USA > Virginia > Rockbridge County > Rockbridge County > A history of Rockbridge County, Virginia > Part 6
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In fact, instances of assault and battery were rather numerous. It was a frequent occurrence for a person to complain of standing in fear of bodily hurt from some one else, and to ask that the person in question be bound over to keep the peace. A certain woman of Kerr's Creek was an offender in this particular. But notwithstanding the many unruly characters, there seems to have been an honest effort to enforce a high standard of conduct, including a strict observance of the Sabbath. A certain man, one of whose sons may have been responsible for the House Mountain tragedy, was repeatedly summoned to show cause why "he does not bring up his children in a Christian-like manner." Samuel Dale was presented for taking wheat or flour and mixing it with his own in John Wilson's mill. For stealing a blanket from Samuel Houston and a bed quilt and a shirt from some other person, Elizabeth Smith asked for corporal punishment and was accommodated with thirty-nine lashes on the bare back at the public whipping post.
The settlers of old Augusta were very much given to litigation. The num- ber of their lawsuits, prior to the subdivision of the county, runs into the thous- ands. Very many of the suits were for debt, and the jail was principally used as a boarding house for delinquent debtors. Some of the suits were for slander. The charges set forth in these are at times very gross and are described without any mincing of words.
The will of the colonial period usually begins with a pious preamble varying in length, yet with so much general resemblance as to indicate that set forms were commonly used. The maker then asks that he be given Christian burial, and the executors are to see that all claims against the estate are paid or adjusted. Provision is next made for "my well-beloved wife," and the items of personalty left her are minutely mentioned. She is to live with a son, "if they can agree." The son is to furnish her, year by ycar, a stipulated minimum of garden space, firewood, flour, corn, bacon, etc., and perhaps a stated area in flax. "If she chooses to live in a house by herself," a small one is to be built by the son who inherits the homestead. "If she marry again," her interest in the estate is to be curtailed. The children are generally mentioned by name, sometimes in the order of age, but as married daughters are commonly spoken of as "Margaret Smith," or "Liddy Black," one is not always certain whether a daughter is really
42
A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
meant. Sometimes a son is given only a nominal consideration, perhaps with the explanation that "he has received his sheer already." Personal property- and also real estate, where there is much of it-it apportioned with much exact ness. Occasionally the homestead is divided, or a son is given lands patented or purchased on the "western waters"; on the "Canaway" River or in Ohio, or "Caintucky." If there are grandsons bearing the grandparent's given name, they are remembered with a small legacy, and when the will is by a grandmother, the granddaughters bearing her own given name are similarly remembered. Where there are several slaves, they are distributed among the members of the family. To "my beloved John" will be left accounts due the parent by outside parties. To a son will be left "my best suit of close." and to a daughter a horse and saddle. Frequently, the children, or a portion of them are minors, and there are directions for their support and schooling. Quite often, all the children are small, and there is sometimes another birth to be expected. Not seldom was the pioneer cut off by acute illness while in the prime of life. Nevertheless, the merchants sold "Lockyer's Pills" and "Duffey's Elixir," just as the drugstores dispense various proprietary cure-alls today.
Light on a well-nigh forgotten burial custom is afforded in the following petition by the "widow Allison," who lived at a ford of North River near the mouth of Kerr's Creek :
15th March 1773 To Ye Vestry Whereas Joel Millican came to my house in a very low condition destitute of any help for himself either in body or goods Therefore provided a bed for him and attended him nine days and he died. I therefore provided a Coffin and sheet and a gallon and a half of liquor and had him buried in a decent manner according 10 his station which I hope you will take into consideration as I am not of great ability to be al so much expense and trouble which is from your Humble Servant
In 1767 we find the vestry allowing for one "bare skin to lay under Cummings and dig Cummings grave."
U'ntil 1755 there was no regular mail service with the British Isles, and if a letter weighed more than one ounce, it cost a dollar to have it delivered there. So late as 1775 there were but fifteen postoffices in all Virginia. There were no envelopes, and postmasters read the letters, just as gossip now claims that country postmasters read the postal cards. The first newspaper in the colony was the Virginia Gazette, started in 1736. The size of its page was six inches hy twelve, and the subscription price was fifteen shillings. There was no other paper in Virginia until 1775.
The purchasing power of the dollar was several times greater in the colonial cra than it is now This fact has to be taken into consideration when we read of the seemingly very low prices for land and livestock. But some articles were relatively more expensive than they are now. Whether, on the whole, living was
43
EARLY PIONEER DAYS
easier in those days is a question on which a study of the paragraphs below will throw some light. The values are taken from those chancery papers of Augusta which are of a date anterior to the disturbing effect of depreciated currency in the latter half of the Revolutionary struggle.
The rental for three years on a certain farm of 517 acres was $6.46. For the same time, James Gay was to pay four pounds a year for 149 acres. A mare could be had for $15, although an extra good horse might come as high as $40. One to two pounds would purchase a cow, although a young woman, perhaps through sheer necessity, sold two cow's and a yearling for $10. In ordinary in- stances, a sheep or a hog could be had for a dollar. Common labor ran from thirty-three to fifty cents a day, yet corn could be gathered and husked for twenty- five cents a day, while thirty-three cents would command the services of a person who could tend store and post books. A man with his wagon and two horses could be hired for fifty cents a day. Rails could be split for thirty-seven and one-half cents a thousand, although they might sell as high as $5. A black- smith would make a mattock for sixty-seven cents. A carpenter charged eighty- three cents for making a churn, $2.50 for laying a barn floor, $6.67 for covering a house, and $10.00 for covering a barn. Two pounds would build one of the big stone chimneys of that day, and four pounds would build a log dwelling. A bed- stead could be made for $1.25, a loom for $5.00, a coffin for $2.17, and a linte- kiln for eighty-three cents. A month's board could be satisfied for $3.00, and $10.00 would pay for a year's schooling. The maid-servant of a man on the Cowpasture worked for $20.00 a year.
Wheat and rye varied little from fifty and thirty-three cents a bushel, re- spectively. Rye was worth twenty-five to forty-two cents, corn twenty-four to thirty-eight cents, and potatoes twenty cents. Flour by the barrel ran all the way from $3.25 to $8.33. Butter was five to eight cents a pound, and tallow two cents. Beef and mutton averaged hardly more than two cents a pound, al- though we once find 400 pounds of bear meat, bacon, and venison billed at $25.00. A half of the carcass of a bear is mentioned at eighty-three cents, and a whole deer at thirty-six cents. A "haf buflar" was sold in 1749 for $1.25. Salt varied much. We find it as high as sixty-seven cents a quart in 1745. Coarse salt could be bought for $2.00 a bushel in 1763, and it cost eighty-three cents to have it brought from Richmond. As to sugar, we are sometimes in doubt whether maple or cane sugar is meant. White loaf sugar from the West Indies was generally twenty-five cents a pound. Brown cane sugar was much cheaper.
A weaver was paid six cents for each yard of linen that came from his loom. But Irish linen cost $1.08, flannel forty-one cents, sheeting $1.25, velvet $3.33, and ribbon seventeen cents. The handkerchief cost twenty-five to thirty-three cents if of cotton, but seventy-five cents if of silk. Men's stockings, which came above the knee and were there secured under the trouser-leg with a buckle,
A HISTORY Of ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
cost eighty to minety cents. Worsted hose for women was fifty cents, and plaid hose thirty-three cents. Leggings were $1.04, pumps $2 00, and men's fine shoes $1 41. A blue broadcloth coat is quoted at $5.42. Gloves are listed at fifty-eight cents, a necklace at thirty-three, and a fan at twenty-five. Leather breeches, very generally worn by laboring men, cost $3.17. Common buttons were forty- two cents a dozen, silk garters, forty two cents a pair, and thread was half a shulling an ounce. Headgear was high or low in price, according to the means of the wearer. A woman's hat is named at $5.00, and a boy's at eighty-three cents. But a cheap felt hat could be purchased for thirty three cents.
A very crechitable specimen of the colonial will is this one by a pioneer settler of Kerr's Creek :
In the Name of G & Amen the 25th March 1780 I Robert Hamilton of Kerry Creek in Rockbridge County, being very sick and weak in Body but of perfect Mind and Memory thanks be given to God therefor. Calling to mund the Mortality of my Body and knowing that it is apgranted for all men once to die, do make and Ordain this my last Will and Testa- ment, that is to say principally and first of all, I give and Recommend my Soul into the hands of God that gave it, and for my Body I recommend it to the Earth to be Burried in a Christian like and decent mannor, at the direction of my Executors, nothing doubting but at the General Resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God .And as Touching such Worldly Estate, wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me with in this life, I give and devise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form, to Witt first I give and bequeath to my wife Margaret a free Room where our bed is with all its Furniture thereunto belonging with her Wheel & Reel with all her Cloathing of what- ever kind or sort it is hkewise One horse called Wilkenson with a Side Sadle and Bridle (new) with suitable Intertainment for her Station and Seven pounds ye Year to uphold her m Necessaries she finds Needfull for herself during life. But in Case should not to have in that Station she is to have a liberty of Spending her days among either her Children, and in Case she should be so disposed, I bequeath her fifteen pounds ye Year to be paid out of my real Estate during Life, or while she continues my Widow, and no longer. Also I will and Bequeath to my son Wilham Two cows & two Calves to my son Archibald Five Cows and two Calves, and Four Sheep. To my Son Joseph Twenty pounds to be paid out of my Real Estate. 1 give and bequeath to my son John the place where I now live with all the Improvements thereunto belonging (he paying all these Legacies as the Will Specihes) to him and his heirs forever but in Case he should use a Batcheler, in that Case the Estate to be sold and Equally Divided among the Rest of his Brothers To Moses Gwynn I be- queath Ten pounds to be paid out of my Real Estate To my Daughter Jennett that fifty Acres of Land in Camstuck's To Mary Erwin my Daughter the 2d Vol. of Asking works. to Miriam my Daughter One Cow & Calf & four Sheep, to my Daughter Margaret. 1 pive or allow a Horse Sadille & Bridle with all her Clothes, also two Beds and Heding quelle with one Care of Drawers, three Cows and three Calves with six Sheep also I Five to my wife Sarah Callman to wait on her during her Servitude and Hannah her Sister to Margaret, i's Daughter on Condition of their performing their duty to them as their Iaderentes Requires I constitute Win Hamilton & Archibald, my Sons to be my Sole Ixelig rs and I du ingwer them to collect all Debts due to me & to Draharge all my Lawfull Delta Revoking all Wills and Testaments heactofore made. I confirm this to be my last Will and Te tanest This and only this to be my last Will and Testament and none etter, in Wieners whereas I have hercunto set my hand and Scal the day and Year above Written
VI
CIVIL GOVERNMENT (1737-1852)
CONSERVATIVE INFLUENCES-STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT-LAWS AND PUNISHMENTS- WRITS AND RECORDS-LAND SYSTEM-MARRIAGE REGULATIONS-MONEY
For about forty years after the beginning of settlement, the laws and institu- tions under which the people of Rockbridge lived were those of Colonial Vir- ginia. For almost twice as long a period, or until the constitution of 1851 went into effect, there was no very striking change. In cutting loose from England, the American did not throw away an old suit of clothes and immediately don a new suit of quite different pattern. It was more as if the old suit were still worn, after being dusted and having a few of the wrinkles pressed out. The coming in of the new order is an illustration of the fact that progress is ordinarily by easy steps and not by jumps.
After independence, the law-making body was the General Assembly, but it was the House of Burgesses under a new name. From certain official forms the king's name was left out. There was still a Governor's Council, and it was very much like the old one. The governor was now a Virginian instead of a Briton, but like the colonial governor he lived in style, and in attending to his official business he followed much the same routine. The Constitution of 1776 left things a good deal as it found them. There was indeed a re-statement of the source of Virginia law, so that there might be a definite recognition of the fact that the state was no longer a part of the British Empire. Juries no longer said that "we find for our Lord the King."
The independence party had a conservative and a progressive wing. The former wanted independence, but with the least possible change otherwise. The latter also wanted independence, but it also wanted to make Virginia a republic, so that it might be no longer a constitutional monarchy. The early years of in- dependence showed that the conservative element was in control and that the progressives had scored only a few points in their program. As the years went by, there was a slow but rather steady yielding in the conservative viewpoint. The dis-establishment of the state church came early, yet only after strenuous opposi- tion. The penal code was ameliorated. Modifications crept here and there into the working of the machinery of government. But the constitution of 1829 was dictated by the conservatives, whose stronghold lay cast of the Blue Ridge. To the progressives the new instrument was like a stone instead of a loaf of bread. It was not until 1852, when the third constitution came into effect, that the progressives won anything like a general victory. Until that date, and with
40
A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
respect to economics as well as institutions, the people of Virginia continued to live under conditions that were essentially colonial. The modern era was not fairly under way until the middle of the last century.
Until 1776, the common law of England, supplemented by the enactments of the House of Burgesses, was the law of Virginia. The statutes passed by the colomal legislature were expected to conform to the British practice. The king's veto, which was dictated by the Board of Trade, was freely used, and it went so far as to frustrate the attempt to incorporate some town or village. After independence these annoyances were a thing of the past.
Under the foreign regime, the governor was an appointee of the British crown and acted as its personal representative. Sometimes he remained in England and enjoyed the actual title, the duties of the office being performed by a deputy. But the official that appeared in Virginia lived in pomp and drew a very large salary, even for that age. He was able to wield a great influence. although he was commonly an overbearing aristocrat, who took little pains to acquire the Virginian point of view. After 1776 and until 1852, the governor was an appointee of the Assembly and was not elected by the people. The royal governor could remit fines and forfeitures, and he could veto any bill. He could grant pardon for any crime except treason or wilful murder, and in these instances he could reprieve.
In colonial times there was a Council of eight members, who were appointed and not elected. They served an indefinite time and had a monopoly of most places of honor and trust. They assisted the governor and acted as a supreme court. This council of eight was continued after independence. The members of the House of Burgesses were chosen by popular vote, and there were two from each county. Until 1830, there were likewise two members from each county in the House of Delegates, regardless of the matter of population. After 1830 there was a more equitable arrangement, and it was based on the number of ยก'ople in the various counties. The Senate of 1776 contained twenty-four
Under colonial rule the elective franchise was much restricted, and this continued to be the case until 1852. In effect, there is as much restriction now as there was then, even among the whites. But whereas the small vote now polled in the average county of this state is largely due to indifference, it was formerly due to a property qualification. Voting was viva voce. Until 1852 the burgess or delegate was almost the only public official, state or local, who was dependent on popular vote.
For a long while there was no higher judicial tribunal than the Council. Under midependence, there was a State Court of Appeals, any three of its five members con tituting a minor court Rockbridge formed with Augusta. Rockingham,
47
CIVIL GOVERNMENT (1737-1852)
and Pendleton a judicial circuit, its judges having full jurisdiction in civil and criminal causes, and original jurisdiction in all causes involving a consideration of more than 100 pounds.
With the exception that we shall presently note, the affairs of each county were looked after by the county court, a body which until 1852 was almost the same thing that it was in 1737. It was a self-perpetuating, close corpora- tion, and had more extensive powers than those of the present Board of Supervisors. When a new county was established, its first board of "worship- ful justices" was nominated by the court of the parent county. When vacan- cies occurred, or when there was a desire to increase the membership, nomina- tions were made by the court and commissions were issued therefrom by the governor. The county court was therefore not responsible to the people. The system was not democratic. The justices were chosen from the most influential families, and were often related to one another. The office often descended from father to son. It was in the power of the court to use partiality toward its friends and its own membership, and to be arbitrary and tyrannical. But in practice the working of the system was in the direction of good government. The justices felt the responsibility of their position and were in touch with the people. They were not only justices of the peace, but acted collectively, or by classes, as a board of county commissioners. They served without pay. They held office for an indefinite time, but the governor might remove a justice for cause. Until 1830 there was no positive limitation on the number of justices. Four justices made a quorum and opinions were decided by a majority vote.
Until 1776 a county court was opened by the reading of the royal commis- sion : "Be it remembered (date here given) his majesty's commission directed to (names of commissioned justices here given) to hear and determine all treas- ons, petit treasons, or misprisons thereof, felonies, murders, and all other offenses or crimes, was openly read." The county court had general police and probate jurisdiction, the control of county levies, of roads, actions at law, and suits in chancery. It passed judgment on all offenses except felonies and high treason, these coming before the Governor's Council, to be there examined by a grand jury before the final trial in the home county. But in the case of such criminals as were negro slaves, it could decree the death penalty and order the sheriff to execute it. It appointed the constables and the overseers of the roads, no acting justice being eligible in the latter capacity. After independence it ap- pointed the county clerk. Under British rule, the county clerk was the deputy of the secretary of state, and was appointed by him. A single justice had jurisdiction in matters not exceeding the value of twenty-five shillings. In 1788, suits at common law and in chancery might no longer come before the county court where the consideration was in excess of five pounds.
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A HISTORY OF ROCKBRIN,E COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Jurors were ordmarily chosen from the locality of the issue they were to Fass upon. Tavern-keepers, surveyors of roads, and millers were exempt from grand-jury service. In 1793 the allowance to a witness was fifty-three cents a day, in addition to four cents for each mile of travel.
In 1808 the court day for Rockbridge was changed to the Monday after the first Tuesday in each month.
A petition of 1802 complains that the recovery of small debts is difficult. and asks that the jurisdiction of single magistrates be extended to $20.00. 1t also asks that constables be required to give security for the faithful discharge of their duty, and for the same service as a sheriff to be allowed the same fee.
Each year the court sent to the governor the names of one to three of the senior members, one of whom was commissioned by him as sheriff. But the high sheriff sold out the office to the highest bidder-sometimes at auction-so that the actual work was done by his deputies, while he enjoyed the honor and something of the emoluments. The court also nominated the coroner, who served during good behavior. His office was more important than it is now. since the incumbent was a conservator of the peace.
The county lieutenant was an appointee of the governor and might be re- garded as his deputy. He had charge of the militia of the county, and ranked as a colonel in time of war.
An auxiliary medium of county government was the vestry, one of which existed in colonial times in every parish. The parish might be co-extensive with the county, or the county might contain two or three parishes. When a new county was formed, the members of its first vestry or vestries were chosen by the qualified voters. But with a curious inconsistency, the vestry was thence- forward self-perpetuating like the county court. Its executive officers were the two church-wardens selected from its own membership. Their duties were Ix th civil and ecclesiastical. They built chapels and rectories for the established church and levied taxes for that purpose. They also looked after moral de- linquencies, and hound out orphans and bastards. The parish clerk and the sexton could be appointed by the rector as well as by the vestry. The vestry fell into diste during the Revolution, and was never revived. It passed out of exi tence with the dis-establishment of the Episcopal Church. A petition from Richlandge, dated May 20, 1780, asks permission for a levy for poor relief. It ay that as there has been no vestry for some time, the poor have had to trust to Humane contributions.
The courthouse known to the people of Rockbridge in 1716 was the one firet built in Anen ta It was of howed logs, and was eighteen by thirty-eight feet in bize There were two little windows unprovided with glass or shutters. but one light came in through unchinked spaces between the logs, a number
49
CIVIL GOVERNMENT (1737-1852)
of these openings being several feet long and several inches wide. The jail was smaller and not very secure. The first courthouse authorized at Lexington was almost as primitive as the one at Staunton. Prisoners might walk about within the jail limits, which covered five to ten acres. A prisoner for debt might live in a house if it were within such limits.
Previous to the French and Indian war small printed forms were used for legal writs. From then until the Revolution legal papers were written out by hand, usually in a neat, legible manner. Very small pieces of paper were used and the lines of writing are near together. As for the old record-books, they contain many more words to the page than do those of our time, even with the use of the typewriter. The lines are near together, but when a coarse- pointed quill was used, the writing may be more easily read than the hurried scribbling that is customary today. The copyist not only made his small letters of uniform height, but he often took time to begin a long entry with a highly ornamental initial. Indexing was done on the fly-leaves and with great economy of space. The ink was of a very durable kind. None but quill pens were known or used, and unlike steel pens, their action is not corrosive to the paper.
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