USA > Virginia > Rockbridge County > Rockbridge County > A history of Rockbridge County, Virginia > Part 7
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The laws of the colonial era were harsh. Virginia was more humane in this respect than England, and yet twenty-seven offenses were recognized as pun- ishable by death. In 1796 this number was reduced to one. Lashes at the public whipping-post, on the bare back and "well laid on," were frequently ordered, thirty-nine being the limit at any one time. Women were thus pun- ished as well as men. Imprisonment for debt continued until the middle of the nineteenth century. By this time the pillory, the whipping-post, and the practice of branding the hand had become relics of a past age. The spirit of the time de- manded a more humane administration of the criminal code.
The constable's path was not one to be envied. A writ of 1765 has this endorsement : "Not executed case of by a hayfork." Another constable says he was "kept off by force of arms."
Taxes were seemingly low, yet no easier to meet than they are today. The poll-tax varied a good deal from year to year, and when new county buildings had been contracted for, it must have seemed rather formidable to many persons. Before the Revolution and for a while afterward, hemp was generally grown on the farms of this county, the state paying a bounty of one dollar per hun- dredweight. The certificates therefor, issued by the county court, were re- ceivable for taxes. The bounty on a single wolf-head would pay the taxes for almost any man.
Each year several men were appointed by the court to list the "tithables," this term being given to those individuals who were subject to head-tax. Aged men, any men who were objects of charity, and boys under the age of sixteen
50
A HISTORY Of ROCKFRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
were exempt Old or mfirm servants were also exempt, but a widow who was the head of a household was subject to levy.
British law followed the Roman mn holding that the crown is a personifi- cation of the state Therefore, by virtue of a legal fiction all public lands were held to be the property of the king Patents for them were made out in his name and signed by the royal governor as the king's deputy. The Revolution swept away this rublash and recognized the public domain as belonging to the state instead of a theoretical person. The landsecker, armed with a warrant from the state treasury, perhaps the result of military service, applied to the county surveyor and had a tract set of. This survey was the basis on which a Jatent was issued after the lapse of one or two years or perhaps a much longer period. The survey might be assigned to another man, and several as- signments might precede the patent. A transfer of this sort had to be attested by two witnesses. There was much trading in land warrants, and some money was made in these transactions. Regularity in surveying was seldom observed. The first comer ran his lines in any fashion that would give him a maximum of good land and a minimum of cull land. The surveyor hekt office during good behavior.
In land conveyances before the Revolution, there was followed the English practice of drawing two instruments for the same transaction ; a deed of lease and a deed of release, so that deeds are recorded in pairs in the deed-book. The consideration named in the first is usually five shillings. The deed of release. which is the real and effective instrument, is dated one day later and names the actual consideration. There is sometimes mention of the purchaser receiving from the seller a twig in token of possession. The Revolution also did away with this clumsy practice of issuing deeds in pairs, each one stuffed full of verbose legal technicalities.
Until 1776, a quitrent of one shilling for each fifty acres was exacted from purchasers of the public domain. This requirement was very much disliked, and was regarded as a cloud on the title. After AAmerican independence was declared, the quitrent was speedily abolished.
The processioning of private holdings of land was begun in 1747. Every four years, men appointed for that purpose by the vestry, and afterward by the county court, marked the corners of the surveys. This had to be done between October Ist and April 1st. In 1797 the payment per day for this Cervice was fifty cents. The practice fell into disuse, but was revived by a law of 1865-6.
Religion was not free in this state until just after the close of the Revolu- tion The e tablished church was the Church of England, known to us as the hpicapahan It was supported by general taxation, and each parish owned a
51
CIVIL GOVERNMENT (1737-1852)
farm known as a glebe. On this the rector lived. In theory, and to a limited extent in fact, attendance at the parish chapel was compulsory. Other Protestants were known as Dissenters. Their houses of worship had to be licensed and registered by the county court, and their ministers had to take various oaths. But west of the Blue Ridge, where few people adhered to the Establishment, there was and could be no persecution of the Dissenters. To learn the attitude of the Virginia government, the Presbyterian Synod of Ireland addressed a memorial to Governor Gooch in 1738. It brought this reply :
As I have always been inclined to favor the people who have lately removed from other provinces to settle on the western side of our great mountains, so you may be assured that no interruption shall be given to any minister of your profession, who shall come among them, so as they conform themselves to the rules prescribed by the Act of Toleration in England, by taking the oaths enjoined thereby, and registering the place of their meet- ing. and behave themselves peaceably toward the government.
This letter has been construed as a letting down of the bars. Yet the governor promised nothing to the Ulstermen that the laws did not already per- mit. He merely said in effect that the newcomers would be let alone, so long as they obeyed the laws. There was no limitation on the number of their houses of worship, yet they had to contribute to the support of the Establishment just the same as if they had settled on the other side of the Blue Ridge. Their ministers were not permitted until the close of 1781 to unite couples in marriage. John Brown married two couples in 1755, but finding he was violating a law, he did not again perform a marriage ceremony for twenty-six years. The people of the Valley were restive under the disabilities imposed on them, and were nearly unanimous in helping to secure religious freedom for Virginia, this end being accomplished in 1784. It is claimed, and probably with reason, that the lack of express toleration kept thousands of intending immigrants out of colonial Virginia.
The ruling element in colonial Virginia held that education is a private and not a public interest, and that schooling is to be purchased like clothing or groceries. The constitution of 1776 is silent on the subject. The mention of schools in the public records is accordingly very meager and incidental. We find mention of a schoolhouse in 1753, which was sixteen years after the coming of the McDowells. It is not at all probable that it was the only one, or that it liad just been built.
During the colonial time a marriage was solemnized by the parish minister or parish reader, but the certificate he gave was not deposited with the county clerk. The public recording of marriages did not begin until about the close of 1781, and it is therefore difficult to secure definite knowledge of unions that took place before that date. By the new practice, the groom was required to
52
A HISTORY OF ROCKERUM.E COUNTY, VIRGINIA
sign a bond of fifty pounds His surety was commonly the bride's father. li either groom or bride were under the age of twenty-one, and this was very often the case, the consent of the parent or parents had to accompany the lund, which served as a license. The consent was ordinarily written on a narrow scrap of paper, and often with poor ink. The signature, if not in the form of a mark, is usually crabbed and more or less difficult to make out. This scrap, not always unsviled, was folded into a small compass, making it look like a paper of epsom salts as put up by a doctor before tablets and capsules came into use The bonds were filed away in bundles. This system was in force until 1852.
Personal liberty was so highly prized on the old frontier that a certain statute of 1661 must have seemed irksome to the settlers. This law made it illegal for any person to remove out of his county until after setting up his name for three Sundays at the door of the church or chapel of his parish. This notice had to express his intention and certify where he was about to go. It was then attested by the minister or reader and the church-wardens, who gave him license to go. The order-books of Augusta indicate that this law was not a dead letter.
The house of entertainment was called an ordinary. The prices the tavern-keeper might charge were regulated by the county court with great exactness. These rates had to be posted in the public room and not above a specified height from the floor. This care was not needless. Extortion would otherwise have been more possible than it is now.
Money was computed, as in England, in pounds, shillings, and pence. But on this side of the Atlantic these names applied to values and not to coins. In the "current money of Virginia," the pound represented $3.33, the shilling six- teen and two-third cents, and the penny one and seven-eighteenths cents. Be- cause of the depreciation of the colonial money, British coins did not freely circulate here. The hard money in actual use came from the West Indies, and was of Spanish, French, and Portugese coinage. Thus we read of the pistole. the doubloon, and the louis d'or, or "foodore." These were gold coins worth. respectively, $392, $781, and $390. It was by way of the West Indies that the Americans became acquainted with the "piece of eight." or Mexican dollar. Light reals made a dofar, the real being a silver coin of the value of nine pence. or twelve and one-balt cents. The carliest mention of the dollar by name, in the Auimita records, is m 1752. The fact that the Mexican dollar subdivided so fradily mto the term used in computing the colonial money, is the leading reason why the dollar, a well known coin, became the unit of Federal money. Under the name of "levy" and "fip," the real and half real were legal tender in the United States until near the beginning of the war of 1861.
53
CIVIL GOVERNMENT (1737-1852)
Since the gold and silver coins that passed from hand to hand were of so varied a character, it was tedious and inconvenient to turn their values into Virginia money. A sum of money is spoken of in 1750 as made up of one doubloon, one pistole, two moidores, and two pieces of silver. The value of these Spanish and Portuguese coins was about $24.00. It was customary to com- pute the foreign money by weight, and hence money-scales are often mentioned in inventories of personal property. Copper pennies were coined for Virginia in 1733. This coin was worth almost exactly one cent. Paper money of colonial issue began to appear in the colony in 1755. The ten-pound note was not quite one-half the size of a postal card, was crudely engraved, and was too easy to counterfeit. Warehouse certificates for tobacco also passed from hand to hand as money and did not need endorsement. When a money consideration was written into a legal document, the sum usually mentioned is five shillings. The legal rate of interest was five per cent. There were no banks, and when a large stock of money was on hand it was secreted. There is very frequent mention of Pennsylvania currency, in which the pound was worth $2.50 and the shilling twelve and one-half cents.
Money, whether of metal or paper, could be counterfeited with more im- punity than is possible today. We not infrequently find mention of bad bills and suspicious doubloon certificates.
VII
AANVALS OF 1737-1777
SELA TINEFROM THE RECORDS OF ORANGE, AUGUSTA, AND BOTETOURT
ORANGE ORDER BOOK. 1735-1745
1111 tithalles-Nov. 18, 1735.
Real surveyors to set fuger boards at every crossroads in large fetters.
The Rewy Richard Hardwell presented for being drunk -1241
James Phillips fined ten shillings for non-attendance at his parish church, and for not appearing to answer the charge against him.
Poll tax, fourteen pounds of tobacco-1744
Andrew Campbell takes out a pedler's license-1740.
Wolf-heads turned in by Charles Campbell, James Hamilton, John James, and Richard McDowell.
Constables : 1741, James McDowell: 1742, Hugh Cunningham : 1743, Joseph Lapsley, John Mitchell, William Moore, and James Anderson; 1744. Samuel Gav.
Militia officers John Mathews and Patrick Hays appointed captams in 1742, William Jane on, captain, 1745: Alexander Dunlap, captain of horse, 1743; Henry Gay, heuterant in 1744, and Andrew Hays in 1745.
People of Berden Tract petition for a road from James Young's on to Borden's Tract by a gap in Blue Rider called Michael Woods' Gap Francis Mccown. Samuel Walker, Captain Charles Campbell, and Captain Patrick Hays among the overseers. Colorel James Patton to lay off the precincts. South River to be cros ed at the plantation of Samuel Davis.
Tavern rates, 1742 flet dict, one shilling : cold diet or foging, uxpence cach ; corn or oats, per gallon, sixpence, stabling and fodder for one night, or pa turage for twenty-four hours, sixpence ! Barladees rum, per gallon, eight shillings; New England rum, per gallon, two things and sixpence, Virginia brandy, per gallon, six shillings, claret, per gallon, four Aufling . Virginia cider, per quart, four and half pence.
AUGUSTA ORDER BOOKS
1745
Robert Young appointed constable in Richard Woods's militia company, and James Greenlee to succeed William Moore in Benjamin Borden's company Greenlee afterward excite ] on account of illiteracy.
17:1
Junegh hay ley and John Peter Salling sworn in as captains, Robert Renick as first licu'er art
Statements of lesses Is Indians certified to in case of Richard Woods, John Mathews. Henry kirklan. Francis Mctown, Joseph Lapsley, Ivac Anderson, John and Jane Walker -1ch 19th
James fluiten and three other wien presented for being vagrants, and hunting and hiring the words in information given by John Peter Salling. James Young, and John McCowr Hinten tref three pounds for illegally killing three deer
55
ANNALS OF 1737-1777
Constables : William Taylor from Benjamin Allen's to the lower end of the county; William Gay on the Caffpasture ; Michael O'Dougherty in Woods's company ; John McCown, Michael Finney, and Thomas Williams in the Forks of James. Samuel Dunlap, John Ramsay, and John Campbell succeed, respectively, Nathaniel McClure, William Gay, and Robert Gwin. Alexander McCroskey is also a constable.
1747
Henry Gay, James Allison, John Hodge, and John Edmondson petition for leave to build gristmills.
The road formerly cleared from James Young's mill to Woods's Gap to be altered.
John Allison given license for a ferry between his landing and Halbert McClure's.
Robert Patterson and James Allen to view a road from John Picken's mill to lower meeting house.
Petition by James McCown for road from crossroads below Patrick Hays. Hays is on north side of South River.
1748
Richard Burton to take the list of tithables in the Forks.
Roger Keys and Sarah, his wife, win in a slander suit against Ephraim McDowell. John Lyle is a witness.
George Campbell presented for striking and beating Joseph Walker in the court- yard. Henry C- presented for assaulting and beating Joseph M- in a meeting house yard at a time of burial service.
Constables : David Dryden and William Lockridge succeed Samuel Dunlap; William Woods succeeds John McCown; Alexander Walker succeeds Michael Dougherty.
1749
Archibald Alexander, Benjamin Borden, William Jameson, Samuel Gay, John Lyle, John Mathews, and Richard Woods are on the list of justices.
Benjamin Borden to take the list of tithables from North River to the end of the county ; David Stuart, from the courthouse to North River.
1750
A road has been cleared over the Blue Ridge at "Woods's old gap" -- May 25.
Road ordered from John Hays' mill to Providence meeting house. Posts of direction to be set up.
Richard Burton, Robert Renick, John Poage, Peter Wallace, are to survey a road from Looney's Ferry to North River ; Benjamin Borden, John Thompson, Isaac Taylor, and William McClung are to survey to the intersection with the county road.
Road ordered from William Gay's to Robert Mccutchen's and thence to Robert Camp- bell's. Mccutchen to build the road with the help of William Elliott, Thomas Fulton, John Fulton, John Meek, Thomas Meek, John Williams, and John Gay.
John Maxwell, James McDowell, and Edward Hogan were in a canoe on the James, Sunday, May 13 (Old Style). The boat upset and Hogan was drowned. Coroner's jury at James Greenlee's, five days later : Michael Dougherty, Josiah F. Hendon, John Hitchins, Joshua Mathews, James Montgomery, John Poage, John Ramsey, John Vance, Matthew Vance, Samuel Walker, Joseph Walker, and Walker.
1751
William Lusk a justice.
Archibald Alexander, Michael Finney, John Hargrove, John Maxwell, and John Peter
56
A IUISTORY OF ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Salling are surveyors for a road from David Moore's Mill to Robert Poage's mill.
Order for read frem Hays' fullers mill to Timber Ridge meeting house.
Co tables Jane Phillips vice Samuel Mccutchen; William Elbott sice James Gay; Richard Cousart vice James Greenlee ; John Gilmore vice John Allison.
1752
James Young, miller, presented for taki7 toll twice
Roall orderel from Willam Cleghorn's to Purgatory.
Benlamin Borden to lay off a road from his house to Providence meeting house. John l'atten, surveyor.
I'etitioners for a road from Kennedy's mill to John Hou ton's, and from Houston's to the great road from Timber Grove to Woods' Gap: Robert Alexander. Andrew Duncan, Robert Dunlap, Walter Eakin, James Lakin, John Edmondson, John Handly. Patrick Hays. James Ihill. John Hou ton, Joseph Kennedy, William Lockridge. William McConnell, John Montgomery, Andrew Steele. Robert Stuart, John Stuart, Wilham Wardlaw, and John Wilson.
Petition of settlers on the lower Cowpasture petition for a road over the mountains to the Borden Tract-Oct. 19.
1753
225 wolf-heads turned in-Nov. 22.
Cornelius Bryan given permission to cut a roal at his own expense from the "bent" in Buffalo to Michael Dougherty's.
Members of grand jury. Nov. 20: Robert Bratton, James Lockridere. John Anderson. William Caruthers, Archibald Alexander, John Paxton, and Samuel MeClure. James Trimble, foreman.
John Paxton road overseer from Edmondson's mill to Fork Meeting House.
Order for a road from Campbell's schoolhouse to the Kenick road. Samuel Walker. overseer Workers . John Allison, Samuel Allison, Stephen Arnold, Richard Burton. Wilham Burt. William Byers, James Frazier, Henry Fuller, John Hutchings, Sr., John Hutchings, Jr. John Maxwell. John McColley. Richard Mathews. Samp on Mathews, William Noble, John Peteet, Joseph Ryan, Thomas Shaw, John Smith, Joseph Smith, John Sproul, John Peter Salling, George Salling, Mathew Vance. Samuel Walker.
1754
Several runaway servants laken up
Joseph Tees fred twenty shillings for saying, "he got nothing in this court but
Lancelot Graham con tal le on Great Calffa ture, William Rameay on Little Calfpasture Thomas Paxton constable to succeed John Lowry
1755
James Lackridge appointed a heutenant
Mary Mckorall bound over to keep the peace for putting John Cunningham in fear of los hie tunningham has tavern license. Order for a road from Isaac Taylor's to Tarr's shop. Abraham Brown con table below Brushy Hills in Forks of James.
1756
Mars, wife of William Whiteside, refuted separate maintenance. The court blames certain of Her relative for the breach.
57
ANNALS OF 1737-1777
Many claims for ranging and for the impressment of horses are ordered certified.
Valentine Utter and Mary, his wife, servants of John Paxton, are set free on con- sideration of their paying him twelve pounds.
Constables : David Doak vice Samuel Braford; Samuel Steele vice James Walker; Moses Whiteside in James Kennedy's company ; Samuel Wilson vice Alexander McNutt.
1757
Constables : John Shields vice John Henderson ; William Logan vice Andrew Campbell ; William Rhea vice Samuel Steele; John Paxton vice Abraham Brown; Thomas Kirk- patrick vice Thomas Berry.
1758
James Alexander becomes a captain.
John McCroskey road overseer from Alexander Miller's to the line of Beverly Manor ; Charles Hays, from Andrew Hays' mill to Captain Kennedy's.
Order for a road from Hays's mill to Timber Ridge meeting house. Overseers, Alexander Miller, Joseph Culton, and Archibald Alexander.
1759
Richard Woods, sheriff.
Samuel McDowell, captain, James McDowell, lieutenant, John Lyle, ensign.
1760
Joseph Culton granted mill license.
John Dickenson and James Lockridge to survey a road from John Wilson's to Panther Gap.
1761
John Paxton granted tavern license.
John Buchanan to take the list of tithables on the south side of the James, Richard Woods in the Forks, Archibald Alexander from North River to Beverly Manor, and James Lockridge in the Pastures and on Jackson's River.
John Mathews is road surveyor from North River to the junction with the road near Sharp's.
Archibald Alexander, Felix Gilbert, Andrew Hays, John Tate, John Buchanan, to survey a road from Stuart's to the top of the mountain near Rockfish Gap. Tithables to turn out from Woods Gap to Jennings Gap, and from between North Mountain and South Mountain to North River .- Aug. 19.
John Moore of Borden Tract presented for staying away from public worship.
1763
John Houston overseer of road from Timber Ridge to Providence.
James McDowell, captain, William McKee, lieutenant.
For having two children taught dancing Israel Christian is sued for five pounds. Thirty-three justices, inclusive of Richard Woods, John Bowyer, James Buchanan, Archibald Alexander, John Maxwell, and Samuel McDowell.
1764
John Paxton certifies to 7720 pounds of hemp.
John Anderson made oath to an account of five pounds expense in taking up his servant, Edward Lochan, who was absent twenty-nine days. Ordered that Lochan serve Anderson fifteen months extra time.
58
A HISTORY Of ROCKBRIIMI COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Daniel Lyle, William Kansas, and James Simpson to view a way from North River to James Stinsen's ( Stevenson ) on Buffalo.
Samuel and David Lyle to view from Wilham Davis's to Timber Ridge
John Mathews with wife and mix children were burned in and with their house accord- ing to a statement by Sampson Mathews. Christian Godfrey Milliron is bound on suspicion of being guilty of the deed
George Lewis is held for trial because of driving a wagen on Sunday.
1765
For provisions and impressed herses for the use of the militia, claims are turned in In Thomas Alexander, Robert Bratton, John Dunlap, William Ilhott. John Finlay, Hugh Fulton, James Mateer. Samuel Mccutchen, William McKemy, William McNahb, Daniel O'Treel, Thomas Poage, John and Mary Trimble, and Joseph Walkup.
Judith Kyles convicted of killing her bastard child.
John Greenlee road surveyor from John Mathews, Jr's., to Sinclair's Gap.
1766
James Cloud overseer of road from lower end of John Bowyer's plantation on James, by Cedar bridge, to Mathews road. Workers: John Berry, Matthew Hair, John Hall, William Hall. John Jones, John Logan, Janes MeClure, James Skidmore, George Skillern. Christopher Vineyard, Conrad Wall, George Wilson.
1767
Old and new roads from Isaac Taylor's to Timber Ridge meeting house
Andrew Hays, captain, Jane Cloyd, captain, James Lapsley, ensign.
Samuel Todd asks for a mill beense on Whistle Creek
View for a road ordered from Hanna's mill on Colher's Creek to George Gibson's at House Mountain.
Road open from Cowpasture to Gilmore's Gap.
1768
Thomas Paxton is making grape brandy.
Robert Steele has a mill
1700
James Cowden has a stone house near Samuel Mc Dowell's
John Summers constable in place of Alexander Dale.
Jacalı, a slave, ordered to have thirty nine lashes for shooting at the children of Alexander Moore.
1770
Charles Havs certifies to 2293 pounds of hemp.
George Mathews, sheriff.
John Havs, James McDowell, Samuel McDowell, and Archibald Houston are vestry- ren
John Callwell has leave to build an oil mill on South River.
1771
Bree Hanna contracter to do work at New Providence, failed and ran off Charles Car phell. Mexander Moore, William Walker, and James Walker, commissioners.
59
ANNALS OF 1737-1777
1773
Order for a road from Thomas Lackey's to Timber Ridge meeting house.
Alexander Stuart, neighbor to William McClung, granted mill license on Mill Creek. Samuel McDowell qualifies as justice.
For illegal selling of liquor, Thomas Mathews asks for corporal punishment in place of a fine. Twenty-one lashes to be given at once and costs imposed.
Road ordered from head of Kerr's Creek to North River. In 1774 the bridle-path is reported to be the most convenient way.
Hemp certificates given : to James McKee for 2290 pounds ; John McKee, 2415; Isaac Anderson, 2863; John McCown, 2566; Andrew Hays, 3300; James Kerr, 2372; James Lindsay, 1070.
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