USA > Virginia > Rockingham County > Rockingham County > A history of Rockingham County, Virginia > Part 3
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The sedimentary rocks of the county present every phase of sedimentary
1. Thos. L. Watson and Justus H. Cline, "Dikes of the Shenandoah Valley," in prepa- ration.
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
possibilities, and rocks of every age occur from the beginning of the Cambrian to the Lower Coal period. Starting with the oldest rocks of this type in the county we find sandstones, which are frequently conglomeritic, and shales of Cambrian age making up the foothills or lower ridges which flank the Blue Ridge on its western slope. This formation rests on the Catoc- tin Schist as a base and the material of which they are com- posed was probably derived from it and from other igneous and sedimentary formations to the east of the Blue Ridge. The thickness of the Cambrian sandstone and shale formation may be estimated at from 2000 to 3000 feet. The lower part of the formation is dominantly sandstone, and the upper part shaley. The age of the formation has been determined by the remains of animal life which are preserved extensively in one of the sandstone beds in the form of worm borings by the species scolithus linearis, characteristic of the Cambrian.
The Cambrian shales grade into Shenandoah limestone, which succeeds them without break in the sedimentary record, the lower part of the limestone formation also being Cam- brian. ยท
The thickness of the Shenandoah limestone is from 1500 to 2500 feet. The upper part is definitely known to be Or- dovician in age, from the fossils it contains, but there is no definite line of division marked between the known Ordo- vician and the known Cambrian. Five distinct divisions of this limestone in central western Virginia have been de- scribed by Prof. H. D. Campbell. These are, in ascending order, (1) Sherwood Limestone of Lower Cambrian age, (2) Buena Vista shales of Lower or Middle Cambrian age, (3) Natural Bridge limestone of Middle and Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician, (4) Murat limestone, and (5) Liberty Hall limestone of Middle Ordovician age. The Murat and Liberty are probably absent in Rockingham County, and their places occupied by the above and dolomitic limestones of Stones River age and the pure and argillaceous strata designated as the Chambersburg formation. Fossils found near Harrison- burg have identified both these formations at that place.
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A HISTORY OF
The Shenandoah limestone varies in color from a grey to dove color and blue. It contains frequent cherty beds, the weathering of which gives rise to the ridges and gravelly hills common in the county. Shaley beds also occur within the limestone of varying thickness. The most prominent of these are the Buena Vista shales of Cambrian age, which are easily recognized by their reddish color. In composition the rock varies from an almost pure limestone to dolomite, in which the lime is replaced largely by magnesia. The rock also shows widely varying percentages of clayey material and silica. The Chambersburg and Stones River formations and the associated Trenton shales afford splendid material for the manufacture of Portland cement.
In the upper part of the Shenandoah limestone shaley beds appear, which increase in frequency and thickness till the formation entirely gives way to the Martinsburg shale. This shale formation occupies a prominent synclinal trough extending entirely across the county. This syncline is known as the Massanutten syncline, since its position is partly oc- cupied by the mountain of the same name. The syncline is very persistent, and extends far beyond the limits of the mountain both to the northeast and southwest. There are also other minor areas of the shale formation which may be seen on the accompanying map. The thickness of the forma- tion is about 2000 feet. The fine blue slate lands of the county are underlain by the lower beds of this formation. The weathering of the shale gives rise to the characteristic rounded hills with oval crests, often very similar in form to the drum- lins of glacial origin in the northern part of the United States. The contact between the shale and limestone can readily be detected by the abrupt change in the topography.
The Martinsburg shale is succeeded by the Massanutten sandstone, so called from its occurrence in the mountain by that name. It is to the resistant character of this rock that the Massanutten mountain owes its existence. The thickness of the sandstone is about 500 feet. It varies from a reddish sandy shale to a coarse conglomerate and light grey massive
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ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
bedded quartzite. A typical exposure of this quartzite is found at the nose of Peaked Mountain. The formation also occurs in the Alleghany ridges. Its age is Silurian.
The rocks of the Alleghany ridges are as follows, given in order of age: (1) the Martinsburg shale and (2) Massa- nutten sandstone, which have been described above; (3) Rockwood formation of Silurian age, composed of reddish micaceous sandstones, which grade upward into reddish and brown shales capped with a bed of greyish to yellowish quartzite. The thickness of the formation is about 200 feet. (4) Lewistown limestone of Silurian age, containing numerous fossil corals and braciopods and remains of sponges and micro- scopic organisms. Its thickness is about 100 feet. (5) Mon- terey sandstone of Silurian and Devonian age, in part cal-
careous. The thickness is about 300 feet. (6) The dark colored Romney shales of Devonian age, which were deposited on the eroded surface of the Monterey sandstone. This non- conformity represents the only break in the sedimentary cycle within the bounds of Rockingham County. The thickness of the formation approaches 1000 feet. (7) Jennings formation, also of Devonian age, which is made up of olive to buff col- ored shales interstratified with massive fine-grained sand- stones. Its thickness is about 3000 feet. It is succeeded by the (8) Hampshire formation, made up of thinly bedded grey and reddish sandstone and thick bedded sandstone, all inter- bedded with thin layers of shale. The formation is as thick as 1400 feet, and it is of Devonian age. (9) The Pocono sandstone of Mississippian age, which is the youngest of the sedimentaries in the county. It is composed of light grey sandstones of a rather coarse texture, which are interbedded with thin layers of semi-anthracite coal. It is about 700 feet in thickness.
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The structure of the rocks of Rockingham County can best be understood by reference to the accompanying structure section. It will be remembered that the sedimentary rocks of the county were originally laid down by water in the order in which they now occur, but in a horizontal position. The
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A HISTORY OF
beds are rarely found in this position, but have been folded into anticlines and synclines and frequently broken by great overthrust faults and also by simple gravity faults.
Since the folding and faulting of the region, erosion has been active, so that now the mountain ridges frequently oc- cupy the position of the synclines, as in the case of the Mas- sanutten mountain; and the river valleys in the same way oc- cupy the position of the anticlines. The Valley province is not a structural valley, but it is entirely the product of erosion. The material which once occupied its position, being less re- sistant to the forces of degradation, was disintegrated by chemical and mechanical forces and carried by the streams to the sea. The streams which have been responsible for this work have suffered likewise many changes, and now in a small measure only resemble their early ancestors. The drainage of the county at the beginning of the long cycle of erosion which developed its present land forms seems to have been controlled by two master streams. One of these streams occupied a position similar to North River, in the latitude of Bridgewater, and the other a position similar to the North Fork, in the latitude of Brock's Gap; the North River flowing across the Valley and Blue Ridge, possibly through Brown's Gap, and the North Fork across the Valley and the Massan- utten Mountain at New Market and the Blue Ridge opposite Luray. Since the limestones of the Valley were more easily eroded than the harder rocks of the Blue Ridge, and since the Potomac came to be the master stream because of its size, tributaries of the Potomac flowing northward over the soft rocks of the valley were finally able to intercept these streams, first the North Fork at Luray and later the North River at Port Republic. Subsequently to these captures the Valley has been lowered many hundred feet below its level at the time the captures took place.
The limestones of the Valley province are responsible for the numerous beautiful limestone caverns and bold springs which are so common, as well as for the remarkable fertility of the soils of the county, which has made her one of the
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ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
most desirable agricultural districts in the entire country. The hand of Providence working through long ages has pre- pared a habitation for men, which in the beauty of topography and landscape, fertility of soil, excellence of water, delight- fulness of climate, luxuriance of vegetation, and all natural environment that makes for human happiness, can hardly be excelled in the entire world.
MASSANUTTEN MOUNTAIN.
By MISS RUTH CONN.
Where the peak of old Massanutten Doth bare his broad dome to the skies, And clad with the strength of Creation Unmindful of ages doth rise,
He guards day and night our green valley; For Nature who made it so fair, Grew alarmed for her beautiful treasure, And placed him as sentinel there.
When the gray morning mists of the Valley, That are wont to encircle his crest, Have long faded into the sunlight, And wandering winds are at rest,
When from off of his summit has faded The glow of the evening bars, He brings from the worlds shining o'er him Sweet dreams to our "Child of the Stars."
This sacred trust of Creation He kept since the world began, Till he smiled on the red man's wigwam And the hut of the first white man.
And oft in the struggles that followed, He echoed the martial tramp, And sheltered the fires where our fathers Lay waiting with Stonewall in camp.
He has stood with us in every struggle, Though burdened methinks with our pain; He has pointed to courage and patience, And helped us new visions to gain.
Oh, fairer than Italy's mountains, Or Switzerland's snow-crowned towers, He is to the sons of the Valley- This rugged old mountain of ours !
Dear old Peak, thou art guarding thy treasure: May men to their trust prove as true ! Not one of Virginia's blue mountains Is so dear to our hearts as are you.
McGaheysville, Rockingham County, Virginia, May, 1912.
CHAPTER III. THE FIRST WHITE SETTLERS. 1727-1738.
From the best information at hand, it appears that the settlement of Rockingham and adjacent sections of the Valley of Virginia began in or about the year 1727. As in all similar cases, exploration preceded permanent settlement. First, therefore, let us take a preliminary survey of the earliest known explorations.
In 1669, the same year that La Salle came down to the falls of the Ohio, John Lederer, a German of education, said to have been once a Franciscan monk, came up from James- town and entered the Valley at or near Waynesboro; in 1670 he crossed the Valley at or near Front Royal and Strasburg. Once above, once below the present boundaries of Rocking- ham, this German thus seemed to be marking out the district in which his fellow-countrymen should in the years to come build their homes and till their fruitful fields. Lederer's journal, giving an account of his explorations, with accom- panying map, was printed in an English translation at London in 1672, and again at Rochester, N. Y., in 1902.
In 1705 the Governor, Council, and Burgesses of Virginia offered a monopoly of trade to any person or persons who should thereafter "at his or their own charge, make discovery of any town or nation of Indians, situate or inhabiting to the westward of, or between the Appalatian mountains."1 This was an act obviously intended to encourage pioneering west of the Blue Ridge. What response it elicited we do not know, but it may well be imagined that not many years passed before
1. Hening's Statutes, Vol. III, page 468.
A HISTORY OF
some adventurous trader fared westward upon the heels of the hope it engendered.
In 1716 Governor Spotswood made his famous expedition into the Valley, coming across the Blue Ridge, as we judge, at Swift Run Gap, and finding a land of "seek-no-farther" in the broad river plains about or above Elkton. We generally look upon Spotswood as doing for the Virginians, in respect to the Valley, what Caesar did for the Romans, in respect to Britain: as discovering it for them: and even as it was a cen- tury before the Romans followed Caesar westward, so it was at least a decade before the Virginians began to follow Spots- wood. In the meantime Germans occasionally came in from the northeast. More of Spotswood and his knights at another place.
In 1722 Michael Wohlfarth, a German sectarian, is re- ported to have passed down through the Valley of Virginia going from Pennsylvania to North Carolina ;? Dr. J. A. Wad- dell, after investigating various sources of information, is satisfied that in or about the year 1726 John Salling and John Mackey explored the Valley, both settling therein later;3 and it is likely that other white men, Germans, Scotch-Irish, and English, at other times before as well as after, walked in this great highway of nature from north to south.
We are now coming to the time of permanent settlement, which we are able to fix some five years earlier than 1732, the date so long accepted as marking the beginnings in the Valley. . In 1732 Jost Hite, with a number of other Germans, settled in the section now marked by Winchester; and in the same year John Lewis, with a number of other Scotch-Irish, located at or near the place where Staunton now stands; but it appears that as early as 1727 Adam Miller, a German, per- haps with a few others of his own nationality, was staking out claims on the south fork of the Shenandoah River, on or near the line that now divides Rockingham County from Page.
2. Sachse's German Sectarians, Vol. II, page 332.
3. Waddell's Annals of Augusta, edition 1902, page 24.
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On March 13, 1741-2, Adam Miller received from Gov- ernor William Gooch a certificate of naturalization, which re- cites that the said Miller had been a resident on the Shenan- doah for the past fifteen years. This fixes the date of his first settlement in 1726-7.4 In 1733, eight men, Adam Miller being one, addressed Governor Gooch in a petition, pray- ing him to confirm their title to 5000 acres of land in Mas- sanutting, purchased about four years past for more than 400 pounds from Jacob Stover, reciting that they had moved upon the said land from Pennsylvania immediately after the pur- chase, and that they had located thereon at the time of the petition nine plantations and 51 people.5 This would fix the date of settlement of the Massanutting colony in 1729 or 1730.
On June 17, 1730, Jacob Stover, a native of Switzerland, was granted leave by the colonial council to take up 10,000 acres of land on the south fork of the Shenandoah, for the settlement of himself and divers Germans and Swiss whom he proposed to bring thither within the next two years, the said land to be laid off in such tracts as he should judge fitting.6 Stover selected his grant in two tracts, of 5000 acres each, one along the river between the present Luray and Elkton, the other along the same river, higher up, between
4. The certificate is in the possession of Adam Miller's great-great-X granddaughter, Miss Elizabeth B. Miller, of Elkton, Va. It was printed in the William and Mary College Quarterly, October, 1900, and in Way- land's "German Element," pages 37, 38, in 1907.
5. The full text of this petition may be found in Palmer's Calendar of State Papers, Vol. I, pp. 219, 220, and in Wayland's "German Ele- ment," pp. 35, 36. It bears no date, but the date has been conclusively determined, by various circumstances, to be 1733.
6. From records of the proceedings of the Council. These records, particularly such as refer to the settlement of the Valley of Virginia, were published in 1905-6 in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biog- raphy, Richmond, with valuable supplementary notes by Mr. Chas. E. Kemper, of Washington, D. C.
Jacob Stover was an interesting character-enterprising to a fault, it would seem. It is charged that some of his representations in
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A HISTORY OF
Elkton and Port Republic." The conditions upon which Stover received his grant were that he should actually locate a family of settlers upon each thousand acres within two years. These were the conditions usually imposed upon those receiving large grants of land at that time. Upon satisfactory proof that these conditions had been discharged, a permanent title was given.
The names of the eight petitioners of 1733, who had bought land in Massanutten of Jacob Stover in 1729 or 1730, were as follows:
Adam Miller8 Philip Long Hans Rood10
Abram Strickler Paul Long Michael Kaufman
Mathias Selzer9 Michael Rhinehart
The family names of all these men, with perhaps one or two exceptions, are to-day familiar and widely distributed, not only in the counties of Rockingham, Page, and Shenan- doah, but also in many quarters beyond the limits of Virginia.
It is quite probable that Adam Miller at first pre-empted his claim on the Shenandoah by squatter right, later meet- ing properly the requirements of advancing governmental authority. It is possible, moreover, that the enterprising Stover sold him and his friends the Massanutten tract before the said Stover himself had a grant for it, since, as we have & seen, the latter did not receive his grant until June 17, 1730. The alarm of the eight petitioners of 1733 arose from fear
securing grants of land were worthy of Machiavelli. See Kercheval's History of the Valley of Virginia, reprint of 1902, page 46.
7. Mr. Chas. E. Kemper fixes the location of Stover's lower tract of 5000 acres, likely the same purchashed by Adam Miller and others in 1729, between Bear Lithia Spring, two miles below Elkton, in Rockingham County, and Newport, a village 12 miles further down the river, in Page County. See Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, January, 1906, pp. 295-297. It should be stated, however, that the little vale and the village that still retain the name of Massanutten are a few miles far- ther northeast, beyond Newport.
8. Adam Miller, who appears to have been the first settler of Rock- ingham and adjacent sections of the Valley, was born probably at Schrei-
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ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
that William Beverly had an earlier or better claim than Stover. They had learned that Beverly was bringing suit against Stover for the land in question.
On May 5, 1732, William Beverly, son of Robert Beverly the historian of Virginia, had received a grant of 15,000 acres on the Shenandoah River, including "a place called the Massanutting Town," provided the same did not interfere with any previous grants made in that section. Obviously
sheim, Germany, the native place of Alexander Mack, about the year 1700. He came early in life to Lancaster County, Pa., with his wife and an unmarried sister. Later, going to Williamsburg, Va., he heard of the beautiful valley between the mountains from some Spotswood knights, and followed their path westward, crossing the Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap. Having seen and desired the goodly land in the river plain below, he brought his family thither. He secured first the "uppermost of the Massanutten lots," near the present Page County line, but probably in Rockingham; in 1741 he purchased 820 acres, including the great lithia spring near Elkton, and was living thereon in 1764 when he sold 280 acres thereof to his son-in-law, Jacob Bear. Here Adam Miller lived till he died about 1780, and here the Bear family still resides, the spring being known as Bear Lithia Spring. He was a soldier in the French and Indian War, as shown by the military schedule for 1758 in Hening's Statutes. In religion he was a Lutheran, and was probably buried at St. Peter's Church, four miles north of Elkton. Among his descendants are the Mil- lers, Bears, Kempers, Yanceys, Gibbons, Hopkins, Mauzys, Harnsberg- ers, and other prominent families of East Rockingham. A descendant, Hon. Chas. E. Kemper of Washington City, deserves special mention for his valuable publications regarding the pioneer.
9. Mathias Selzer of "Missinotty" is referred to by Gottschalk, a Mo- ~ ravian missionary, in his journal of 1748 as "the son-in-law of Jacob Bey- erly, of Lancaster"; as rich, generous, and respected in the whole region, but as bitter against the Moravians. He was evidently a Lutheran. In 1751 he was one of the justices of Augusta County (Summers' History of Southwestern Virginia, p. 821), a fact which shows that he lived south- west of the Fairfax line.
10. Hans Rood (John Rhodes) was doubtless the Mennonite preacher visited at Massanutten by Gottschalk in 1748, and, with his family, mas- sacred by Indians in 1766. See Virginia Magazine of History and Biog- raphy, July, 1904, page 69, and Kercheval's History of the Valley of Vir- ginia, reprint of 1902, pp. 101, 102. It is likely that Abram Strickler and Michael Kaufman were also Mennonites.
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A HISTORY OF
there was an interference of this grant with the one made to Stover in 1730. On December 12, 1733, Beverly entered a caveat against Stover, but the latter was sustained in his title, and given deeds for his two tracts of 5000 acres each on the 15th of December, 1733.11 The fears of the eight petitioners, who held their title from Stover, were thus evi- dently set at rest.
Recalling now the fact that Stover's upper tract of 5000 acres,"as well as the lower one, was granted upon the condi- tion that at least one family should be located on each 1000 acres within two years, and observing that he got full title for both tracts in December, 1733, we may safely conclude that no less than five families were settled by that date along the river between the points now marked by Elkton and Port Republic. Beginning, therefore, at or near the Fairfax line, which marked the northeast boundary of Rockingham till 1831, and following up the south fork of the Shenandoah River past the places now known as Shenandoah City, Elkton, and Island Ford to Lynnwood and Port Republic, we may say that at least fifteen families, all probably German or Swiss, were settled in that district by December, 1733. Counting five persons to a family, there were likely no less than 75 individ- uals; and among these we know the names of nine: Adam Miller, Abram Strickler, Mathias Selzer, Philip Long, Paul Long, Michael Rhinehart, Hans Rood, Michael Kaufman, and Jacob Stover-all doubtless heads of families.
On April 23, 1734, the colonial council received a petition from a number of the inhabitants living on the northwest side of "the Blue Ridge of Mountains," that is to say in the Valley, praying that some persons in their section be appointed magistrates to determine differences and punish offenders. These petitioners lived so far away from Fredericksburg, the county-seat of Spotsylvania, and consequently so far from
11. See records of the colonial council; also extracts therefrom printed in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, October, 1905, and January, 1906.
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ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
the regular administration of justice, that the reasonableness of their request was obvious. Accordingly, Joost Hyte, Morgan Morgan, John Smith, Benjamin Bourden, and George Hobson were appointed justices within the limits aforesaid- that is, in the Valley. Hite and one or more of the others lived in the lower Valley, but it is likely that one or two of the five either lived in the upper Valley, or were frequently prospecting in that section. Burden later had large holdings of land in what is now Rockbridge County and adjacent sec- tions.
Moreover, in August, 1734, just a few months after the aforesaid petition was presented, the county of Orange was formed. This was an act likely intended to be a still more satisfactory response to the request and desire of the Valley settlers for the efficient administration of law and justice. It shows the growth of political organization westward, and also indicates that the settlement of the Valley had reached a somewhat general stage by 1734. The rapid development from 1734 to 1738 is implied in the fact that in 1738 an Act was passed providing for the organization of the Valley and the country westward therefrom into the counties of Freder- ick and Augusta.
Let us now give attention to a number of items that show the progress of settlement from 1734 to 1738 in more detail.
On October 28, 1734, John Taylor, Thomas Lee, and William Beverly obtained a grant of 60,000 acres of land on the Shenandoah River, beginning on Stover's upper tract. This grant accordingly must have extended southwest from the vicinity of Port Republic, up the river past Grottoes, and a considerable distance into the present limits of Augusta County. It was bestowed upon the usual conditions, that one family be located upon each thousand acres within two years. 12
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