USA > Virginia > Albemarle County > Albemarle County > Albemarle County in Virginia; giving some account of what it was by nature, of what it was made by man, and of some of the men who made it > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33
155
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
BURCH.
In 1763 Thomas Burch, of Caroline County, together with Ritchins Brame, purchased from Francis Jerdone four hun - dred acres on Ivy Creek, a part of the Michael Holland tract, of which another part is the present Farmington. He died in 1775, leaving his widow Sarah, and fourteen children, Mary, the wife of a Howlett, Cheadle, John, Benjamin, Keziah, the wife of a Cook, William, Sarah, the wife of a Bowles, Ann, Frances, Samuel, Joseph, Richard, Jean Stapleton, the wife of John Rodes, son of the first Clifton, and Thomas. His widow and James Kerr were designated executors of his will. As to what became of most of this large family, no sign remains.
Samuel was shot by George Carter in his own door on Main Street in Charlottesville in 1800. His house was situ- ated about where the store of T. T. Norman now stands. His wife, who was Mary, daughter of James Kerr, with her daughter Sarah, who became the wife of Robert Andrews, re- moved to Fleming County, Kentucky, and their interest in the lot on which Samuel had lived, was sold to William Thombs in 1828. Two sons, Thomas D. and James Kerr settled in Wake County, North Carolina, James K., whose wife's name was Helen, became a Presbyterian minister, preached at one time in Kentucky, and in his last years removed to Missouri. His daughter, Catharine was the wife of the distinguished divine of Kentucky, Dr. Nathan L. Rice.
Joseph Burch in 1786 married Mary, daughter of the elder Clifton Rodes and his wife Sarah, daughter of John Waller, of Pamunky. He removed to Kentucky. A son of Joseph was the Rev. Clifton R. Burch, whose daughter was the wife of John C. Breckinridge, the Vice President; and a daughter of Joseph was the wife of Waller Bullock, and mother of the late Rev. J. J. Bullock, of Baltimore and Washington.
Richard Burch married Lucy, daughter of William Barks- dale in 1791. He was the owner of what is now known as the Ivy Cottage plantation, which was no doubt a part of his father's place. In 1793 he entered upon a contest with Moses Bates in regard to the erection of a mill on Ivy Creek; and
156
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
in 1813 the Court decided that the right to the bed of the creek belonged to Burch. Meanwhile he devoted himself to tavern keeping. He conducted a public house at Stony Point, then at Michie's Old Tavern, and still later at the Swan in Charlottesville. In 1821 he was engaged in the same business in Lovingston, Nelson County.
BURNLEY.
John Burnley, an Englishman, who lived in Hanover County, returned to England in 1771, leaving in Virginia a will of that date, but making another in England in 1778. In both of these he bequeathed property to a son Zachariah, and to daughters, Elizabeth and Keziah, who were both married to Dukes. A litigation followed respecting these bequests, and was protracted through a period of fifty years. Hardin Burnley, a brother or son of John, obtained patents for land in Albemarle from 1749 to 1764. Zachariah, prob - ably the one already mentioned, and a citizen of Orange County, purchased in 1767 from Dr. Arthur Hopkins nearly fifteen hundred acres on Hardware and Totier, which Hardin had patented, but forfeited for non-payment of quit rents. In 1788 he also purchased upwards of four hundred acres at the mouth of Priddy's Creek, which he shortly after sold to Peter Clarkson. Nicholas Mills, of Hanover, in 1786 con - veyed to James Burnley, of Louisa, a considerable tract of land on Beaver Creek, north of Mechum's River Depot, and from the nominal consideration specified it is likely he was Mill's son-in-law. He fixed his residence there, as did his son John also; but toward the close of the century they appear to have sold to other persons, and removed elsewhere.
A Reuben Burnley was the owner of Lots Seventy - Three and Seventy-Four in Charlottesville, the square on which Dr. W. G. Rogers resides, and with his wife Harriet conveyed them in 1806 to Dr. Charles Everett. A James Burnley purchased about eighty acres north and northeast of the Uni- versity in 1803, but dying before the deed was made, the prop- erty was conveyed to his wife Ann. He left a daughter Mary, who was married first to John L. O'Neal, and secondly to
157
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
Daniel Piper, and in the decade of 1820 she and her second husband soid this land to different persons, in part to the University. When the estate of Cornelius Schenk was sold, Ann bought Lots Sixty-Seven and Sixty-Eight, immediately west of the Episcopal Church, and lived there for many years, selling them in 1837 to Alonzo Gooch. From her the spring at the foot of the hill, at the junction of the extension of High Street with the Whitehall Road, formerly went by the name of Burnley's Spring. There can hardly be a doubt that all these Burnleys, as well as those mentioned hereafter, derived their descent from the same stock.
Of eight brothers of the name belonging to Louisa County, two, and the descendants of two others, settled in Albemarle. Seth Burnley lived north of Hydraulic Mills, married Ann, daughter of Horsley Goodman, and died in 1857. He was succeeded by his son James H., who married Mildred, daugh- ter of John J. Bowcock. Nicholas, who lived in the Beaver Creek nieghborhood, married Susan, daughter of James Har- ris. He left two sons, James Harris and Joel, who removed to Pickaway County, Ohio, and a daughter Mary, who was the wife of John T. Wood. Samuel, the son of Henry Burn- ley, pursued for many years the calling of a teacher. He married Martha, the daughter of his cousin Nathaniel, and spent his last days on his farm on Mechunk, not far from Union Mills. He died in 1875. A sister of Samuel, Mildred, became the wife of Crenshaw Fretwell, and four of his nieces the wives of Judge George P. Hughes, James F. Burnley, A. J. Wood and J. R. Wingfield. Nathaniel, the son of John Burnley, settled in the early part of the century at Stony Point, where he kept tavern for many years. In 1829, in partnership with Rice W. Wood, he bought from John M. Perry the Hydraulic Mills, where he transacted the milling and mercantile business until his death in 1860. In 1811 he married Sarah, daughter of the elder Drury Wood, and his children were James F., William, Horace, Drury, Martha, the wife of Samuel Burnley, Lucy, the wife of Charles Vest, Mary J., the wife of Dr. Garland A. Garth, Emily, the wife of Burwell Garth, and Cornelia, the wife of James P. Railey.
,
1 58
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
Nathaniel's sister Elizabeth was married in 1816 to Hudson Fretwell.
BUSTER.
A family named Buster, occasionally spelled in the records Bustard, was settled in the county at, or soon after, its for - mation. Its head was William, who lived in North Garden on the north fork of Hardware, near where the old White mill stood. He was one of the signers of the call to Rev. Samuel Black. A bridge called by his name spanned the stream near by, and was a landmark in the vicinity up to the end of the last century. As early as 1749, his wife Elizabeth was left a widow. He had certainly two sons, John and Claudius, who were the owners of more than three hundred acres on the Hardware. Both also bought land on the head waters of Mechum's River. John was for a time a citizen of Augusta County. About 1785 he established himself on Moore's Creek, a mile or two south of Jesse Maury's resi - dence. He was a ruling elder in the D. S. Church, and died in 1820, aged eighty-three. He was twice married, first to Elizabeth Woods, and secondly, to Alice, daughter of John Gilliam. His children were Ann, the wife of John Wingfield, Martha, the wife of Matthew Wingfield, Sarah, the wife of Dixon Dedman, Margaret, the wife of William Foster, Eliza- beth, the wife of George Moore, Patience, the wife of Levi Wheat, Claudius and David.
Claudius about 1785 purchased the D. S., where he kept tavern until his death in 1807. He and his wife Dorcas had eleven children, John, Mary, the wife of James Hays, the founder of New York, William, Claudius, Thomas, Benja - min, Patience, the wife of Charles Bailey, Nancy, the wife of William Garland, Robert, Charles Franklin and Elizabeth. Claudius, whose wife's name was Ann, and Thomas re- moved to Kanawha, where Thomas was a Justice of the Peace in 1819. Another of the sons, thought to be Charles Franklin, removed to Loudoun County, whence his descend- ants afterwards went to Greenbrier, of which county one of them was recently the Clerk.
A Buster, no doubt another son of William and Elizabeth,
1 59
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
married Mary, daughter of Thomas Smith, and had two sons, John and David. These brothers in 1784 bought a tract of land on the old Richard Woods Road southwest of Ivy Depot, part of which they sold to William Gooch. John also owned the land in North Garden east of Israel's Gap, which he sold in 1799 to Thomas Carr, and which was the home of his son Dabney Carr for more than three score years. John Buster in 1786 married Lucy, daughter of Mask Leake, and about the beginning of the century removed to Charlotte County.
CARR.
Major Thomas Carr, of King William, commenced entering land within the present bounds of Albemarle in 1730. Up to 1737 he had patented more than five thousand acres along the north fork of Rivanna, and on the west side of the South West Mountain. The most of this land he gave to his son John, of Bear Castle, Louisa. John, who died about 1769, was twice married, first to Mary Dabney, and secondly to Barbara Overton. His children were Thomas, Dabney, Samuel, Overton, Garland, and Sarah, the wife of Nathaniel Anderson, who resided on the old glebe of St. Anne's. Thomas married Mary Clarkson, and his children were John Manoah, Dabney, Thomas, Samuel, and Mary, the wife of Howell Lewis, of North Garden. He lived on the south fork of the Rivanna, and died in 1807. John M. was the Clerk of the District Court of Charlottesville, and the first Clerk of the Circuit Court of Albemarle, which office he filled till 1819. His home was at Belmont, the residence of the late Slaughter Ficklin. His wife was Jane, the daughter of Col- onel Charles Lewis, of North Garden, and his children Charles Lewis, a physician, who married Ann, widow of Richard P. Watson, and practised in North Garden, John H., who married Malinda, daughter of Manoah Clarkson, Nathaniel, Willis, a physician, who married Mary Ann Gaines, and practised in the vicinity of Ivy, and Jane. Most of this family, it is believed, emigrated to Kentucky. Dabney married Lucy, daughter of John Digges, of Nelson, lived in he southwest corner of North Garden, near the foot of Israel's Gap, and died in 1862, about ninety years of age.
160
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
Dabney, the second son of John, was the rising orator of Revolutionary times, mentioned by Wirt in his Life of Patrick Henry. He married Martha, sister of Mr. Jefferson. He lived in Goochland, but died in 1773 in Charlottesville, whither he had come on business. He was buried at old Shadwell, but in consequence of an agreement made in youth- ful friendship, Mr. Jefferson had his remains removed to Monticello, where it was the first of a long list of distin - guished interments in the present cemetery. His children were Peter, Samuel, Dabney, Martha, the wife of Richard Terrell. Jane, the wife of Miles Cary, and Ellen, the wife of Dr. Newsom, of Mississippi. Peter studied law, was some time Mr. Jefferson's private secretary when President, married Hester Smith Stevenson, a young widow of Baltimore, lived at Carrsbrook, was appointed a magistrate, but soon resigned, and died in 1815. He left three children, Dabney, minister to Turkey six years from 1843, Ellen, wife of William B. Buchanan, of Baltimore, and Jane Margaret, wife of Wilson M. Cary. Samuel lived at Dunlora, was a magistrate, Colo- nel of cavalry in the war of 1812, member of the House of Delegates and the State Senate, married first his cousin Ellen Carr, and secondly Maria, sister of Major William S. Dabney, was the father of James Lawrence, of Kanawha, and Colonel George, of Roanoke, and died in Kanawha in 1849. Dabney began life as a lawyer in Charlottesville, married his cousin Elizabeth Carr, lived where Ira Garrett so long resided, and after being Chancellor of the Winchester District, became Judge of the Court of Appeals in 1824. He died in Rich- inond in 1837 .
Samuel, the third son of John Carr, was an officer in the Navy, married a Mrs. Riddick, of Nansemond, and died without children. He devised his place Dunlora to his nephew and namesake, Samuel.
Overton, fourth son of John, married a Mrs. Anderson, and resided in Maryland. His two daughters, Ellen and Eliza- beth, became the wives of Colonel Samuel and Judge Dabney. A son, Jonathan Boucher, came to this county, married his cousin Barbara, daughter of Garland Carr, settled in Char-
161
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
lottesville as a lawyer, was Commonwealth's Attorney for eleven years from 1818, bought Dabney Carr's place, and sold it to Ira Garrett when he moved to the country, lived where Dr. H. O. Austin recently resided, and finally emigrated to Missouri. He was the father of Mary Ann, wife of Hugh Minor. Another son, Overton, was for many years Door- keeper of the House of Representatives at Washington.
Garland, youngest son of John, was a magistrate of the county, and lived at Bentivar, where he died in 1838. He married Mary, daughter of William Winston, of Hanover, and his children were Francis, Daniel Ferrel, James O., Barbara, the wife of J. Boucher Carr, Elizabeth, the wife of Rev. John D. Paxton, of Rockbridge, and Mary, the wife of Achilles Broadhead, who succeeded William Woods as County Surveyor, removed to Missouri, and was the father of the late Hon. James O. Broadhead, of St. Louis, and Pro- fessor Garland C., of the University of Missouri. Francis was in many ways a useful man, a physician, a teacher, an editor, Secretary of the County Agricultural Society, Secre - tary of the Faculty of the University, and for many years an active magistrate. He also served as Sheriff in 1839. He married first Virginia, daughter of Richard Terrell, and sec- ondly Maria, daughter of Richard Morris. He had two sons, Peter, who removed to Missouri, and the late F. E. G. He lived in town in the one story frame in the rear of the late Thomas Wood's, and in the country at Red Hill, where he died in 1854. Daniel Ferrel succeeded his father at Bentivar, married Emily, daughter of William Terrell, and died in 1847, leaving his estate to his son, Dr. W. G. Carr. James O., married Mary, daughter of Richard H. Allen, lived at the Meadows, the present residence of H. C. Michie, and near the close of his life removed to Amherst, where he died in 1864.
William Carr was the patentee of upwards of four thou - sand acres on the north fork of the Rivanna, above that entered by Major Thomas Carr, and embracing the region lying west of the Burnt Mills. He was also granted a tract
-11
162
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
of four hundred acres on Buck Mountain Creek. These entries were made from 1737 to 1740. After the death of William, his widow Susan was married to Lodowick O'Neal. He had a son Thomas, and a daughter Phoebe, the wife of Walter Chiles; these persons who sold portions of the land above mentioned, belonged to Spotsylvania. A part of this land also was the property of Mordecai Hord, during his residence in the county. It is likely William had another son named Charles, as in 1780 a part of the same land that William had entered, and that "had formerly belonged to Charles Carr," was sold by Walter Carr (presumably a son of Charles) and his wife Elizabeth.
Three other Carrs, heads of families, lived on the west side of the South West Mountain, south of Stony Point. What relation they bore to each other, or to those already men - tioned, is not known; but there can scarcely be a question that they were all derived from the same source. Their names were Gideon, Micajah and John. Gideon died in 1795. His children were William, Thomas, Mary, the wife of Thomas Travillian, John, Gideon, Nancy, the wife of Ben- jamin Thurman, Micajah, Elizabeth, the wife of John Fitch, and Meekins. It is probable most of the descendants of this family emigrated to the West. A notice of the death of Thomas Carr is extant, in which it is stated that he was the son of Gideon Carr, a pioneer settler on the Little Mountain in Albemarle, that he removed to Wilson County, Tennessee in 1807, and that he died in 1821 in the seventy-ninth year of his age.
Micajah died in 1812. He was at one time the owner of Colle. He and his wife Elizabeth had ten children, Mary, the wife of W. J. Blades, Martha, the wife of Daniel Shackel- ford, Mildred, the wife of James Travillian, David, James, John, Henley, the wife of Gideon C. Travillian, Sarah, the wife of John H. Maddox, George, who in early life taught school in Charlottesville, and at the time of his death in 1886 was the Nestor of the Albemarle bar, and Burton, who removed to Green County, Kentucky.
John Carr was a successful man. He became the owner
163
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
by purchase of more than fifteen hundred acres in different parts of the county. He died in 1809. He and his wife Elizabeth had nine children, David, who married Eliza, daughter of Achilles Bowcock, Thomas D., Mary, the wife of Wiley Dickerson, Malinda, the wife of Drury Wood, Nancy, the wife of Allen Jones, Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Salmon, Sarah, the wife of James Early, Anderson, who removed to Montgomery County, Tennessee, and John F., who removed to Nelson County.
CARTER.
John Carter obtained in 1730 the grant of nine thousand, three hundred and fifty acres, which embraced the whole of what is still called Carter's Mountain. It seems strange he should have taken up a rugged mountain, when the whole country lay before him to choose from, the Biscuit Run valley, the fair campaign between Moore's and Meadow Creeks, the fertile lands of Ivy, the North and South Gar- dens, and the Rich Cove; but perchance, having spent all his days in the tidewater district, wearied with its flatness, and languid from its malaria, the breezy summits of the mountains had a peculiar charm in his eyes. He was the eldest son of Robert (King) Carter, and was made Secretary of the Colony in 1721; for which appointment it is said he paid fifteen hundred pounds sterling. He also patented ten thousand acres on Piney and Buffalo Rivers in Amherst. He died in 1742, about two years before the formation of Albemarle; hence the title frequently given him in the early records in connection with places associated with his name, the late Secretary's Ford, Road, Mill, &c. He never lived in the county, but had in it two establishments, both fur - nished with a large number of servants, the Mill improvement on the west side of the mountain, on the north fork of Hardware, and the other on the east side called Clear Mount, perhaps the same with Redlands, or Blenheim. His eldest son Charles succeeded to his patrimonial estate in Lancas- ter, but his lauds in Albemarle were given to his son Edward. Edward married Sarah Champe, and in his early life lived
164
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
in Fredericksburg, but in his latter years spent much of his time at Blenheim. He represented the county in the House of Burgesses with Dr. Thomas Walker from 1767 to 1769, and in the House of Delegates with George Nicholas in 1788. He died in 1792. His children were John, Charles, Edward, William Champe, Hill, George, Whitaker, Robert, Eliza - beth, the wife of William Stanard, uncle of Judge Robert Stanard, Sarah, the wife of her cousin George Carter, Jane, the wife of Major Verminet, Mary, the wife of Francis T. Brooke, Judge of the Court of Appeals, and Aun W. Troup.
Charles married Elizabeth, daughter of Fielding Lewis, and among his children was Maria, the wife of Professor George Tucker, of the University, and mother of Eliza, wife of Professor Gessner Harrison, and Maria, second wife of George Rives.
Edward married- Mary R., daughter of Colonel Charles Lewis, of North Garden, and had among other children by this marriage Dr. Charles Carter. His second wife was Lucy, daughter of Valentine Wood and Lucy Henry, sister of the famous orator. He sold his possessions in Albemarle, and removed to Amherst.
William Champe married Maria Farley, lived at one time at Viewmont, which he purchased from Governor Edmund Randolph, and subsequently removed to Culpeper. His daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Samuel Sterrow, of that county. Hill lived in Amherst, and married there it, is said, a Miss Rose.
George became insane, and was no doubt suffering from mental derangement, when in 1800 he was bound over for challenging James Lewis, and a few days after killed Samuel Burch. Mr. Jefferson in a letter to his daughter dated July fourth refers to this event : "A murder in our neighborhood is the theme of present conversation. George Carter shot Burch of Charlottesville in his own door, and on very slight provocation. He died in a few minutes. The examining Court meets to morrow." As the result of the trial, he was sent to the Asylum, where he continued until his death in 1816.
165
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
Whitaker never married, and squandered his property by dissipation. He died in Charlottesville in 1821. A year or two before his death he conveyed to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Mary Eliza Carter, one-seventh and one-twelfth of a parcel of land in Fluvanna, about twenty-five acres near Scott's Ferry, devised by Edward Carter to his seven youngest sons ; in the consideration for this fag-end of a handsome estate, "for kindness, pecuniary and other favors," there was some- thing sadly pathetic.
Robert married Mary Eliza, daughter of John Coles. He lived at Redlands, just east of Carter's Bridge, where he died comparatively young in 1810. His children were John Coles, who married Ellen Monroe Bankhead, was a magistrate, was once the owner of Farmington, and moved to Missouri. Rob- ert H., who succeeded his father at Redlands, was admitted to the bar, was appointed a magistrate, and married Margaret Smith, a granddaughter of Gov. W. C. Nicholas, Mary, the first wife of George Rives, and Sarah, the wife of Dr. Benjamin F. Randolph.
CLARK.
Christopher Clark was a large land owner in Louisa, and obtained grants within the present limits of Albemarle in 1732. He was a Quaker, and with his son Bowling was overseer of a Friends' Meeting House, which was situated on land he had entered near the Sugar Loaf peak of the South West Mountain. He and Bowling also took out patents on Totier Creek. Numerous tracts in the eastern part of the county were owned by the Clark family. John in 1778 pur- chased from Robert Nelson, of Yorktown, more than two thousand acres on Mechunk, which were patented in 1733 by Thomas Darsie, and which Clark sold the same year to James Quarles and Joseph Brand. As well as can be ascer- tained, Christopher and his wife Penelope had five sons and four daughters, Edward, Bowling, Micajah, John, Christo- pher, Elizabeth, the wife of Joseph Anthony, who entered two thousand and forty acres in Biscuit Run valley, and moved to Bedford County, and a number of whose descend-
166
HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
ants intermarried with members of the Cabell family, Sarah, the wife of Charles Lynch, Rachel, the wife of Thomas Moorman, and the wife of Benjamin Johnson. - Aines
The most of the family removed to Bedford, now Campbell County. In 1754 Edward and Bowling were overseers of the Friends' South River Meeting House, located on Lynch's Branch of Blackwater Creek, three or four miles from Lynch- burg. Micajah married Judith, daughter of Robert Adams, and his children it is believed were Micajah, Robert, Jacob and William. Robert married Susan, daughter of John Hender - son Sr., and followed his relatives to Bedford ; his children were Robert, the first manufacturer of iron in Kentucky, James, Governor of Kentucky when he died in 1839, and Bennett, the father and grandfather of the two John Bullock Clarks, who were both members of Congress from Missouri, and both Generals in the Confederate army. William was deputy sheriff for John Marks in 1786, and was empowered by the Legislature on account of his chief's removal to sell lands delinquent for taxes. He was also a magistrate of the county, and died in 1800. His sons were Jacob, James and Micajah, and his widow Elizabeth (Allen) Clark is remem - bered by many as the proprietor of Clarksville, an excellent house of entertainment near Keswick, recently the country seat of James B. Pace, of Richmond. James was a magis- trate, married Margaret, daughter of Thomas W. Lewis, of Locust Grove, and in 1836 with most of the Lewis family emigrated to Missouri. Micajah became a physician, and was for many years a successful practitioner in Richmond.
CLARKSON.
Five Clarksons filled a considerable space in the early his - tory of the county, Peter, John, William, James and Ma - noah. There is documentary evidence that three of these were brothers, John, William and James, sons of David Clarkson, who came from Amherst; it is probable the other two were also brothers in the same family. There seems moreover to have been three sisters, Mary, the wife of Thomas Carr, Susan, the wife of John Lewis, the father of Jesse, and Letitia, the wife of Zebulon Alphin.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.