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 18
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GARTH.
The first of the Garth family in Albemarle was Thomas, who in 1762 bought from Samuel Taliaferro four hundred and fifty acres on the Indian branch of Buck Island Creek. In 1770 he purchased from John Lewis, of Halifax, nearly a thousand acres on Blue Run, not far from Barboursville. The next three or four years he was employed by Mr. Jeffer- son to buy the Lego estate from William and James Hick - man, sons of Edwin Hickman, the second Sheriff of the county. In 1779 he bought another thousand acres of the Lewis estate on Ivy Creek, and continued his purchases in that section, till he owned all the land stretching from near the Staunton Road, opposite Jesse Lewis's place, to the forks of Mechum's and Moorman's Rivers. On this tract he resided until his death. He was appointed a magistrate in 1791, and served as Sheriff in 1807. He died in 1812. His wife, it is said, was Judith Long, and his chil - dren Thomas, John, Elijah, Jesse, Garland, Ann, the wife of Richard Gaines, whose daughter Margaret was the wife of George Crank, and mother of R. G. Crank, a repre- sentative of the county in the Legislature twenty years ago, Sarah, the wife of Samuel Poindexter, who removed to Bed- ford County, Susan, the wife of Isaac Dalton, who emigrated to Stokes County, North Carolina, and Mildred, the wife of John Fretwell.
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Thomas succeeded his father on Chesnut Ridge. He died in 1834. He married Susan, daughter of Richard Durrett, and his children were Jesse Winston, Willis, William, Eliza- beth, the wife of Dr. Thomas K. Clark, and mother of Cor- nelia, the wife of Drury Burnley, and of Catharine, the wife of George McIntire, and Frances, the wife of James Michie. Jesse W. was deputy Sheriff, was admitted to the bar, was for six years Commonwealth's Attorney, was member of the Legislature, sold Birdwood to his brother William, and in 1818 removed to Alabama. His wife was Unity Dandridge, of the same kindred as Patrick Henry's second wife. Willis lived at the place occupied by the family of Legh R. Wad - dell, married a Miss Graves, and was prominent in the estab- lishment of Mount Harmony Church. He died without children in 1851. William resided at Birdwood, built the spacious brick dwelling it contains, and by his improvements made it one of the principal country seats of the county. He married Elizabeth, daughter of George Martin and Barbara Woods. He died in 1860, leaving eleven children, J. Woods, Edgar, Lewis, George, Eugene, Georgiana, the wife of Rol- lin Kirk, Gabriella, the wife of James Kirk, Susan, the wife of Smith P. Bankhead, Elizabeth, the wife of William S. Bankhead, Celestine, the wife of Marshall Walker, and sec- ondly of John Stockton, and Alice, the wife of Philip Gil- christ.
John married Ann, daughter of John Rodes, sold the land on Blue Run which was given him by his father, and near the close of the last century removed to Kentucky. Elijah received from his father a plantation of more than five hun- dred acres southwest of Still House Mountain, and in the early years of the century acted as deputy Sheriff. He was twice married, first to Susan Fretwell, and secondly to Cath- arine, widow of George Wayt. He died in 1817. His children were Littleton, Paschal, Elizabeth, the wife of a McGarvey, and Virginia, the wife of a Cross.
Jesse lived on a plantation his father gave him, lying west of the Barracks. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Beza- leel Brown, and his children Thomas, William T., Bright-
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berry, Bezaleel, Mary, the wife of John H. Mckennie, and Sarah, the wife of Willis C. Goodman. He died in 1836.
Garland resided on the old Barracks place, where he built the large brick mansion recently occupied by the late George Carr. He married Susan Crenshaw, and his children were Dr. Garland A., Burwell, Isaac, Harriet, the wife of Isaac Davis, and Hardenia, the wife of Dr. Waller Head, who re- moved to Missouri. Mr. Garth was deprived of his home by business reverses, and spent his last days with one of his children in Nelson County.
GENTRY.
The different Gentry families in Albemarle seem to have sprung from the same head. Nicholas Gentry died in 1779, leaving eleven children, Moses, David, Nicholas, Mary Hin- son, Robert, Benajah, Nathan, Martin, Elizabeth Haggard, Jane Timberlake, and Ann Jenkins. Moses bought land in 1778 from Samuel Gay on the old Lynchburg Road north of Garland's Store. He was a ruling elder in the Cove Church. He died in 1810. His children were Claiborne and Nicholas, who married sisters, Jane and Mary, daughters of Bezaleel Maxwell, Frances, the wife of Thomas Fitzpatrick, and Joanna, the wife of Joseph Walters. Addison, a son of Nicholas, married Lucy, a sister of Shelton F. Leake.
Prior to 1778 David and Martin were owners of land on Doyle's River, which they afterwards sold to Benajah Brown. A son of one of these brothers probably was Richard Gentry, who in 1784 married Jane, daughter of James Harris, and removed to Kentucky, and whose descendants held a reunion at Crab Orchard in August 1898. And from one of them in all likelihood came George Gentry, who died in 1818, whose home was not far from Free Union, whose wife's name was Elizabeth, and whose children were James, George, William, Frances, the wife of Nathaniel Tate, Austin, Aaron, Christo- pher, Martha, the wife of John Walton, Elizabeth, the wife of Edward Ballard, and Nancy, the wife of Edward Walton. The children of Christopher and his wife Sarah, were Martha, the wife of Joel Maupin, Mary, the wife of Henry Via, Fran-
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ces, the wife of Thomas Gibson, Elizabeth, the wife of James Dunn, Paschal, Henry, and Dicey, the wife of Garrett White.
Benajah lived on Biscuit Run, where he commenced to pur- chase land in 1764. In 1817 he transferred his property to his son Robert, although his death did not occur till 1830. Martha, the wife of Elijah Dawson, son of Rev. Martin, who removed to Callaway County, Missouri, and Elizabeth, the wife of William Goodman, were daughters of Benajah. Robert married Mary, daughter of Francis Wingfield, and was the father of Albert.
Robert Gentry, believed to be the son of Nicholas, bought in 1766 from Martha, widow of Samuel Arnold, a place on the head waters of Ivy Creek, which he and his wife Judith sold in 1776 to John Woodson. Philip Joyner, whose daughter was the wife of a Robert Gentry, and who once owned the land the University stands on, devised the land to his two grandsons, Charles and Jesse Gentry. They sold, the one in 1775, and the other in 1783, and appear to have emigrated to North Carolina. Whether the Robert just men- tioned was the same with the son of Nicholas, is unknown.
GILMER.
George Gilmer, immigrant, was a native of Scotland, who after a short sojourn in London, came to this country. He settled in Williamsburg, and practised his profession as a physician. His son Peachy, a fellow student of Nicholas Meriwether in William and Mary College, paid a visit to his friend in Albemarle, and fell in love with and married his sister Mary. This led to his brother George visiting the county, and ultimately marrying Lucy, daughter of Dr. Thomas Walker.
George like his father was a physician. He settled in Charlottesville, and his first residence was on Main Street, near the present store of T. T. Norman. He seems after - wards to have lived on Jefferson Street, on the south end of the lot facing the west side of the Square. He was a man of great activity and public spirit. The agitation preceding the Revolution had already begun when Dr. Gilmer came
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to Charlottesville, and from the first he displayed the live - liest concern in the questions involved. Allusion has al - ready been made to the prominent part he performed in the earliest movements towards independence. In 1777 he pur- chased from John Harvie Pen Park, which he made his home for the remainder of his life, the home of intelligence and refined hospitality graphically described by John P. Kennedy in his Life of Wirt. About the same time he purchased land on Mechunk, until he owned more than two thousand acres in that section. He was appointed a magistrate, served as Sheriff in 1787, and was a member of the House of Delegates. He died in 1796. His children were Mildred, the wife of William Wirt, George, Peachy, John, James, Lucy, the wife of Peter Minor, Harmer, Francis W., and Susan, the wife of Zachariah Shackelford.
Pen Park continued to be the home of the family during the life of Mrs. Gilmer. That part of the plantation called Rose Hill, where the children of John D. Craven now reside, was given to Mr. Wirt, and there he built a house; but having no family, he and his wife lived for the most part with her mother. The mother and daughter both died in 1800, and the next year Mr. Wirt removed to Richmond. The home - stead was soon after sold to Richard Sampson, and still later to John H. Craven, whose residence there many yet remember.
George married Elizabeth, daughter of Christopher Hudson, of Mount Air. He became the owner of the Mechunk lands, which some years after were sold under deeds of trust to Dabney Minor. He died in 1836. His children were Thomas W., George Christopher, John H., Sarah, the wife ot Dr. Samuel W. Tompkins, Georgiana, the wife of Colin C. Spil- ler, Maria, the wife of Samuel G. Adams, Ann, the wife of Peter McGee, Martha, and Lucy, the wife of Edward Pegram. Thomas W. was a lawyer, member of the Legislature, Gov . ernor of Virginia, member of Congress, Secretary of the Navy, and lamentably perished on board of the United States ship Princeton in 1844. His wife was Ann Baker, of Shep herdstown, Va .. In 1826 he lived on Park Street where Drury Wood now resides, in 1831 bought from W. B Phillips the-
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brick house and lot at the west end of Jefferson Street, where John C. Patterson lives, and in 1836 purchased from John W. Davis the property on the hill recently occupied by John T. Antrim. G. Christopher married first Leana Lewis, of the Scottsville neighborhood, and secondly Mildred, daughter of Richard Duke. He died in 1887.
Peachy was admitted to the bar, and practised in Bedford County. He and Lucy were two of the devisees of the Farm- ington estate, Mrs. George Divers being their mother's sister. Peachy died in 1836. John was a physician, married Sarah Gilmer, a distant kinswoman, and lived at Edgemont, where he died in 1835. Francis adopted the profession of law, but was cut off in early life. He was a young man of fine endowments and rare culture, and gave promise of filling a distinguished position in his geueration. He was a close friend of Mr. Wirt and Judge Dabney Carr, and a great favorite of Mr. Jefferson. The implicit reliance Mr. Jeffer - son had in his penetration and judgment, was manifested in his being entrusted with the selection of the first professors of the University. He himself was designed for the profess- orship of law. In his modesty, which was as great as his ability, he thrice declined the place. At length he accepted, but before entering upon its labors, was removed from the scene of all earthly activities in 1826.
GOOCH.
William Gooch, written in the early records Gouge, came to the county from Hanover. In 1751 he bought land from John Graves in the Everettsville neighborhood, which nine years after he sold to Benjamin Sneed, and it is believed, removed to Amherst. Another William, who, from being denominated Junior, is presumed to be his son, purchased land on the south fork of Hardware in 1764, but in 1770 began buying in the Ragged Mountains south of Ivy Depot, and in that vicinity fixed his residence. His dwelling stood where his son Dab - ney afterwards lived, and where still later W. O. English taught school. He died in 1796. He and his wife Lucy had ten children, Matthew, Philip, Dabney C., Nicholas L., Wil -
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liam, Thomas W., Elizabeth, the wife of Nathan Dedman, Martha, the wife of William Thurmond, Susan, and Mary, the wife of William Moore. Matthew, who was admitted to the Albemarle bar in 1796, and Nicholas removed toKentucky. Philip removed to Amherst, and to him his father transferred the land which he first bought on the Ragged Mountains, and which somehow acquired the name of Little Egypt, included the present reservoir, and was sold by his son Claiborne to the Houchens and Mayo families that still live on it. Clai - borne Gooch removed to Richmond, became Adjutant Gen - eral of the State, and was associated with Thomas Ritchie in publishing the Richmond Enquirer.
Dabney married Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. William Irvin, of the South Garden, and had a daughter Mary, the wife of her cousin, Dr. William F. Gooch. He died in 1844. Thomas W. married Nancy, another daughter of Mr. Irvin, and for many years kept a tavern at the D. S. He died in 1838. His children were Alonzo, Edwin, Meade, Angelina and Elizabeth, the wife of John Fray Jr. Alonzo was for some years a merchant in Charlottesville, and a magistrate of the county, and lived on the lot west of the Episcopal Church, now occupied by Capt. H. Robertson. His wife was a daughter of B. F. Porter. of Orange, and died in 1897 in Bluefield, W. Va.
Dr. William F. Gooch was a grandson of William Jr., and came to Charlottesville from Amherst about 1823. The next year he married his cousin Mary, the only child of Dabney C. For many years he practised his profession actively both in town and country. His town residence was the house now occupied by James F. Burnley on High Street. He was appointed a magistrate in 1843. Not long before the war he removed to his farm south of Ivy, where he died at an advanced age in 1881. He had two daughters, Maria, the wife of Paul H. Goodloe, and Elizabeth, the wife of W. O. English.
Another person bearing the name of Gooch belonged to the county in former times. He married Sarah, daughter of David Wood, and sister of the elder Drury. He had four
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sons and five daughters. Two of the sons, John and Roland, appear to have owned land on Rough Run, a branch of Moorman's River. They all removed to Lincoln County, Kentucky, probably in the closing years of the last century.
GOODMAN.
The first of the Goodman family was Charles. He is noticed as early as 1761 as having married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Roland Horsley. He began the purchase of land where he continued to live until his death, on the south fork of the Rivanna, west of the mouth of Ivy Creek. In the course of years he acquired considerably more than a thousand acres. His dwelling stood where Edward Wingfield now lives. He was appointed a magistrate in 1794, but apparently averse to the publicity of office soon resigned. He seems to have been a quiet, industrious man, notably upright in all his dealings. When in his will he made bequests of negroes to his children, he required a certain proportion of the value of their labor to be paid them year by year; and it is prob - able he did himself what he enjoined upon others. He died in 1827. His children were William, Joseph, Nathan, John, Susan, the wife of John Rogers, Roland Horsley, Jeremiah A., and Elizabeth, the wife of an Anderson. William married Elizabeth Gentry, Joseph married Nancy, daughter of Pat- rick Michie, Nathan married Mildred, daughter of Manoah Clarkson, and emigrated to Kentucky. John was one of the early Methodist preachers, and his wife was Frances, daugh- ter of Thomas Dickerson. Jeremiah A. married Mary Clark- son, sister of Nathan's wife, and lived until his death in 1857 four or five miles south of Charlottesville.
Horsley Goodman married Elizabeth, daughter of David Rodes, and his children were D. Rodes, who was a deputy Surveyor of the county, Nathan C., who married Sarah, daughter of Joel Terrell, William, Horsley, who married Sarah, daughter of James Durrett, of the Batesville neighbor- hood, Susan, the wife of James Durrett, brother of Horsley's wife, Ann, the wife of Seth Burnley, and Lucy, the second wife of Thomas H. Brown. Horsley Sr., died the same year as his father.
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GOOLSBY.
Thomas Goolsby was one of the earliest settlers within the present bounds of the county. In 1732, thirteen years before its organization, he patented twelve hundred acres on James River. In 1745 he sold more than five hundred acres to Samuel Shelton, and in the description of the deed are mentioned two tributaries of the James, called Holmans and Goolsby's Creeks. This deed is noteworthy also from a memorandum inscribed on it in 1788, showing that it had been previously recorded, but the record had been destroyed by the British in 1781. Thomas Goolsby died in 1774. He was twice married, his last wife being Lucy Bryant. His children were William, Thomas, Susan, the wife of a Childress, Ann, the wife of a Nowling, Lucy, the wife of a Saunders, and Elizabeth. William owned land on the waters of the south fork of Hardware. He died in 1819, and his children were William, Tabitha, the wife of Joseph Harlan, Tarleton, who married Mildred, daughter of Thomas Walker Jr., Sarah, the wife of a Thurmond, Susan, the wife of a Davis, Fleming, Jane, the wife of Samuel Harlan, Arthur, Mary, the wife of a Samuel Richardson, and Nancy, the wife of a Phillips.
Charles, James and John Goolsby, of Albemarle, were Revolutionary soldiers, members of the Ninth Virginia Regiment. Charles, who was a non-commissioned officer, and James were taken prisoners at Germantown; all three died in the service. They were beyond doubt sons of Thomas Sr., as William was stated to be their heir.
GORDON.
Before the middle of the last century two brothers named Gordon, natives of Scotland, were settled on opposite sides of the Rappahannock River as merchants, plying a thriving trade with the old country. James resided in Lancaster County, and John at Tappahannock in Essex. James's wife was Mary Harrison, of the Harrisons of Surry, and the wife of John was Lucy Churchill. Descendants of both became inhabitants of Albemarle. Rev. James Waddell,
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who preached and taught school near Gordonsville, married a daughter of James, and William F. Gordon, who acted a leading part in the affairs of the county in the first half of the present century, traced his lineage to John, or rather to both brothers at once. His father, James Gordon, was the son of John, and his mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of James. William F. was admitted to the Albemarle bar in 1809. In 1812 he succeeded Joseph J. Monroe as Attorney of the Commonwealth, but resigned the next year, giving place to Jesse W. Garth. From 1818 to 1829 he was almost continuously a member of the House of Delegates, and in 1830 a member of the State Senate. He also represented the district in Congress. The title of General by which he was commonly known, he derived from his appointment in 1829 as Brigadier General of the Third Brigade, Second Division of the Virginia militia, and in 1840 of Major General of the Second Division. His home was at Spring Hill, at the eastern base of the South West Mountain, not far from Gordonsville. He died in 1858. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Reuben Lindsay, and his children, James, George, Hannah, the wife of W. J. Robertson, Reuben, William F., Charles, Dr. John C., Alexander and Mason.
In the last century there came to the county an Alexander Gordon, who seems to have been of kindred with the noble Scottish family of Gordon, of Huntly. He lived on Sowell's Branch near Carter's Bridge, where he obtained a patent for a small tract of land in 1785. He sued Humphrey Gaines for a piece of vacant land on Buck Island Creek to which they both laid claim, his counsel being Walter Leake, while Mr. Wirt appeared for Gaines. He was not an ornament to the county. He died in 1805, leaving a son, Alexander Duff Gordon, who two years after removed to Tennessee.
GOSS.
The first known settlement of the Goss family was in that part of Albemarle, which in its division in 1761 was erected into Buckingham. A James Goss was witness to a deed,
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conveying land on a branch of Slate River, in 1749. The head of the family now living in the county was Benjamin, who with a large household emigrated to Georgia. In pro- cess of time two of his sons, Jesse and John, returned to Virginia.
John soon became a teacher in the family of Governor James Barbour. He married Jane, daughter of James Walker, of Madison, and for a time had his residence in that county. He, as well as Jesse, entered the ministry of the Baptist Church. In 1803 he settled in Albemarle in the Priddy's Creek neighborhood, where he passed the remainder of his days, preaching for the most part to the church of that name. In 1816 he was appointed a magistrate. His death occurred in 1838, at the age of sixty . three. His children were Harriet, Sarah, the wife of Nimrod Bramham Jr., James W., John W., William, and Ebenezer, who died some years ago near Somerset in Orange.
James, when a young man, was engaged in the drug busi- ness on the public square in Charlottesville, in partnership with John Field Jr. In 1836 he took a leading part in estab- lishing the Disciples' Church on Market Street, becoming a minister in that denomination, and publishing for a short . period one of its organs, the Christian Intelligencer. He was appointed a magistrate in 1841. He was afterwards successfully employed in educational work, founding the Piedmont Female Academy near Priddy's Creek, and at the time of his death in 1870, filling the presidency of a similar institution in Hopkinsville, Ky. His wife was Jane A. Grigsby, of Rockbridge county.
John was in early life a merchant in Charlottesville in partnership with Christopher Hornsey. He married Poly- dora, daughter of Major John Lewis. of the Sweet Springs, and sister of Mrs. John Cochran. In 1838 he succeeded his father as a magistrate, and in 1854 and 1855 represented the county in the Legislature. Since the war he occupied the offices both of Sheriff and County Clerk. He died in 1883, aged sixty-eight.
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GRAYSON.
William Grayson was a native of Spotsylvania, and came to Albemarle some time before the Revolutionary War. In 1764 he bought land on the head of Mechum's River from Speaker John Robinson, who was then selling off the im - mense tracts in Rockfish valley, patented by his brother-in- law, John Chiswell. Having sold this property a few years after, he purchased from Gamaliel Bailey and Obadiah Martin at what was then known as the Little D. S., where the old Richard Woods Road forks with that passing through Batesville, and where his descendants have been living ever since. In 1804 he sold a small parcel at this place to Wil - liam Simpson, who there established a tanyard that for many years went by his name, and afterwards by the name of Grayson, and that was one of the most noted landmarks in that neighborhood. Simpson in 1818 sold it to Joseph Grayson, a grandson of William. William died in 1829, having attained the remarkable age of ninety-seven years. His wife was Ann, daughter of Thomas Smith, and his children were John, Thomas, Martha, Elizabeth, the wife of Joseph Sutherland, and Susan, the wife first of Isaac Wood, and secondly of a Tomlin. Joseph Grayson married Rhoda, daughter of Daniel White, and died in 1867. His children were Thomas, who married Mary, daughter of John Jones, Ann, the wife of James H. Shelton, Frances, Elizabeth, the wife of Benjamin F. Abell, John and William.
HAMNER.
Tradition relates, that the immigrant Hamner bore the name of Nicholas, that he came from Wales and settled in Middlesex County, and that he had six or seven sons. Three of them fixed their homes in Albemarle. The first who appears on the records was William. In 1759 he bought from Thomas Fitzpatrick nearly five hundred acres on the south fork of Hardware, not far from Jumping Hill. The same year he obtained a patent for nearly two hundred acres on the north fork of Hardware, and acquired near by up- wards of seven hundred more, all of which he sold in 1782
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to Colonel John Old. In 1777 he purchased from Dr. James Hopkins about fifteen hundred acres on the waters of Totier. He died in 1785. He and his wife Elizabeth had eleven children, Jeremiah, Turner, Richardson, Henley, Samuel, Mildred, the wife of Jacob Moon, Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Fitzpatrick, Mary, the wife of a Perry, Susan, the wife of Reuben Turner, Rebecca, the wife of James Turner, and the wife of David Strange. Jeremiah and Henley lived in the Biscuit Run valley, Turner at the mouth of Eppes Creek, Samuel near Jumping Hill, Jacob Moon, the Turners and Strange on Totier, though the Turners soon removed to Amherst. Jeremiah married Rebecca, daughter of Castleton Harper, and died in 1815. Most of his children emigrated to Georgia and Alabama, but his daughter Mary remained in Albemarle as the first wife of Samuel Barksdale. Samuel, who died in 1817, married, it is believed, a Morris, probably a daughter of Hugh Rice Morris, of the Totier region, and his children were William, Elizabeth, the wife of Rice Gar - land, Henley, Morris, Samuel, Jane, che wife of a Thomas, and Rhoda, the wife of James Nimmo. William died in 1831, and his children were John T., Jesse B., Susan, the wife of a Rice, Martha, the wife of Jacob Waltman, Austin and Samuel, who emigrated to Tennessee, and William, Morris and Samuel married sisters named Lucas, and about the beginning of the century removed to Charlotte County. The latter was the father of James G. and Thomas L., min- isters in the Presbyterian Church.
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