USA > Virginia > Rockbridge County > Rockbridge County > A history of Rockbridge County, Virginia > Part 34
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Cordially yours, (Signed) WILLIAM A. ANDERSON.
A letter from John MacCorkle, from Charlotte, N. C., is interesting :
Charlotte, N. C., Nov. 8th day, 1780.
My dear Wife:
I have long for an opportunity to write to you, but have never yet been so fortunate as to have any way to send the letter. I have written letters and left them at different places. Perhaps you may get some of them. I am well at present, thanks be to God for his mercies to me, and I hope these few lines may find you and all my near and dear connections in the same state of health.
On the 7th day of November we arrived at headquarters, about ten miles below Charlotte, where Major General Smallwoods regiment was in camp; but we are to join Colonel Morgan's light infantry, and we cannot tell how soon we must march from here, we expect to do most of the fighting.
The enemy have left Charlotte. Part of them went to Camden, and crossed the Catawba River. Some think they are on their way to Charleston.
We got to Hillsborough the 4th day of October, about ten o'clock; and that day we marched six miles on our way to Gilford. I did not then have time to write you. At Guilford I had the opportunity of seeing Colonel William Campbell, who informs me that he defeated Ferguson, and out of 1,125, he killed and took 1,105 English and Tories. The loss on our side was not great-only 28 killed and wounded.
Nathaniel Dryden was killed and three of the Edmundsons.
Being at such a distance, I almost think myeslf buried to you, not having many oppor- tunities to write. If yau can write to me, you must do so. Write in care of Captain James Gilmore's company of militia, under General Morgan. Remember me to all my friends and neighbors. You may inform my neighbors that their sons, Alexander and Robert McNutt, Trimble, Moore, and Alexander Stuart, are well.
I add no more at present, but remain
Your loving husband, JOHN MACCORKLE.
In 1781, John MacCorkle was severely wounded at the battle of Cowpens, and died. He was buried with military honors. Colonel William Anderson re- ferred to it as the first burial he ever witnessed with military honors. Colonel Anderson was a first cousin of Rebecca, John MacCorkle's wife. His father and Rebecca MacCorkle were brother and sister.
John MacCorkle married Rebecca MeNutt in 1771. Rebecca MeNutt's father, John McNutt, married Catharine Anderson in Ireland and moved to
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A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
America, settling in Rockbridge County, then Augusta County, on North River. He owned the farm afterwards owned by Thomas Edmundson near Ben Salem.
John MacCorkle was the father of three children, Alexander MacCorkle, Samuel MacCorkle, and Katherine MacCorkle, ( Walker ).
Alexander MacCorkle, son of John MacCorkle, was born August 7, 1773. His wife was Mildred Welch, of Fancy Hill. Mildred Welch was a daughter of Thomas Welch, who married Sarah Grigsby, who was a daughter of John Grigsby.
John Grigsby was born in 1720, and accompanied Lawrence Washington with Admiral Vernon in the expedition against Carthagenia. This was one of the events of Governor Gooch's administration, and as taken in connection with the other colonies, it was part of the ultimate union.
John Grigsby's ancestors came to this country in 1660, which seems to be the most reliable date. They lived in Stafford County. Virginia, but Grigsby. in the autumn of 1779, moved to Rockbridge County, then Augusta, and settled on Fruit Hill place, where John Grigsby died on April 7, 1794.
The children of Alexander MacCorkle and Mildred Welch MacCorkle, were:
Sally McCorkle, born January 1, 1795, died 1842.
Jno. MacCorkle, born February 14, 1797.
Sam'l MacCorkle, born August 30, 1800.
Thos. MacCorkle, born May 21, 1804. Alex. MacCorkle, born October 15, 1806.
Martha MacCorkle, born April 4, 1809.
Jane MacCorkle, born February 22, 1812. Mildred MacCorkle, born March 6. 1815. William MacCorkle, born October 25, 1815, (1817?), died February 28, 1864. Rebecca E. MacCorkle, born April 3, 1820.
Alexander MacCorkle was for more than forty years an elder in the Pres- byterian Church at Lexington, Virginia. He was a captain in the War of 1812. and was one of the most respected men in the Valley of Virginia
Willam MacCorkle, son of Alxeander MacCorkle, married Mary Hester Morrison, of Rockbridge County, Virginia The issue of this marriage were three children :
William Alexander MacCorkle, born May 7. 1857; Alvin Davidson Mac- Corkle, born February 10, 1862, and Willie May MacCorkle, born May 7, 1864
William MacCorkle was a major in the Confederate army in service under General Price. He was president of the North River Navigation Company, and con tructed much of the canal work in the county on the North River, and he was one of the directors of the James River and Kanawha River Canal Company. In that carly day he was engaged in developing the Valley of Virginia.
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Mary Hester Morrison, the wife of William MacCorkle, was a daughter of William Morrison, of Kerr's Creek. Her mother, Margaret Morrison, was a daughter of William MacCorkle. Mary Hester Morrison was a woman of vast determination and great energy and sweetness of character. At the death of her husband, in the last year of the war of 1861, she was left penniless among strangers. She never ceased for one minute giving her full energies to the rais- ing and education of her children, and devoted her life to this object. The farm given by Alexander MacCorkle to his son John, remained in the MacCorkle family until about the time of the War of 1860.
William Alexander MacCorkle, the son of William MacCorkle, married Belle Farrier Goshorn September 19, 1881. From that union there were six chil- dren : William Goshorn MacCorkle, born July 18, 1882; Eliza Daggett MacCorkle, born November 10, 1884; a daughter, (died in early infancy), born December 20, 1885; Kenneth MacCorkle, born December 20, 1886, (died in infancy) ; Isabelle Brooks MacCorkle, born February 20, 1890; an infant, born February 22, 1891. Of these children, William MacCorkle and Isabelle Brooks MacCorkle are alive.
William Alexander MacCorkle was Prosecuting Attorney of Charleston, West Virginia, from 1881 to 1886; Governor of West Virginia from 1892 to 1898; State Senator from 1908 to 1912. He has held many other places of trust, has published a number of books, and is and has been for many years the head of many operations for the development of West Virginia.
William Goshorn MacCorkle, son of William Alexander MacCorkle, now a lieutenant in the U. S. army, in the world war, married Margaret Lyle, of Timber Ridge, Virginia. From this union there are four children, Eliza Daggett Mac- Corkle, born December 16, 1906; Margaret Lyle MacCorkle, born March 28, 1908; Hester Morrison MacCorkle, born October 13, 1909: William Alexander MacCorkle, born June 12, 1913; Samuel Lyle MacCorkle, born June 23, 1914; Torquil MacCorkle, born January 31, 1916, and William MacCorkle, born January 19, 1918, who are living, and William Alexander MacCorkle, and Hester Mor- rison MacCorkle, who are dead.
The MacCorkle family was for a hundred years about the largest family in Rockbridge County. It is connected with a great number of prominent families in the Valley of Virginia and the Piedmont section. In the Confederate army there were more than two hundred of the name and relation of the MacCorkle family, and the MacCorkle family has furnished the largest connected family who are alumni of Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia. They have produced many distinguished preachers and developers of the country, and have wrought manfully for Virginia. It is probably one of the largest con- nected families in the United States, and everywhere they have shown about the same characteristics of energy, determination, and patriotism.
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A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Alexander MacCorkle and his sons acquired a fine agricultural domain a little distance southeast of Lexington. The original tract is drained by Borden's Kun and skirts North River several miles. The ancestral homes of the family are five. On a lull was a brick mansion with a double porch facing the rising sun and commanding a magnificent view of the Blue Ridge. . A second lay to the northward on the old road to Lexington. A third lay just below the afore- said hill and on the road to North River. In 1838 it was the tavern of John McCorkle, and in that year was made a polling place. This John was sheriff 1 1840-41. A fourth was where Oliver C. Mccorkle and his sister, Mrs. Anna Harrison, now reside. The fifth comes next on the road to Lexington, and was occupied by William McCorkle and his son, William H. In each instance, the original house was of logs, and in each instance except the fourth was followed by a brick dwelling. All these were the homes of Bible-reading. church-going people, who were intelligent, fond of reading, interested in the general weal, and given to the kindest hospitality.
William 11., youngest of the nine children of William and Nancy McCorkle. sprang on the maternal side from the Welch and Grigsby families. Thomas Welch, his mother's father, established at Fancy Hill a wayside inn that was sometimes a meeting point for the Lexington presbytery. The early education of William 11. was gained through the primitive yet thorough methods of the old field school. Some special branches were followed still further by private study, his fund of knowledge making him a safe adviser and interesting talker. He inherited Highlands, the family homestead, and cared tenderly for his aged mother, two years a helpless cripple in consequence of a fall, and for two sisters, one of them also an invalid. He was unfit for regular field service in the civil war, but gave generously of his time, means, and labor to the cause of the Confederacy. He hauled ammunition to Huntersville in 1861, sent men to work on the fortifications around Richmond, and took part in the tours of the Home Guards. Mr. McCorkle was of quiet manner, and was reserved in demonstrations of affection. He was a man of fine judgment, strict integrity, ail untiring energy. He was neighborly, and was one of the most widely known and most highly esteemed citizens of his county. In the antebellum days he was a Whig For near thirty years he was an older of the Ben Salem church. He and his wife held lofty ideals before their children, and spared no pains to give them an education. Mr. Mccorkle died in 1892 at the age of seventy-two years
If the history of the family were extended into the female lines of descent. the accession of conspicuous names would be interesting Lack of space forbids more than ca ual mention. Virginia, the eleventh of the thirteen children of James and Sallie ( McCorkle ) Wilson, married Wilham IL Mccorkle. September 11. 1850 ller affability, consideration for the welfare of others, and her knowl-
REV. I. W. MCCORKLE, D. D., AND SOY The only members of the immediate family now resident in the county.
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edge of past events pleased both the young and the old. She was a remarkable woman, a faithful wife, and devoted mother, who lived for her home and her children, as well as her church and community. Robert, a son of her sister Julia, who married Andrew Morrison, is the present sheriff of Rockbridge. Mary, another sister, married James Poague, and one of her daughters is Mrs. Sallie Lane, wife of a missionary to Brazil.
Eliza, a sister to William H., died New Year's day, 1882, aged seventy-four. Her memory was stored with interesting facts pertaining to pioneer manners and customs. A reminiscence of her grandfather's inn was the visit by a German duke and his retinne in the fall of 1825. The foreigner was on his way to the Natural Bridge, and afterward wrote a two-volume work on his observa- tions in America. Miss MacCorkle was a faithful member of the Ben Salem church from its organization in 1845. She was cheerful, affectionate, unselfish, reverent, and industrious.
The children of William H. McCorkle, in addition to two boys who died in infancy, were Charles E., Walter L., Emmett W., Alice W., William H., and Henry H.
Charles E. McCorkle, born August 22, 1852, entered Washington College as a student. At the time of the funeral of General Lee he was recovering from an attack of typhoid fever, but insisted on marching with the students in the procession. An attack of meningitis supervened, and a long and severe illness left him a paralytic from the hips downward. It was felt by some of his friends that his struggle for life was little better than a drawn battle. But though he could now move only in his wheel-chair or in a carriage, it was not in this young man to accept his crippled situation as a total defeat and pass the rest of his days in bitterness of spirit and useless repining. He continued to be cheerful and pleasant. He had the more time for reading and study, and this time was diligently improved. He became a very well-informed man. In public and political matters he took a keen interest, and was known as one of the staunchest Democrats in his part of the state. Mr. McCorkle wrote much for the newspapers and magazines, and in the local history and genealogy of Rock- bridge he was a recognized authority. His letter in behalf of a monument to the Confederate dead of Botetourt is not only beautifully written, but is elo- quent and is pervaded by an intense carnestness. Yet he was no mere book- worm. He was a practical man, and managed the paternal homestead with much success.
In 1898 S. H. Letcher resigned as State Senator to become Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit. Mr. McCorkle entered the contest and secured the Democratic nomination for the vacant place. His active canvass enabled him to carry every county in his district except Highland. His majority was 322
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in his home county and 530 in the district. The opposition party refrained from putting forward a direct nominee. But the fears of some of his friends that the excitement of a session of the Legislature would prove too much for his physical condition turned out to be well founded. The journey to the capital was itself a considerable tax on his strength, and he answered only two roll- calls After a short illness he died at Richmond, December 14, 1899, closing a hie that was useful and well spent and a blessing to his community.
In 1879 Walter L. McCorkle took the degree of LL. B. from the Law School of Washington and Lee University. He at once began the practice of his pr fession at Maysville, Kentucky, but in 1881 he sought a wider opportunity in the city of New York. He was first associated with the firm of Miller and Peck- ham, and later with Elliott F. Shepard. In 1886 he opened an office for himself, his present business address being 100 Broadway. During his long residence in the American metropolis, Mr. Mccorkle has been concerned in much important litigation. lle soon won a reputation as a trial lawyer, but for some years has given his attention to corporation, financial, and equity matters. As an organizer and counselor his industry, shrewdness, business foresight, and genial personality have made him highly successful. He has been counsel, ever since its beginning, of the Produce Building and Loan Association. During four years he was president of the New York Southern Society. This is one of the most influential of the city's social organizations. Ile is also a member of the New York State Bar Association. Mr. McCorkle was married in 1888 to Miss Margaret Chesebrough. Their son, Robert C., is a graduate of Lafayette College, and during the present war has been a junior lieutenant in the United States Navy. He married Gertrude Schmidt, and has one child, Robert C., Jr.
Emmett W. MeCorkle was born August 28, 1855. He was graduated from Wa hington and Lee University in 1873, and from Union Theological Seminary in 1878, his licensure as a Presbyterian minister taking place the same year. In 1850 he was called to Clifton Forge, then a mission field with neither church organization nor house of worship. When he left in 1902 there were more than 300 members, a church building free of debt, and a manse. There were also organizations and church buildings at Lowmoor, Longdale, Iron Gate, and Sharon. During the next eight years he was pastor at Nicholasville, Kentucky. Since 1911 he has been pastor of Bethesda Church in his native county. Doctor MeCorkle is a very busy man, and his vacations are usually given to missions for lax church. Ile has visited Europe three times, once in 1888, as a dele- Fate to the Centenary of Foreign Missions in London, and twice as a representa- tive 'o the Pan-Presbyterian Council On the last occasion he traveled as far as Egypt and Palestine, touring the Holy Land on horseback. He has served as chairman of important foreign missionary committees in both presbytery and sined. and low been president of the Rockbridge County Sunday School Conven- tion, bringing that organization to a high state of efficiency. He has done much
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THE M'CORKLE FAMILY
evangelistic work, and has written The Scotch-Irish in Virginia, The Spirit of Progress in the Presbyterian Symbols, and much else in church literature. In 1899, he was married to Miss Mary L. Bryant, an accomplished teacher and one of the founders of the Clifton Forge Seminary. To them have been born one son, Emmett, W., Jr.
Alice W. McCorkle married John T. Dunlop, a Maryland soldier who set- tled on a farm near Buena Vista and represented this country in the General Assembly. Soon after his death, Mrs. Dunlop took charge of the Orphan's Home of the American Inland Mission at Clay City, Kentucky. Since leaving this posi- tion she has been doing very efficient work as pastor's assistant in the First Presbyterian Church of Asheville, North Carolina.
William Howard McCorkle, born May 9, 1861, studied two years in Wash- ington College, and in 1883 settled as a farmer and stockman in Fayette county, Kentucky. At length he removed to Lexington, where he followed several years the wholesale and retail mercantile business. A political career began in 1892. He was then elecetd a member of the General Council of Lexington under the administration of Mayor Henry T. Duncan, father of General George B. Duncan of the present war. During this term he was chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Since then he has been almost continuously in public life, serving as president of the Board of Aldermen, president of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Lexington Board of Education. He was also a chairman of the County Board of Equalization. He was very instrumental in inducing the American Tobacco Company to locate its first warehouse in Lexington. This step has resulted in Lexington becoming the largest loose-leaf tobacco market in the world. Under Mayor Skain, Mr. McCorkle became superintendent of Public Works, and when Lexington adopted the commission form of government in 1912, he was at once assigned to the Department of Public Works, and this position he is still filling. He is also Vice-Mayor. His popularity and efficiency are evidenced by the fact that when- ever he has stood for the office of city commissioner he has run ahead of his ticket. During his six years as Commissioner of Public Works, he has built twenty-eight miles of improved streets, two large viaducts, and completed the city's sewerage system. He has also constructed a modern sewage disposal plant at a cost of more than $200,000. The city owns and operates its own street- cleaning equipment, and is one of the first in the South to use a motor-driven sweeper. The first wife of Mr. McCorkle was Sarah McMichael. In 1902 he was married to Mrs. Jean T. Miller, of Canton, Ohio.
Henry H. McCorkle was educated at Washington and Lee University. After being admitted to the bar he went to New York, and since then has been asso- ciated in the practice of law with his brother, Walter L. His wife was Bessie Glasgow, of this county.
The MacCorkles have made a very honorable record in the American wars.
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A HISTORY OF ROCKBRILLE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
At least two of the three sons of Alexander the pioneer served under General Morgan in th campaign of 1780-81, one as a lieuetnant and one as an ensign. The American loss in the brilliant victory of the Cowpens was but eleven killed and sixty-one wounded, although the British casualties were 784. James was killed in that battle and John died of his hurt. Several of the next generation served in the war of 1812. Alexander C. volunteered for the war with Mexico and died in service at Monterey, In the war of 1801 five representatives of the families were in the Rockbridge Battery alone. These were Baxter, Tazewell, Thomas E., William Alexander, and William Adair. In the navy was Lafayette Adair, Captain George B., of the Rockbridge Cavalry, was a brother to W'il- liam D., who was wounded in the lungs, yet lived to become a sheriff of Rockbridge. Lieutenant Baxter McCorkle and William AAdair McCorkle were killed in battle, as was also James T., brother to George B. and William D. Several of the MacCorkles were in the war with Spain, and Henry, son of Wil- liam S., of Tennessee, fell at San Juan Will. George, a son of Captain George B., was also in that war. A number of the great grandsons of Alexander have taken part in the late World War. One of these is Major Rice MeN. Youell, of General Pershing's staff, and he gave the order for American troops to cross the German frontier. Others are Edward Lane, a chaplain, Captain W. M. McClung, of Alabama, Ensign Thomas of the Navy, and Robert B Morrison of the ambulance unit of Washington and Lee University.
In the ministry are at least ten descendants of Alexander in the male line. These are A. B., of Talladega, Alabama; Daniel, of Pueblo, Colorado: Emmett W., of Rockbridge ; Frederick, of Oxford, Mississippi ; S. V., of Ocala, Florida ; Samuel, of Thyatira, North Carolina, another Sammel, of Indianapolis, Indiana. still another Samuel, of Detroit, Michigan, Tazewell. of Lynchburg. Virginia, and William P., of Martinsville, Virginia.
From the foregoing survey of the MacCorkles of Rockbridge, it will appear that they are distinguished for energy, intellectuality, and public spirit. As wealthy and influential planters they have stood second to no other family. They have been greatly drawn to the professions, particularly law and the ministry. But industrial and commercial pursuits have been preferred by some of the connection. The Samuel Mccorkle who went to Lynchburg was a very wealthy and conspicuous citizen of that city. In their home county it is not too much to say that they have been a backbone element in all important public enterprises. Those who have left Rockbridge to carve a career elsewhere seem generally to have been very successful in that undertaking. And last, but by no means least, the MacCorkles as a family have been staunch Presbyterians, often filling official positions in the church of their preference
It remains for us to add that the MacCorkles of Ulster display the same characteristics as their cousins in America One of the name was a recent mayor of Londonderry, the city that endured a notable siege in 1689.
XXXVI
ROCKBRIDGE IN THE WORLD WAR
PRELIMINARY STAGE-ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE COUNTY
Until the summer of 1914 the opinion was widely accepted that military invention had made warfare so terrible that never again was it likely to occur among civilized nations. The events of the August of that year came as a rude shock to the neutral world.
For a while the American people were particularly interested in the money that was flowing across the Atlantic for the purchase of military supplies. They were slow to realize that from the very first the nations of the Entente were fighting a battle that belonged to us quite as much as to them. It at length penetrated the American consciousness that Germany was an outlaw by her own deliberate choice, and that until this criminal could be brought under control, civilization itself was in peril and the world could not be a fit place to live in. Yet there was a natural reluctance to believe the German government could be so lost to truth, honor, and decency as to act the hypocrite and the villain in the negotiations relating to its persistent disregard of American rights on the high seas. For almost three years America was a spectator, hoping against hope that it would not be drawn into the whirlpool, yet growing more and more indignant at the diabolic manner in which Germany was carrying on the war.
In February, 1915, the Lerington Gasette quoted an Englishman as saying that "the wrestling match between paganism and Christianity has continued nineteen hundred years, and we are now at the last and final grip. The umpire is America. America faces a far greater task than creating a republic or freeing her slaves; that of imparting to all the nations a spirit of political freedom and spiritual progress." In the same month the Rockbridge people noticed that Doctor Latané explained a submarine blockade of Britain as almost certain to bring America into the war.
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