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 21
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Later appeared on the scene John R. Jones, a name well remembered by many. Perhaps no man in the county ever led a more energetic and industrious life. He was at first connected in business with his brother-in-law, Nimrod
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Bramham, with whom he subsequently entered into partner- ship. This was dissolved in 1821, when Mr. Jones became a merchant on his own account. In 1819 he was appointed a magistrate, and was active in performing the duties of that office. He was constantly called upon to act as trustee, or administrator, in managing the affairs of others. Par- ticularly as trustee of Edmund Anderson, he took charge of his property in this county in 1829, and sold off the remain - ing lots in Anderson's Addition to Charlottesville. He was the first President of the Branch of the Farmers' Bank of Virginia established in Albemarle. In 1814 he purchased the square west of the Baptist Church, and built the brick mansion which was some time his residence. In his latter years he was embarrassed by financial troubles, and died in 1868. His wife was Gilly Marshall, and his children William, the father of Rev. J. William Jones, Dr. James L., Gen. John M., who fell in 1864 at Spotsylvania C. H., Thomas, Mary, the wife of James M. Daniel, Ariadne, the wife of T. T. Hill, Georgiana and Gilly.
Still later Dr. Basil Jones, the father of James D. and Major Horace, was for a time a citizen of Charlottesville.
JOUETT.
See ps. 45
Among the earliest entries on the Court records of Albe- marle in 1745, is a notice of the death of Matthew Jouett, and the appointment of John Moore as his executor. It can scarcely be doubted that John Jouett, who was for many years a prominent citizen of Charlottesville, was a son of this Matthew. In 1773 John purchased from John Moore one hun- dred acres adjoining the town on the east and north, and at that time most likely erected the Swan Tavern, of famous memory. Three years later he bought from the same gentle- man three hundred acres south of the town, including the mill now owned by Hartman. In 1790 he laid out High Street, with the row of lots on either side, and by an act of the Legislature they were vested in trustees to sell at auction, after giving three weeks' notice in the Virginia Gazette. He kept the Swan until his death in 1802. In the Central Ga-
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zette of October 8th, 1824, there appeared an earnest appeal to the citizens of Charlottesville to erect a stone over his grave, but the voice died away unheeded, and the grave is now un- known. At the time of his death, and for many years after, no public place of burial in the town existed. According to the custom of that day, he was most probably buried in the yard in the rear of his house, and his remains lie somewhere in the square on which the old Town Hall is situated. His wife was Mourning, daughter of Robert Harris, of Brown's Cove, and his children Matthew, John, Robert, Margaret, the wife of Nathan Crawford, Mary, the wife of Thomas Allen, Frances, the wife of Menan Mills, Elizabeth, the wife of Clifton Rodes, Charles, and Susan, the wife of Thomas C. Fletcher.
Matthew was a Captain in the Revolutionary army, and fell in the battle of Brandywine. John succeeded his father in conducting the Swan, but shortly after removed to Bath County, Kentucky. His wife was Sarah Robards, a sister of the first husband of President Jackson's wife. Robert was also a Captain in the war of the Revolution, and afterwards a member of the Albemarle bar. He owned and resided on the lot on the Square where the Saunders House now stands. He died in 1796, leaving a daughter Alice, who became the wife of James W. Bouldin, of Charlotte County. She and her husband in 1818 conveyed this lot, and the square on High Street on which Dr. Hugh Nelson lives, to John Winn. Charles Jouett removed to the West. In the latter part of 1804 he was in Detroit, but whether he settled there is not known. His father devised to him the tract of land south of Charlottesville, and in 1813 he and his wife Susan conveyed it to William D. Meriwether. This explains why the mill was known as Meriwether's for many years. Most of the daughters removed with their husbands to Kentucky.
The general tradition about Charlottesville has always been, that it was John Jouett Sr. who performed the exploit of outstripping Tarleton, and apprising Mr. Jefferson and the Legislature of his approach in 1781. It was supposed that the appeal for a monument to be raised to his memory al - -16
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ready alluded to, was based upon the recognition of the splendid act, by which he honored the town of his residence, and conferred one of the greatest benefits on the State and country ; but unfortunately the file of papers which contained the appeal, was consumed in 1895 by the fire at the Univer - sity where it was deposited. It has recently been learned from Thomas M. Green, of Kentucky, that the descendants of the family residing in that State, claim that the bold and opportune ride from Louisa C. H. was made by John Jouett Jr., that the Legislature of Virginia presented him with a sword in commemoration of the deed, and that the sword still remains in the family as a testimonial of the fact. If the sword was given by the Legislature, the act, or resolu- tion, directing the presentation ought to appear in its pro - ceedings ; but Hening's Statutes for the period have been searched for it in vain. As the father and son bore the same name, might it not be that the achievement belonged to the father, and the sword of acknowledgment descended by gift or inheritance to the son?
KELLY.
John Kelly was already engaged in business in Charlottes- ville under the firm of John Kelly & Co. in 1795. He had previously been a citizen of Lancaster County, Virginia, and from that county was accompanied by his first wife, Sarah Norris, the daughter of his uncle. She died a few years after, and in 1802 he married Mary, daughter of William Alcock. For many years he transacted business as a merchant with great success. About the beginning of the century, he received into partnership his nephew, Opie Norris, of Lan- caster, who married his daughter Cynthia. His other daugh- ter, Eliza, became the wife of Dr. John C. Ragland. In 1803 he purchased from Hudson Martin Lot No. Three, on the west corner of Fifth Street and the Square, where his store was located. In 1814 he bought from John Nicholas, who then resigned the County Clerkship, four hundred and forty acres, extending from near the western boundary of the town across Preston Heights to Meadow Creek. In 1816 he gave to Mrs. Norris Lot No. Four, running from Jefferson Street to the
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old People's Bank, which he had acquired in 1809 from Edward Butler, and to Mrs. Ragland the north half of Lot Fifty-Nine, and Lot Sixty, at present occupied by the family of J. J. Con- nor, and Dr. Joseph Norris. In 1821 he contemplated remov- ing to another part of the country, and advertised for sale his land west of the town; and in 1824 he sold to Rev. John D. Paxton thirty-three acres on the north side of University Street, reaching from Harris's Warehouse to the Junction. In 1828 he purchased from Rice Wood the property on Park Street, where he built the large brick in which he resided till his death, and which his widow occupied till her death during the war. Mr. Kelly was often employed in the general affairs of the town, discharging many responsibilities as administrator, trustee, and offices of a similar kind. He was a man of earnest piety, assisting in the founding of the South Plains Presbyterian Church, in which he was a ruling elder, and in the erection of the old Presbyterian house of worship in town. He died in Staunton in 1830, on his way to or from the Virginia Springs.
His son-in-law, Dr. Ragland, died in 1821. He was exceedingly popular both as a man, and as a physician. His death was greatly lamented, and his remains were followed by a large concourse of friends and Masons to the family burying ground in Louisa. Four or five physicians at once settled in Charlottesville, to fill the gap occasioned by his decease. His widow was some years after married to Talbot Bragg, and subsequently removed with him and her children to Mis- souri.
Opie Norris, his other son-in-law, was an enterprising and prosperous man. He was concerned in many other engage- ments, in addition to his stated business as a merchant. For many years he was one of the town trustees, sometimes act- ing as their president. In 1819 he was appointed a magis- trate of the county, and filled the office with much diligence. He was Secretary and Treasurer of the Rivanna and Rock - fish Gap Turnpike Co., and awarded the contracts for the construction of that road. At one time he owned the Swan, and half of the Eagle Tavern. With Dr. Charles Everett he
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was largely interested in the real estate of Anderson's Addi - tion to the town. He departed this life in 1839.
KERR.
James Kerr, an emigrant from Scotland, came to the county about 1762, and soon after bought a small place at the head of Ivy Creek. He subsequently leased the present Birdwood plantation, in 1773 purchased it from the trustees of John Dabney, and made it his residence for twenty-seven years. During this time he became a man of no little note and con - sideration in the community. When the records made a second beginning in 1783, he was one of the acting magistrates, and frequently participated in the deliberations of the County Court. He was appointed Sheriff in 1793. He was a ruling elder in the D. S. Church. In 1800 he sold the Birdwood place to Hore Brouse Trist, and bought from Michael Woods, son of Colonel John, a farm on Mechum's River, not far above the Depot of that name. From increasing age, or because of the distance from the county seat, he took no fur- ther part in public business. In 1808 he sold his property to James Kinsolving Sr., and removed to Kentucky. After the death of Sarah, his first wife, he married Susan, widow of David Rodes. This union was a brief one, as Mrs. Kerr died in 1798. She left a will, which for want of proof was not recorded; and it was not till 1826 that it was sent to Georgetown, Ky., to procure the depositions of Wil- liam Rodes, and Milton and Rodes Burch, to prove the hand- writing of David Kerr, a deceased witness to the document.
The children of James Kerr, as far as known, were James, John Rice, David, Mary, the wife of Samuel Burch, and Eliza- beth, the wife of Joseph J. Monroe, a brother of the President. James seems to have been a young man of tact and spright- liness, but of prodigal life. He once owned the lots on which the Farish House, and the old Presbyterian Church, now stand. He died in Richmond in 1788, leaving a short will written in a light, sceptical tone; and when it was presented for probate, until his father gave his consent, his brother magistrates declined admitting it to record. John Rice was admitted to the Albemarle bar, but appears not to have prac -
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tised. In 1807 he was appointed a magistrate, and with his father served as an elder in the D. S. Church. He married Sarah, daughter of Bennett Henderson, and lived for a time on the south side of the Staunton Road, where it crosses Ivy Creek, on land that belonged to his brother-in-law, Sam- uel Burch. He accompanied, or followed, his father to Kentucky, and there entered the Presbyterian ministry. A son named for Andrew Hart lived near Memphis, Tenn., and was Moderator of the Southern General Assembly, when it convened in that city in 1868. David Kerr married Dorothy, daughter of the elder Clifton Rodes, and by many years pre- ceded the rest of his family in removing to Kentucky.
KEY.
John Key was one of the pioneers who fixed their abodes within the present limits of the county. He made his first entry of land in 1732, and up to 1741 had obtained patents for nearly twelve hundred acres on the west side of the South West Mountain. His home was where William W. Minor now resides. His children were Martin, John, and Mary, the wife of a Dalton. Martin succeeded to the home and estate of his father, and by repeated purchases became the owner of all the land reaching from Edgemont, the place of the late Henry Magruder, down to the bend of the river on the farm of the late R. F. Omohundro. He died in 1791. He and his wife Ann had twelve children, Thomas, John, Martin, Tandy, Joshua, William Bibb, Henry, Jesse, James, Walter, Elizabeth, the wife of James Daniel, and Martha, the wife of John White. Each of the sons was comfortably pro- vided for by their father's will, though intimations are there given that the habits of some uufitted them for the proper management of their affairs.
Within the first score of years in the present century, the members of this household-were for the most part scattered over the South and West. Thomas removed to South Caro- lina, where he invented some contrivance for the more effect- ive action of water wheels. The families of John, James and Martha emigrated to Kentucky and Tennessee, and that of Elizabeth, to North Carolina. Tandy lived for many years
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in the southern part of the county near Covesville, but is said to have removed eventually to Fluvanna County. Jesse P., a son of Tandy, married Sarah, daughter of the younger William Woods, of Beaver Creek, and lived for some time near Mechum's Depot. William Bibb married Mourning, daughter of Christopher Clark, and went to Elbert County, Georgia. Henry settled in Bedford County, and Jesse died in Richmond in 1826. Walter appears to have been the only one who spent his whole life in the county, and his death occurred in 1834. John, Tandy and Joshua were all magis- trates of the county, and Walter was appointed to the office, but declined to accept. Jolin served as Sheriff in 1795, and Tandy in 1809. John was an Ensign in the Eighth Virginia, and Henry a soldier in the army of the Revolution.
KINKEAD.
The Kinkeads were early settlers in the western part of the county. As far as can be made out, there were three brothers of the name, David, Joseph and James. In 1746 David patented nearly eight hundred acres on the north fork of Rockfish, and the next year four hundred more on Stock- ton's Creek. By entry and purchase together, the family connection became the owners of not far from three thousand acres in that vicinity. Joseph, James and John, probably the son of Joseph, appear as subscribers to the call of Rev. Samuel Black in 1747. The homes of Joseph and James were situated about half a mile west of Immanuel Church, on the place now owned by Rev. Dabney Davis. An old graveyard, a few hundred yards south of Mr. Davis's house, is still known in the neighborhood as the Kinkead burying ground ; a broken down wall, and a few rough stones, are all that mark the spot. James died in 1762, leaving three sons, Thomas, John and James, and probably two more, Matthew and Andrew, and a daughter, the wife of Ninian Clyde. Joseph died in 1774. His children were Jean, the wife of Hugh Alexander, John, and Ruth, the wife of Andrew Grier.
Hugh Alexander had a mill, which at one time was a noted centre in that section ; roads were made to it from every quar- ter. It was built on Stockton's Creek, not far from the foot of
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the hill west of Hillsboro. In subsequent years it was known as Keyes's, and still later as Humphrey's Mill. It is supposed Andrew Grier was one of the early merchants of that vicinity. He was the owner of nearly six hundred acres adjoining Yel- low Mountain, which, likely in liquidation of his debts, he conveyed in 1766 to Jeremiah Parker and Richard Warden, merchants of Philadelphia. In the course of years part of this land passed into the hands of John Lobban Jr., and part into the hands of Dr. Peter B. Bowen. A grandson of Joseph Kinkead married a daughter of Adam Dean, another early settler on Stockton's Creek, and in December 1898, there died in Greenbrier County, Adam Dean Kinkead, doubtless their son, at the age of ninety-two. All of the kindred bearing the naine, seem to have removed from the county before the close of the last century. Its latest appearance on the records occurs in 1784, when Jean, the widow of James, sold to Abner Wood a parcel of land in what is known as the Piper and Patrick neighborhood. She was at that time a res- ident of Rockbridge County. In the Black call the name is spelled Kincaid.
KINSOLVING.
In 1788 James Kinsolving began to purchase land near Mechum's River Depot. The name was variously written in the early records, Consolver, Kingsolaver, Kinsolving. At that date a Martin Kinsolving lived near the Burnt Mills. James Kinsolving was successful in his business pursuits, and at the time of his death in 1829 owned upwards of four - teen hundred acres on both sides of Mechum's River. His home was near the Depot, and bore the name of Temple Hill. He and his wife Elizabeth were the parents of twelve children, George W., Diana, Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, Jefferson, Lucy Jane, Madison, Napoleon, James, Martha and Amanda. None bearing this name have for years been resident in the county, but it has attained a high distinction in the annals of the Episcopal Church.
George W. married Nancy, daughter of Jonathan Barks- dale. For some time previous to 1822 he was the proprietor of the Central Hotel in Charlottesville, but in that year he
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retired to his farm near Mechum's Depot. In 1830 he was appointed Colonel of the Forty-Seventh Regiment. He was an earnest Episcopalian, and a vestryman in the North Garden Church. He died in 1856, leaving one son and seven daughters. The tendency in the family to remarkable names was especially apparent in his household. His son, Ovid Alexander, became an Episcopal clergyman, and passed his ministerial life mainly near Leesburg and Dan- ville, Va. Three of his sons entered the Episcopal ministry, George Herbert, Bishop of Western Texas, Arthur Barksdale, a prominent rector in Brooklyn, N. Y., and Lucien Lee, recently consecrated Bishop of Brazil. The names of the seven daughters were selected with a view to having V as the initial, and A as the final letter-Virginia, the wife of William A. Abney, Vienna, the wife of William C. Fret - well, Veturia, the wife of Thomas Clark, Volusia, Verona, Verbelina, and Vermelia.
Diana was the wife of Clifton Garland Jr., and a grandson of hers was Rev. Howard McQuary, who, because of his extreme views on Evolution, was a few years ago deposed from the Episcopal ministry by the Bishop of Northern Ohio. Mary was the wife of James W. Leigh, Ann, the wife of William B. Wood, and removed to Washington County, Illinois, Elizabeth, the wife of William M. Brander, and Martha, the wife of Reuben Wood. Lucy Jane was twice married, first to Achilles Barksdale, and secondly to Valen - tine Head. Madison married America, daughter of Philip Watts, James married Margaret, daughter of Andrew Brown, of North Garden, and made his home for many years near the Cross Roads. He became a Baptist minister, was Treasurer of the County School Commissioners, and about 1835 emigrated to western Kentucky. Most of the children of this family finally removed to Kentucky, or Missis- sippi.
LEAKE.
The Leakes have been domiciled in the county since its formation. Walter Leake Jr., patented laud on the south fork of Hardware in 1746, and John on Green Creek in 1748.
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It is believed these two were brothers. Data for accurately tracing the early relations of this family are wanting, but it is probable that John Leake and his wife Ann were the parents of Samuel and Mask. Samuel was one of the first Presbyterian ministers, who were natives of Virginia. In 1770 he was installed pastor of the Cove and D. S. Churches, and his home was four or five miles northeast of Covesville. He died young in 1775. He and his wife Elizabeth had three children, Elizabeth, the first wife of Andrew Hart, Sarah, the wife of Rev. James Robinson, one of Mr Leake's succes - sors in the Cove pastorate, and Mary. His widow died in 1799.
Mask Leake lived in the same section of the county, not far from the South Garden Thoroughfare. He was a ruling elder in the Cove Church, and frequently represented it in the Presbytery of Hanover. He died in 1813. His wife was Patience Morris, and his children William, Walter, Austin, Samuel, and Lucy, the wife of John Buster. William succeeded his father at the homestead, and died in 1833. He and his wife Caroline had five children, Elizabeth, the wife of an Anderson, Samuel, Walter, William M., and Josiah. Walter, son of Mask, was deputy Surveyor of the county in 1784, and was admitted to the Albemarle bar in 1793. It is believed he was the Walter Leake who emigrated to Missis - sippi, and rose to prominence in the legal and political affairs of that State. He was elected United States Senator in 1817, and resigning soon after was appointed to the State bench. He died in Hinds County in 1825. Austin was also a member of the Albemarle bar, and died before his father, leaving two sons, Joseph and Philip Jefferson. Samuel, son of Mask, was a physician, and practised in the southern part of the county, and also in Nelson. His wife was Sophia, a daughter of Richard Farrar, and his children William, Philip, Samuel, Shelton F., Eliza, and Lucy, the wife of Addison Gentry, who at one time conducted a school for young ladies near Hillsboro. The career of Shelton F. is well known, not only in the county, but in the State. His natural gifts were unusually brilliant. He settled in Charlottesville, was
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admitted to the bar in 1838, easily attained a place in its front rank, was a member of the House of Delegates, was Lieutenant Governor of the State, and for a term represented the district in Congress. He married Rebecca Gray, and departed this life in 1884. Samuel in 1836 married M. A. Boyd of the Cove neighborhood, and finished his course a few years ago near Hillsboro, where his son William now resides.
LEVY.
In 1836 Uriah P. Levy, Commodore of the United States Navy, became a citizen of Albemarle by the purchase of Monticello. He bought the place from James T. Barclay. It is commonly understood, that it was owing to his exalted estimation of Mr. Jefferson's political wisdom and conduct he was led to become the possessor of his home, and thereby to identify his name with that of the President. He died in 1862, and having no family of his own, and cherishing the desire to make the place a permanent memorial of the great statesman, the Commodore devised Monticello to the United States as a Hospital for the worn-out tars of the navy; and that arrangement failing, to the State of Virginia, to be used as a sort of naval school. By the decisions of the courts, both dispositions were declared invalid. During the Civil War the property was confiscated. It was placed for the time in the hands of care-takers, who took no care of it fur- ther than to extort as large gratuities as possible from those who still resorted to it from admiration of its former presid - ing genius. The whole establishment was greatly injured, and the monument in its burial place, by the clipping of relic hunters, was literally reduced to a shapeless block. When public affairs resumed their usual course, the Commo- dore's nephew, Jefferson M. Levy, of New York, purchased the interests of the other heirs, and devoted himself to the improvement of the estate. Congress also handsomely enclosed the cemetery, and erected a noble shaft to Jeffer - son's memory. Filled with the spirit of his distinguished kinsman, Mr. Levy has been at much pains and expense to restore things to the same condition in which Mr. Jefferson
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.
left them; and appreciating the sentiment which impels multitudes to visit it as a place of pilgrimage, he allows them entire freedom in repairing to the spot, and surveying its interesting scenes.
LEWIS.
Three families named Lewis, apparently not related, have lived in Albemarle. The first of the name entering lands within its present limits was Charles, of Goochland, who in 1731 obtained a patent for twelve hundred acres on both sides of the Rivanna, at the mouth of Buck Island. He also en - tered nearly three thousand acres in the Rich Cove. As nearly as can be ascertained, this Charles was the son of ยท John Lewis and Isabel Warner. In 1717 he married Mary Howell, and his children were John, Charles, Elizabeth, the wife of William Kennon, James, Mary, Howell and Ann. His home was the place that has since borne the name of Monteagle. To his son, Charles, he transferred his land on Buck Island in 1766, the son reconveying it to his father and mother, and the survivor, for life. Charles Jr., purchased, chiefly from his cousin Robert Lewis, more than eighteen acres on the north fork of the Hardware, including what is now Red Hill Depot, which he gave to his son, Isham. He died in 1782. His wife was Mary, daughter of Isham Randolph,\ of Dungeness, and sister of Peter Jefferson's wife, and his children were Charles Lilburn, Isham, Mary, the wife first of Colonel Charles Lewis, of North Garden, and secondly of Charles Wingfield Jr., Jane, the wife of Charles Hudson, Eliz- abeth, the wife of Bennett Henderson, Ann, the wife of Ran- dolph Jefferson, Frances, the second wife of John Thomas, and Mildred, the wife of Edward Moore. Isham Lewis died unmarried in 1790, leaving his estate to his two nephews, John Lewis Moore and Charles Lewis Thomas. Charles Lilburn married Lucy Jefferson, sister of the President, and his children were Randolph, Isham, Lilburn, Jane, the wife of Craven Peyton, Mary R., the wife of Thomas Jefferson Jr., Lucy, the wife of Washington Griffin, Martha and Ann M. Randolph lived on his plantation, Buck Island, on the north side of the Rivanna, but in 1805 sold it to David Michie, and
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