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 23
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HISTORY OF ALBEMARLE
James Martin owned at an early date a considerable tract of land that now belongs to the Grayson family, near the present site of the Miller School. In 1759 he gave two hun- dred acres to each of his six sons, Stephen, John, James, Obadiah, William and David. These sons, or the most of them, it is believed, emigrated to North Carolina, about the time of the Revolution. It is possible the John just men - tioned was the John Martin who lived in the western part of the North Garden. His place was formerly known as the Pocket Plantation. He was a prosperous man, and became the owner of upwards of fifteen hundred acres. He died in 1812. His wife's name was Elizabeth, believed to have been a Wheeler, and his children were Benjamin, Sarah, the wife of John Watson, Mary, the wife of William Wood, Susan, the wife of Hickerson Jacob, and Clarissa. Benjamin suc- ceeded to his father's place, and died in 1821. His wife's name was Catharine, and his children were Ann, the wife of Augustine Woodson, Lindsay, John, Caroline, the wife of Joshua W. Abell, Julia, the wife of Micajah Wheeler, Ben - jamin, Emily, the wife of Richard Abell, James, Elizabeth, the wife first of Peter Garland, and secondly of Daniel Mar - tin, and Jane, the wife of Samuel M. Powell.
A John Martin in 1762 purchased from Joseph Thomas upwards of six hundred acres in the southern part of the county, on Ballenger's Creek. He died in 1810. He mar- ried Ann, daughter of James Tooley, and his children were Sarah, the wife of James Wood, Ann, the wife of John Dawson, Dabney, James, Celia, Alice, Simeon, Massey and Lindsay.
Thomas Martin was already settled on the south fork of Hardware in 1764, where his descendants have been resident ever since. He seems not to have been a patentee, and when he purchased does not appear. He died in 1792. He and his wife ; Mary had ten children, Abraham, George, Thomas, Charles, John, Pleasant, Letitia, the wife of Rich - ard Moore, Mildred, the wife of an Oglesby, Aun, the wife of a Blain, and Mary, the wife of Benjamin Dawson. Pleas- ant removed to Amherst. John married Elizabeth, daughter
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of David Lewis, was a Captain in the Revolutionary army, had charge of the troops that in 1780 guarded as far as Frederick, Md., the British prisoners, on their removal from the Barracks, and of those stationed in Charlottesville at the time of the Tarleton Raid, and in 1786 emigrated to Fayette County, Kentucky. Charles lived on the place where J. Goulet Martin now resides, and sold it in 1783 to Rev. William Irvin. His wife's name was Patty, and he had two daughters, Elizabeth and Martha, who became the wives of brothers, Thomas and James Cobbs, of Halifax County ; and selling the remainder of his land the next year, he probably followed them to that county. George married Barbara, daughter of Samuel Woods, and died in 1799. His children were Malinda, the wife of Lewis Teel, Samuel W., and Elizabeth, the wife of William Garth. Samuel W. married Sarah, daughter of Garrett White, and died in 1857. His children were Garrett W., George, Thomas, John A., Samuel W., Jeremiah, and Eleanora, the wife of Jesse L. Heiskell.
Hudson Martin was a Second Lieutenant in the Ninth Virginia, during the Revolution. For a number of years he was deputy Clerk of the county, and subsequently a magis- trate. He married Jane, the eldest daughter of Nicholas Lewis. Near the beginning of the century he removed to Amherst, in the vicinity of Faber's Mills, where his descend- ants still live. In 1834 Captain John Thomas testified before the County Court in behalf of his heirs, to the fact of his having served in the Revolutionary army. A son John M. Martin became a member of the Albemarle bar in 1809. Another son, Hudson, married Mildred, daughter of Dabney Minor, and at one time lived in Arkansas.
In the early years of the century, a Thomas Martin mar- ried Mary Ann, daughter of Daniel White. His home was west of Batesville, north of the place now occupied by Wil - liam H. Turner Jr. He died in 1827. His children were Ann, the wife of John L. White, Azariah, Diana, the wife of James Lobban, Thomas, Mary, the wife of William Stone, Charles, Elizabeth, Daniel, Henry, Barbara, the wife of John Lobban, and Lucy, the wife of William H. Garland.
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MASSIE.
The Massie family was a numerous one which in early times migrated from New Kent, and was widely scattered over Albemarle, Nelson and Amherst. The first of the name that settled in Albemarle was Charles. His home was in the south- west part of the county on the waters of Lynch's Creek, on what was long known as the Wakefield Entry. The plan- tation, Spring Valley, became noted from the perfection of its Albemarle Pippins, and though now held by other hands, it is still designated by the Massie name. Charles Massie commenced the purchase of this place in 1768. He died in
1817. His children were Thomas, Charles, John, Elizabeth, the wife of a Smith, and Mary, the wife first of Robert Ware, and secondly of William Lobban. His son Charles succeeded to the place, and died in 1830. His wife's name was Nancy, and his children were Hardin, Nathaniel, Charles G., Sarah, the wife of a Ragland, Elizabeth, the wife of a Bailey, and Nancy.
Hardin was a physician, who came to Charlottesville in 1824, and for many years practised in partnership with Dr. Charles Carter. He was largely interested in the real estate of the town. He lived on Fourth Street next to the old Bap- tist Church, the site of which he sold to that congregation. He was himself an earnest member of that Church, and for a time acted as its Clerk. He never married, and died in 1848. Nathaniel was for a considerable period of his life a successful merchant in Waynesboro, but as his years increased, he re- turned to the old homestead on the borders of Nelson, where he died in 1871. He was twice married, first to Susan, daugh- ter of Michael Woods, son of Colonel John, and secondly to Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Rodes. His children by the first marriage were James, Professor in the Virginia Military Institute, N. Hardin, of Charlottesville, Susan, the wife of Robert B. Moon, and Hetty, the wife of William Patrick; and of those by the second marriage were Rodes and Edwin. Charles G. died in 1857.
An Edmund Massie lived in the county the same time with the first Charles. His home was in the vicinity of
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Brown's Cove. He died in 1782. He and his wife Judith had several children, of whom the only one mentioned was Thomas. It may be he was the Thomas Massie, who in 1792 rented from the representatives of Hugh Moss a large tract of land on the Rivanna, in the Buck Island neighborhood. In that neighborhood he died in 1799, leaving six children, Martha, the wife of Hugh Pettit, Nancy, the wife of Reu - ben Mansfield, Susan, James, Thomas and John.
MAUPIN.
Two brothers, Daniel and Gabriel Maupin, came to the county just before the middle of the last century. From the name it may be inferred they were of French extraction. The idea has been entertained that they were French soldiers, who crossed the ocean with Lafayette at the time of the Rev- olution ; but Daniel obtained a patent for land on Moorman's River in 1748, twenty-seven years before that event. The name however was represented in the Revolutionary army, Daniel, William and Cornelius appearing on the pension list ; these in all probability were brothers, sons of John Maupin, and grandsons of Daniel. Daniel entered more than fifteen hundred acres in the Whitehall neighborhood. He died in 1788. He and his wife Margaret had seven sons and three daughters, Thomas, Gabriel, Daniel, John, Margaret, the wife of Robert Miller, William, Zachariah, Jesse, Jane, the wife of Samuel Rea and Mary, the wife of Matthew Mullins.
Gabriel died in 1794. He seems to have lived in the vicin- ity of Free Union. His wife's name was Marah, and Thomas, Bland, Daniel and Gabriel were names of his sons. The truth is, the families of this stock were generally so numer - ous, containing hardly ever less than ten, and sometimes thirteen children, and the same names were so often repeated in the different households, that it would be well nigh impos- sible at this date to make out an accurate statement of their lines of descent. They frequently intermarried among them- selves, and with the Harrises, Jarmans and Vias, and their descendants are widely scattered over the West, particularly in Kentucky and Missouri. They seem to have been in their generations an industrious, quiet, unambitious people. They
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have usually been attached to the Methodist Church, a Daniel Maupin being an original trustee of Austin's, or Bingham's, Meeting House, and another Daniel and his wife Hannah in 1834 giving the ground for Mount Moriah near Whitehall, which indeed for many years commonly went by the name of Maupin's Meeting House.
Dr. Socrates Maupin, who was Professor of Chemistry first in Hampden-Sidney College, and afterwards in the Univer - sity of Virginia, was one of this family. He died from in - juries in consequence of a runaway accident in Lynchburg, in 1871. He was the son of Chapman W. Maupin, who was third in descent from the first Daniel, was appointed a magis- trate of the county in 1835, and died in 1861. Addison, another son of Chapman W., had his residence before the war on Carr's Hill, adjoining the University. J. Addison Maupin, of Richmond, author of the Maupin bill of recent notoriety, was Addison's son.
MAURY.
In the last century Rev. James Maury was the rector of Fredericksville parish. His parents, Matthew Maury and Mary Ann Fontaine, were Huguenot exiles, and were resi- dents of King William. Instead of occupying the glebe, he resided on his own farm, which lay on the borders of Albe - marle and Louisa. He attained great notoriety as suitor in the famous case under the Two Penny Act, in which Patrick Henry first displayed his marvellous powers of eloquence. In addition to his clerical duties, he taught on his plantation a classical school in which Mr. Jefferson was one of his pu- pils. In 1767 he purchased nearly seven hundred acres southwest of Ivy Depot from the executors of old Michael Woods, which his son Matthew sold in 1797 to Rev. William Woods and Richard Woods. He married Mary Walker, a cousin it is said, of Dr. Thomas Walker, and died in 1769. His children were Matthew, James, Ann, Mary, Walker, Catharine, the wife of James Barrett, Elizabeth, the wife of James Lewis, of Spotsylvania, Abraham, Fontaine, Benja - min and Richard. James was appointed by Washington in 1789 Consul to Liverpool, which office he continued to fill
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till 1837. Richard, who married Diana, daughter of Major John Minor, of Spotsylvania, and removed to Franklin, Tenn., was the father of Commodore Matthew F. Maury, and the grandfather of General Dabney Maury, of the Confeder - ate army.
Matthew was an Episcopal minister, and succeeded his father both at the homestead, and in the parish. He also taught school. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Thomas Walker, and died in 1808. His children were Matthew, Thomas Walker, Francis, Mary Ann, the wife of William Michie, Mildred, the wife of Henry Fry Jr., Reuben, Elizabeth, Catharine, the wife of Francis Lightfoot, and John. Thomas W. was a member of the Albemarle bar, was appointed a magistrate in 1816, married Elizabeth, daughter of Julius Clarkson, and granddaughter of Jesse Lewis, taught school in the small brick at the east end of Main Street, and afterwards at his own place above the Uni - versity, now occupied by Samuel Emerson, and died in 1842. Reuben married Elizabeth, daughter of Jesse Lewis, and died in 1869. His son, Jesse L., succeeded to the home of his father, and still lives in a green old age, a link between the present and the past. Mildred was the mother of J. Frank Fry, long the Commissioner of the Revenue for St. Anne's. James S. Maury, son of the Consul, lived at one time on a place near the north end of Dudley's Mountain, and in 1833 sold it to Jesse L. John, son of Rev. Matthew, also once lived in the same vicinity.
MAYO.
The Mayos have had a name and place in Albemarle from the beginning. Colonel William Mayo, the County Surveyor of Goochland, obtained a patent for eight hundred acres on the branches of Rockfish, near the Blue Mountains, in 1738. The patent of Dr. William Cabell for forty-eight hundred acres on both sides of the Fluvanna, obtained the same year, adjoined this entry of Mayo. Among the first deeds recorded in Albemarle, is one from Ann Mayo, conveying this land to Robert Barnett in 1748.
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In 1749 Philip Mayo, of Henrico, entered four hundred acres on the branches of Hardware, situated in the limestone belt, and long known as the Limestone Survey. In 1752 he sold it to Peter Jefferson, Joshua Fry, Arthur Hopkins, Thomas Meriwether, Daniel Scott, and William Stith, Presi- dent of William and Mary College. It is presumed that in making this purchase, these gentlemen had in mind some project for utilizing the mineral it contained.
The original record of the deed having been destroyed, it was restored in 1802. As late as 1830 these separate interests were not all united, as in that year Governor Gilmer, as exec- utor of Christopher Hudson, sold to George Gilmer, his father, one-sixth of the tract.
James Mayo died in 1777, leaving eleven sons and two daughters. The most of them no doubt lived in Goochland. One of them, Thomas, who belonged to that county, bought in 1779 from Thomas Collins four hundred acres on Edge Creek, the small branch of Moore's Creek that runs on the east side of the Teel place. Four years later Thomas sold part of this tract to his brother, Richard George Mayo. If Richard George ever lived on it, he removed elsewhere, as in 1809 his brother Joseph, as his attorney, sold it to another brother, James. James died in 1821, in his eighty-third year. His wife was Mary, daughter of Stephen Hughes, and his children John W., Stephen, Claudius, James E., Catharine, the wife of Wil- liam Thompson, and Nancy, the wife of John Harris.
MERIWETHER.
The progenitor of the Meriwethers was Nicholas, an emigrant from Wales, who died in 1678. He had three sons, Francis, who married Mary Bathurst, and from whom descended Governor George W. Smith, who perished in the burning of the Richmond theatre in 1811, David and Nicholas. Nicholas was the large landholder. Besides obtaining grants of extensive tracts in several of the counties of eastern Virginia, he entered in one body seventeen thousand, nine hundred and fifty-two acres on the east side of the South West Mountain in Albe - marle. He also entered in 1735 one thousand and twenty
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acres on the Rivanna, extending from Moore's Creek to Meadow Creek. This was the place on which he lived, and which he devised to his grandson, Nicholas Lewis. He died in 1744, and it is said he and his grandson, Richard Meriwether, son of William, were buried on the east side of the Rivanna, most probably on the summit of the hill north of Mrs. Crockford's residence, on the parcel of land which Richard purchased from Thomas Graves. His wife was Elizabeth Crawford, and his children Jane, the wife of Robert Lewis, Thomas, Nicholas, William, David, Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Bray, Ann, the wife of Thomas Johnson, the colleague of Patrick Henry from Louisa in the House of Burgesses, and the grandfather of the eminent lawyer, Chapman Johnson, Sarah, the wife of William Littlepage, and Mary, the wife of John Aylett.
Nicholas received from his father a share of the lands east of the South West Mountain, of which Castle Hill was the seat. He married Mildred Thornton, and died in 1739, leav- ing one child, Mildred. About 1741 his widow became the wife of Dr. Thomas Walker, and in due time Mildred, his daughter, became the wife of John Syme, of Hanover, the half-brother of Patrick Henry. In 1741 and 1746 there were entered in the daughter Mildred's name, two tracts of sixteen hundred, and nineteen hundred acres, lying near the gorge of the South Hardware between Gay's and Fan's Mountains, and extending up the road towards Batesville; and for many years her lines frequently figure in the descriptions of lands sold in that neighborhood. Both tracts were sold by Mil - dred's son, John Syme Jr., to President William Nelson, but the deed was never recorded. President Nelson devised them to his son Robert, who sold the sixteen hundred tract to James Powell Cocke, and the other in parcels to different purchasers. A chancery suit instituted against the children of John Syme Jr., then living in Nelson County, to make title to these lands, was decided in 1809; and a considerable part of Deed Book Sixteen is occupied with the deeds of these parties to the vendees.
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David Meriwether married Ann Holmes, and had six sons and two daughters. Thomas, the eldest, married Elizabeth Thornton, and his children were Nicholas, Francis, David, Mary, the wife of Peachy R. Gilmer, Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Johnson, Sarah, the wife of Michael Anderson, Ann, the wife of Richard Anderson, and mother of David Ander- son, of Milton and Pantops, Lucy, the wife of William Lewis, and afterwards of John Marks, Mildred, the wife of John Gil- mer, and Jane, the wife of Samuel Dabney, mother of Mildred, Reuben Lewis's wife, and grandmother of Rev. Robert Lewis Dabney, the eminent theologian. Nicholas, the eldest of this family, married Margaret, daughter of Rev. William Doug- lass, a native of Scotland, rector of the parish of St. James, Northam, Goochland, who added teaching to his ministerial duties, and was the preceptor of Presidents Monroe and Jef - ferson, and who spent his last days at his plantation of Ducking Hole, Louisa. The children of Nicholas and Mar- garet Douglass Meriwether were William Douglass, Thomas, Nicholas H., Charles, Francis T., and Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas W. Lewis. Mrs. Margaret D. Meriwether was married the second time to Chiles Terrell.
William Douglass lived at Clover Fields, on the east side of the South West Mountain. He was a man of fine sense and great wealth. He was a magistrate of the county for fifty years, and the only one of the whole body of magistrates that filled the office of Sheriff twice, in 1801 and 1828. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Lewis, and through her he inherited the part of the Farm nearest Charlottesville, which in 1825 he sold to John A. G. Davis, who built on it the brick house, the present residence of Mrs. Thomas Fa - rish. He died in 1845. His children were William H., Charles J., Mary, the wife of Peter Meriwether, Margaret D., the wife first of Dr. Francis Meriwether, and secondly of Francis K. Nelson, and Thomas W. William H., a man of incessant activity, was admitted to the bar, built the first mill at Rio, and a bridge across the Rivanna at the Woolen Mills, sold his land in 1835 to George L. Craven, and went to Texas. He was twice married, first to Frances Poindexter,
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and secondly to Kate W. Meriwether, who after his death was married to Dr. Prior, of Memphis, Tenn. Charles J. received from his father Mooresbrook, the present residence of Mr. Newman, but being impoverished by the war, he and his wife Louisa Miller, a sister of President Tyler's first wife, passed their remaining days under the hospitable roof of Mrs. Harper and her son, Warner Wood, at Farmington. Thomas W. was a physician, succeeded to the homestead, was a ruling elder in South Plains Church, and died in 1863. His wife was Ann, daughter of Hugh Nelson, and his children William D., also a physician, Mildred, the wife of George Macon, Ann, the wife of Frederick W. Page, Eliza, the wife of N. H. Massie, and Charlotte, the second wife of T. J. Randolph Jr.
Thomas, second son of Nicholas and Margaret D. Meri - wether. married Ann, daughter of Garrett Minor, of Louisa. They had four children, among whom was Peter N., who resided at Cismont, married first his cousin Mary, as already noted, and secondly Mrs. Frances Tapp, and died in 1851.
Nicholas H., third son of Nicholas and Margaret, married Rebecca Terrell. They had six children, among whom were Dr. Charles H., who married first Ann E. Anderson, and secondly Frances E. Thomas, lived at the present station of Arrowhead, and died in 1843, Ann T., the wife of Nicholas H. Lewis, and mother of Lydia L., the wife of Peter, son of Dr. Frank Carr, and Walker G., who married first his cousin Elizabeth Meriwether, and secondly his cousin Jane W. Lewis.
Charles, fourth son of Nicholas and Margaret, studied medicine in Scotland, and while visiting his Douglass kin in that country, married a young lady named Lydia Laurie. On his return he settled in Tennessee. Lydia Laurie died, and he married twice afterwards; but her sweet-sounding name has ever since been a favorite in all branches of the connection.
Francis T., fifth son of Nicholas and Margaret, married Catharine Davis, and had six children. Among them were
-18
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Elizabeth, the wife of her cousin Walker G., George D., who married his cousin Alice Lewis, and Dr. Francis, who mar- ried his cousin Margaret D., and whose daughter, Mary W., was the first wife of T. J. Randolph Jr.
Of all this numerous family, there is not one now living in Albemarle who bears the name. Their descendants however are scattered in every part of the West and South.
MICHIE.
The first Michie who settled in the county was John, who bought land near the Horse Shoe of the Rivanna from John Henry, father of the great orator. When the purchase was made does not appear, but he sold to Hezekiah Rice, and repurchased from him in 1763. He died in 1777. His chil- dren were John, who died before his father, Robert, James, Patrick, William, Sarah, the wife of Christopher Wood, and Mary, the wife also of a Wood. Robert and his sisters seem to have lived in Louisa.
Patrick had his home southwest of Earlysville, between the Buck Mountain Road and the south fork of the Rivanna. He died in 1799. His wife's name was Frances, and his children were Nancy, the wife of Joseph Goodman, James, Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas Maupin, Sarah, the wife of William G. Martin, Martha, the wife of Richard Davis, Susan, the wife of William Michie, Mary, the wife of John Maupin, and David.
William became a large landholder in the same section. He purchased in 1793 from Lewis Webb, of New Kent, two thousand and ninety acres in one tract. On the Buck Moun - tain Road he established the public house, which has since been known as Michie's Old Tavern. He was appointed a magistrate in 1791, served as Sheriff in 1803, and died in 1811. He was twice married ; one of his wives, it is believed, being Ann, daughter of David Mills. His children by the first marriage were John A., and Mary, the wife of John Mullins, and by the second William, David and Lucy, the wife of Benjamin Richards.
John A. was appointed a magistrate of the county in 1807. His wife was Frances, daughter of Thomas Jarman. He
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died in 1827. His children were Frances J., Ann, Sarah, Elizabeth, the wife of Bezaleel G. Brown, Theodosia, the wife of Edmund Brown, John E., James, William, Robert J., Jonathan, Mary and Martha. Of these James attained a prominent position in the affairs of the county. He was a successful business man, was appointed a magistrate in 1816, and served as Sheriff in 1843. He was an earnest Episcopalian, and displayed his zeal in active efforts to re- build the ruins of the old Buck Mountain Church. His home was on the north fork of the Rivanna, south of Piney Mountain. He died in 1850. His wife was Frances, daugh- ter of Thomas Garth Jr., and his children Mary Elizabeth, the wife of William T. Early, Virginia, Susan, Adeline, Dr. J. Augustus, Thomas, Theresa, the wife of Lucian Michie, Alexander H., and Henry Clay. Jonathan married a sister of Thomas J. Michie, of Staunton, and his children were John P., Margaret, the wife of Dr. Theodore Michie, Frances, the wife of Dr. R. N. Hewitt, of Campbell County, Thomas, Chapman and Franklin.
William Michie, son of William, married, it is believed, Susan, daughter of his uncle Patrick. His children were Dr. James W., David and Frances. His brother David was a man of great enterprise and thrift. In early life he was a merchant first in the Michie Tavern neighborhood, and after- wards at Milton. He invested in real estate in different parts of the county, purchasing in 1805 from Randolph Lewis his plantation Buck Island on the north side of the Rivanna, which he seems to have made his home till 1837. In that year he bought the brick house on the northeast corner of Market and Seventh Streets in Charlottesville, where he resided until his death in 1850. He left no children, and his large estate was divided among his numerous relatives, under the direction of George Carr, as administrator.
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