann Smith Academy, and for near a half century practically all the other large buildings in and around Lexington. He constructed the batteau canal at Balcony Falls, and was the first president of the construction company. He also took part in the building of the James River and Kanawha Canal. Col- onel Jordan was also a road builder. In 1826 he built a road across North Mountain from near Collierstown to Longdale. When the county court hesitated, the colonel made this characteristic reply : "Give me the men and I will build the road." The road was constructed. Twelve furnaces were owned and operated by Colonel Jordan and his sons. Four of these were in this county. The others were chiefly in Alleghany and Botetourt. The Victoria furnace was in Louisa, and the Westham was near Richmond. Ironmaking was in fact a family pursuit, the colonel's father having made cannonballs for the American army in the Revolu- tion. Colonel John Jordan was six feet three inches tall, and had dark hair and fine dark eyes. He was not only of commanding appearance, but was kindly, af- fectionate, honorable, and charitable. Both himself and wife were Baptists, and when the Lexington Baptist church was organized, one-half of its membership came from the Jordan household. Colonel Jordan was a close personal friend to General F. H. Smith. The two men would sit for hours on the veranda at Jordan's Point, talking on affairs relating to the Virginia Military Institute.
Mrs. Jordan, a very handsome blonde, was six feet tall. She was a woman of unusual strength of character, very industrious, and personally superintended the affairs of her large household. Spinning, weaving, dyeing. sewing, and the care of laundry, dairy, storeroom, smokehouse, orchard, and garden were but some of the activities of the estate, much of the work being done by slave labor.
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Colonel and Mrs. Jordan had twelve sons and two daughters, nearly all of whom grew to maturity. Like their parents they were handsome in person, and the sons were generally of superior size and stature. Edwin J., the oldest, lived at White Haven in Alleghany. John W., was the founder of Rockbridge Baths. Samuel F., was particularly interested in the iron business, and it was under the colonel's sons that the industry attained its greatest development. The sons gen- erally migrated frem Rockbridge, sooner or later, and very few of the later de- scendants are now residents here. A number of the present generation are serv- ing in the war now closing. Colonel Jordan was himself a lieutenant in 1812, and twenty silver dollars were used as mountings on his sword. Several of his grandsons were in the war of 1861 and Captain Charles H., son of Samuel F., was severely wounded at Fisher's Hill.
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