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 24
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James Michie Jr., or Beau Jim, as he was commonly called, was the son of a William Michie. His residence was at Longwood, west of Earlysville. His death occurred in 1847. He married Eliza Graves, of Rockingham, and h's children were Dr. Theodore, Octavius, Joseph P., Lucia -, Oran,
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Claudius N., Eugene, Catharine, the wife of William A. Rogers, Cornelia and Virginia.
MILLS.
In early times three large entries of lands were made with- in the county by persons named Mills. Between 1737 and 1759 Matthew Mills obtained grants for seventeen hundred acres on the south side of Mechum's River, east of the Miller School. After his death it was divided among three sons, Matthew, Charles and Menan. In 1782 Matthew, who at the time was living in Guilford County, North Carolina, sold his share to William Leigh, who came to take possession of it from Caswell County, North Carolina. The same year Charles and his wife Mary, who were residents of Buckingham, sold five hundred and sixty-seven acres to Richard Woods, the same land that descended to his son Richard, that after his death was sold to James Michie, and that is still in the possession of his son, Thomas Michie. The other portion, five hundred and sixty -seven acres, fell to Menan, who lived on it till 1800. He then bought from the executors of Micajah Chiles the old Joel Terrell property in Charlottesville, the square on which the present City Hall stands. He married Frances, daughter of John Jouett. He was not a prosperous man, and in 1811 all his possessions were sold under deeds of trust, his share of his father's estate being purchased by Daniel White, and now owned by his grandson, Samuel G. White. Menan Mills removed elsewhere, probably to Kentucky, leaving four children, John, Frances and Margaret, who were placed under the guardianship of Micajah Woods, and William, who was placed under that of Clifton Rodes.
Charles Mills between 1744 and 1756 took out patents for three thousand acres along the foot of Buck's Elbow, between Crozet and Whitehall. It is probable Charles was a brother of the elder Matthew, as both belonged to Hanover, and some of their patents were taken out the same day. Charles's land was inherited by his son Nicholas, who lived in Hanover, and who, after selling a portion of it, conveyed the remainder in 1786 to his sons, Joseph and William Mills, and his son- in-law, J. mes Burnley, of Louisa. In 1790 Joseph sold his
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share to William, who lived in Spotsylvania, and in 1793 William sold to John Burnley, the son of James.
The third series of entries was made by David Mills. They ran from 1738 to 1755, and amounted to more than eleven thousand acres. They were located south of Earlysville, on Buck Mountain and Beaverdam Creeks, and in the Brown's Cove district. David Mills died in 1764. He and his wife Lucy had eight children, Zachariah, David, Wyatt, Joseph, Ann, the wife of William Michie, Elizabeth, the wife of William Doswell, of Nottoway, Mary, the wife of William S. Lane, and Lucy, the wife of Philip White, of Hanover. David sold out to his brother Wyatt in 1786, and emigrated to South Carolina. Wyatt died in 1808. He and his wife Sarah had four children, Elizabeth, the wife of James Beazley, Wilson, John S., and Sophia, the wife of Fontaine Richards. Joseph Mills Jr., probably the son of Joseph, taught school in the Buck Mountain neighborhood, was admitted to the bar in 1823, and soon after removed to Harrisonburg.
A John Mills-whether related to any of those before men- tioned, is not known-in 1782 married Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Field, and was owner of the land which is now known as Brooksville. In 1795 he sold it to James Hays, and probably left the county.
MINOR.
John Minor, of Topping Castle, Caroline County, was the patentee of land on the north fork of the Rivanna as early as 1735. Of the eleven children of himself and his wife, Sarah, daughter of Thomas Carr, three have been represented in Albemarle. His son James came to the county from Spot- sylvania not far from 1770, and lived on the land entered by his father east of the Burnt Mills, which he beyond all ques- tion first built. He was a man of energy and industry, and a public spirited magistrate, but died in 1791, at the age of forty-five. His wife was Mary Carr, and his children Dab - ney, James, John, Sarah, the wife of William Wardlaw, Mary, the wife of Richard H. Allen, Nancy, the wife of Dr. Thomas Yancey, and Elizabeth, the wife of Alexander Garrett. Dabney resembled his father in capacity for business, became
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a large landholder in this and other counties, and for a num- ber of years served as a magistrate. He resided at first at the home of his father, but subsequently purchased Carrs - brook, and there spent his last years. He died in 1824, about fifty years of age. He was twice married, first to Eliza Johnson, a niece of William Wirt, and secondly to Martha J., daughter of Richard Terrell, and granddaughter of Mr. Jefferson's sister, Martha. By the first marriage his children were Mildred, the wife of Hudson Martin, Catharine, the wife of E. W. Reinhart, Sarah, the wife of James Tompkins, and William W., of Gale Hill, and by the second Lucy J., the wife of Robert N. Trice. James lived at Brookhill, on the south fork of the Rivanna. His wife was Catharine Tomp- kins, and his children Dabney, John, James, Elizabeth, the wife of Samuel Moore, Ann, the wife of Rev. Albert Holladay, missionary to Persia, and President-Elect of Hampden-Sidney College, Catharine, the wife of Rev. Luther Emerson, and Martha, the wife of Lafayette Harris. He departed this life in 1848. John was a physician, and married Jane Bell, a Scotch lady, who was a resident of Lynchburg. He resided at Gale Hill, which at his death in 1841 he devised to his nephew, William W. Minor.
Another son of John Minor, of Topping Castle, was Gar- rett, of Louisa, who married Mary O. Terrell. Their son Peter came to the county early in the century, and married Lucy, daughter of Dr. George Gilmer, of Pen Park. In 1809 he purchased from Jesse and John Key the present farm of Ridgeway, and in 1811 was appointed Treasurer of the Ri- vanna Navigation Company. He was for many years Sec- retary of the County Agricultural Society, in the great objects of which he was deeply interested. To his wife George Divers at his death in 1830 left one-third of his estate. He died in 1835, and his children were Hugh, Franklin, Peter C., George, John S., James E., Martha, the wife of Robert Grattan, Lucy, the wife of Dr. Charles Minor, and Mary, the wife of R. W. N. Noland. Hugh married first a Fry, and secondly Mary Ann, daughter of J. Boucher Carr, and lived at Ridgeway; but exchanging it with his brother Franklin
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for the Rigory, he resided there until his death in 1858. Franklin married Lucy Ann, daughter of Dr. John Gilmer, of Edgemont, and established a classical school at the Rigory, but afterwards removed it to Ridgeway, where it attained a wide-spread reputation. He died in 1867, but owing to ill health, and the interruption of the war, the school had been relinquished some years before. Samuel O., another son of Garrett, married Lydia Laurie, daughter of Thomas W. Lewis, of Locust Grove. In 1817 he bought from Martin Dawson upwards of six hundred acres on the north side of the Rivanna, below Milton. He afterwards lived and con - ducted a school at the Farm. Dr. James H. Minor, of Music Hall, and Elizabeth, the wife of Andrew Brown, were his children.
Another son of John Minor, of Topping Castle, was Major John, whose son Launcelot, of Minor's Folly in Louisa, married Mary O. Tompkins. Several of their children re - sided in Albemarle. Lucian was admitted to the bar in 1830, practised for a time in Charlottesville, and subsequently became Professor of Law in William and Mary. John B., after practising law for a brief period in Buchanan on James River, settled in Charlottesville, erected as his home the house at Northwood, the present residence of Charles Benson, and in 1845 entered upon his distinguished career as Professor of Law in the University of Virginia, where he died in 1896. Dr. Charles, who married Lucy, daughter of Peter Minor, taught a classical school at Brookhill, and afterwards lived until his death in 1862 at Land's End, near Stony Point. George W. Trueheart, a son of Ann Minor, daughter of Launcelot, and wife of Overton Trueheart, was for a time a member of the Albemarle bar.
MONROE.
President James Monroe was for many years a citizen of Albemarle. Being a great admirer as well as a special favor- ite of Mr. Jefferson, he was attracted to the county by his influence. His first purchase of real estate was made from George Nicholas in 1790. He then bought from him Lots Seventeen and Eighteen in Charlottesville, with the Stone
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House which Nicholas had erected thereon. That was his first residence. At the same time he purchased the farm on which the University stands. In the conveyance of his town property to Peter Marks in September 1790, it is recited that he sold to him "the pine plank and materials deposited thereon, except that which was planed, and the walnut plank," and reserved in the house "room for his furniture and family, until his houses were ready to receive them on his farm." This farm he also bought from George Nicholas, who, having purchased more than two thousand acres in different parts of the county, sold them, and removed without making conveyances for any of them; and it was not until nearly twenty years after his death, that James Morrison, his executor, gave title to the heirs of his vendees. For the land he sold Mr. Monroe, no deed was ever made, or at least was ever recorded; on account of Mr. Monroe's celebrity, and the property having changed hands several times, per - haps it was deemed unnecessary. The house Mr. Monroe was getting ready on his farm, was part of that now occupied by Professor Thornton, situated on what is still called Mon - roe Hill.
But he did not reside there long. In 1793 he purchased on the east side of Carter's Mountain, where he was a still closer neighbor to Mr. Jefferson. Part of this land he bought from Mr. Jefferson, and part from William C. Carter. His home was Ash Lawn, now owned by Rev. John E. Massey. Here he lived till the termination of his presidency, when all his lands in the county, amounting to between four and five thousand acres, were sold, or transferred to the United States Bank, in payment of his debts. Like Mr. Jefferson, he was so completely absorbed in his public engagements, and so frequently and long absent from home, that his private affairs suffered from neglect. When a man's mind is accustomed to dwell upon the broad expanse of a nation's interests, it is not unnatural perhaps that he should insensibly contract a sort of sublime indifference to the petty range of his mere per - sonal concerns. As already stated, Mr. Monroe never did get a deed for his University land, and that which he bought
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from William C. Carter in 1793, was not conveyed to him till 1827. He was appointed a magistrate in 1798, and the latter half of the next year he sat regularly on the bench. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Lawrence Kortright, a captain in the British army, and his children Eliza and Maria. Eliza was married to George Hay, United States Attorney for the District of Virginia, at his home in the county in 1808, and Maria to Samuel L. Governeur, of New York, in Washington, while he was President. At the expiration of his second term, he removed to Oak Hill, a farm he had pur - chased in Loudoun.
The President had an elder brother, Andrew, who, it is believed, in 1781 purchased a farm near Batesville, where he resided for four years. In 1816 he was living on a farm which the President purchased on Limestone, below Milton. He died in 1828. A son, Augustine G., was admitted to the Albemarle bar in 1815. Another son, James, born in the county, was an officer in the United Stated army, acted as the President's private secretary, married a daughter of James Douglass, an adopted son of Rev. William Douglass, of Ducking Hole, Louisa, and settled in New York City, where he was active in political affairs, and where he was appointed to perform his last public service as a member of the Peace Convention in 1861.
Joseph Jones Monroe, another brother of the President, became a member of the Albemarle bar, married Elizabeth, daughter of James Kerr, was appointed Commonwealth's Attorney in 1811 as successor to Judge Dabney Carr, and the next year gave place to William F. Gordon. In 1812 his daughter Harriet was married in Charlottesville to Edward Blair Cabell, and removed to Keytesville, Mo. He himself subsequently removed to Missouri, where he died in Franklin County in 1824.
MOON.
The genealogy of the Moons is somewhat difficult to trace. It seems however that two brothers, Jacob and William, settled in the county in early times. In 1750 Jacob pur-
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chased land from Thomas Fitzpatrick in the gorge of the south fork of Hardware. He also entered a small tract in the same vicinity. He sold out in 1777, and removed to Bedford County.
William bought a thousand acres from Hardin Burnley on the lower Hardware. When this purchase was made is not known, but the fact is stated in a conveyance of part of the land made by Moon to John Lewis in 1760. He died in 1800. His wife's name was Elizabeth, and his children were William, Richard, Littlebury, Jacob, Judith, the wife of Charles Moorman, Susan, the wife of Thomas Tilman, Martha, the wife of William Viers, who removed to Mason County, Kentucky, Elizabeth, the wife of Henry A. Bryant, Lucy, the wife of John Steele, and Sarah, the wife of Robert Moorman.
William married Charlotte, daughter of John Digges and Elizabeth Harris, of Nelson County. Their children were John Digges, Robert, Richard, Elizabeth, the wife of John Steele, Edward H., and Mildred, the wife of Nathaniel Anderson. He was at one time the owner of Belle Grove, the plantation above Scottsville on which the old court- house stood. In 1819 he was appointed a magistrate of the county., and died in 1833. John D., who was called Senior to distinguish him from a cousin of the same name, married Mary E. Barclay, step-daughter of John Harris, and his home was at Mount Air. He became a magistrate in 1835, and died in 1869. His children were Robert B., who was appointed a magistrate in 1846, served as County Surveyor, married Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Massie, and died in 1891, Sarah, William F., who married Marietta Appling, and removed to Tennessee, and whose son, Judge John A. Moon represents the Chattanooga district in Congress, Ann, J. Schuyler, James N., Mary and J. Luther. Richard lived for a time in Tennessee, and as a mark of distinction bore the addition of T. to his name. Edward H. married Ann Maria Barclay, another step-daughter of John Harris, and lived at Viewmont, the old Fry homestead. He died in 1853. His children were Thomas B., Oriana, the wife of Dr. John
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S. Andrews, Charlotte, Isaac A., Sarah, Mary and Edmonia.
Richard, son of the first William, died in 1819. His wife's name was Winifred, and his children were Thomas, Richard, who lived on Briery Creek, and hence had the affix B. to dis- tinguish him from Richard T., William, Nathaniel, who mar- ried his cousin Roxana Moon, and removed to Upshur County, Elizabeth, the wife of Jeremiah Cleveland, Sarah, the wife of William Cleveland, Lucy, Fleming, Jacob, Martha and Samuel W. William married Elizabeth Hamner, and his children were John, William, Roxana, the wife of Henry Boatright, Archer, Martha, Elizabeth, Judith, Sarah, Pleas - ant, and Mildred, the wife of Thomas Garland. Jacob married Elizabeth Darneille, and his children were John D. Jr., Isaac D., Elizabeth, Mary, the wife of Thomas N. Trice, Charlotte, Anna, and Martha Louisa.
Littlebury married Sarah, daughter of Thomas Staples, and died in 1827. His children were Maria, the wife of Sam- uel O. Moon, son of Littlebury Moon, of Buckingham County, and Jane Hopkins, Martha, the wife of Littlebury Moon, a brother of Samuel O., Mary, the wife of William H. Turner, and Mildred, the wife of Rev. Thomas J. Deyerle.
Jacob, son of the first William, married Mildred Hamner, and died in 1811. His children were Samuel, Schuyler, Mary, Roxana, the wife of Nathaniel Moon, Susan, Turner, and Elizabeth, the wife of William Hopkins.
It is said the early Moons, like the Lewises of the same part of the county, were largely engaged in the business of transportation on James River, and after its construction, on the canal.
MOORE.
John Moore was appointed the executor of Matthew Jouett in 1745, the same year the county of Albemarle was organ- ized. It is likely his first wife was Matthew Jouett's daughter. He was evidently a man of means and fine busi - ness capacity. At different times he owned more than five thousand acres in the county, including Lot No. Three, on which the first court at the new county seat was held, several of the outlots around Charlottesville, a thousand
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acres on Meadow Creek, and more than thirteen hundred east of the South West Mountain, on part of which stood his home, subsequently the home of Reuben Lindsay. From the fact that it was through his land east of the town the road to the river was made, it is surmised the name of Moore's was given to the ford, which crossed just below the site of the . Free Bridge. He was a large landholder also in Louisa, to which county he removed after selling his residence in Albe- marle. He died in 1785. He appears to have been joined in matrimony the second time with Martha, daughter of the elder John Harvie. His children were John, Edward, James, Matthew, Frances, the wife of John Henderson Jr., and Eliza- beth, the wife first of Tucker Woodson, and secondly of Major Joseph Crockett. It is thought that William Moore, who married Mary, daughter of Colonel John Marks and Mrs. Lucy Lewis, and lived in Georgia, was also his son by the last marriage.
John was one of his father's executors, and probably lived in Louisa. Matthew received from his father a farm on the borders of Louisa, which he and his wife Letitia sold in 1774 to Rev. Matthew Maury, and removed South. Edward occupied a position of considerable prominence, but unfor - tunate habits seem to have ruined both him and his estate. He was a magistrate, and in the decade of 1790 represented the county in the House of Delegates. His plantation of five hundred acres, which he bought from John Harvie, lay on the Gordonsville Road below Keswick, and in 1805 was sold under deed of trust to William D. Meriwether. Overwhelmed with debt, stripped of his property, and declared insane in 1807, he was by order of Court placed in the Asylum, where he died the next year. His wife was Mildred, daughter of Colonel Charles Lewis Jr., of Buck Island. His son, John Lewis, was left by his uncle Isham Lewis, a thousand acres of land on Blue Run, on the Barboursville Road, which he sold in 1807 to James Barbour. A daughter Ann is men - tioned, to whom her brother John Lewis was appointed guardian, and a son Charles, who was bound as apprentice for four years to William Watson.
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Another family named Moore resided in the county, the descendants of which still remain in considerable numbers, though bearing different names. Contrary to the usual course of emigration, three brothers, Richard, William and Stephen, came to Albemarle from Person County, North Caro- lina, sometime before the Revolutionary War; yet it is said by relatives now living in North Carolina, that the family first emigrated thither from Albemarle. Richard lived on the head waters of the south fork of Hardware, not far from the Cove. He was twice married, first to Letitia Martin, and secondly to Keturah, daughter of William Austin, and died in 1809. He had twelve children, the most of whom, it is believed, removed to Tennessee. William lived at first near Richard, but afterwards in the North Garden, on the place recently owned by the late Garrett White. He married Mary, daughter of William Gooch, and died in 1818. His son, Dyer, was a captain in the war of 1812, and removed to Ten - nessee, where he married Mary, daughter of James Lewis. Stephen was a man of industry and sound judgment, acquired a large estate, and died in 1833. His home was in North Garden, the same place recently occupied by his grandson, William Durrett. His wife, it is said, was a Miss Royster, and his children Sarah, the wife of Marcus Durrett, Caroline, the wife of John White, and Eliza, the wife of Henry Carter Moore, a kinsman also from North Carolina. H. Carter Moore resided where Anderson Rothwell now lives, and died in 1867. The only son in his large family, Shepherd, died without children in 1871.
MOORMAN.
Charles Moorman came from the Isle of Wight, England, and in 1744 was living in Louisa, not far from the Green Spring. He was a leading Quaker, and at that time he and his son Thomas were overseers of the Friends' Meeting House on Camp Creek, in Louisa. As early as 1735 they were both patentees of land within the present bounds of Albemarle. Charles entered four hundred acres "at the forks of the Ri - vanna, near the Blue Mountains"-the junction of Mechum's and Moorman's Rivers-and the entry of Thomas compre -
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hended the present Carrsbrook, and was described as "includ- ing the Indian Grave low grounds." Seven years later Thomas entered a larger tract further up the Moorman's, and thus gave his name to that stream. Charles also purchased land on Totier Creek, where two of his sons, Thomas and Robert, afterwards lived. He himself appears never to have resided in the county. He married Mary, daughter of Abra- ham Venable, whose home was on Byrd Creek in Goochland, and his children were Thomas, Charles, Robert, Achilles, James, Judith, the wife of Christopher Anthony, Elizabeth, the wife of Christopher Johnson, Agnes, the wife of John Venable, and Mary, the wife of a Taylor.
Thomas Moorman was married twice, first to Rachel, daughter of Christopher Clark, and secondly to Elizabeth, daughter of Robert and Mourning Adams. He died in 1787, and left one son, Robert, who died in 1813, whose widow, Dorothy, became the wife of John T. Holman, and whose children were Dorothy, the wife of James L. Neville, Mary, the wife of Eli Tutwiler, Elizabeth Ann, the wife of Robert L. Jefferson, and Robert J. Charles married Judith, daughter of William Moon. Robert married Sarah, another daughter of William Moon, and had eight children, of whom Mary was the wife of William Roper, and Elizabeth the wife of Benja - min Johnson, of Locust Hill on James River; these last were the parents of Janet, the wife of Austin M. Appling, Sarah, the wife of John Darneille, Louisiana, the wife of Edwin H. Gooch, and Dorothy, the wife of William A. Tur- ner. Robert Moorman sold his land on Totier Creek to John Harris in 1792, and with the view of emigrating to South Carolina, appointed John Hudson and William Roper his attorneys in fact. Achilles married Mary, daughter of Robert and Mourning Adams, and removed to Bedford County. The land on Mechunk, which came to the wives of Thomas and Achilles from their father, Robert Adams, was purchased by Dr. George Gilmer, of Pen Park.
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MORRIS.
Two persons named Morris obtained patents for land in 1743, Hugh on the lower Hardware, and Jacob on Totier
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achillis
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Creek. They were, as their names indicate, of Welsh origin, and the strong probability is they were brothers. Jacob's daughter Ann became the wife of Jacob Kinney, subse- quently a citizen of Staunton. Kinney owned the Stone Tavern in Warren, and Lots Seven and Eight in Charlottes - ville. His widow and daughter, Mrs. Matilda Stribling, sold the property in Warren to William Brown in 1812, and the lots to Twyman Wayt in 1815. It may be stated, that the Kinney family were residents of Albemarle at an early date. In 1779 the father, William Kinney, bought a tract of land on the lower Hardware from William Moon Sr., which his heirs, Chesley, Jacob, William and Nancy Whitesides, then of Amherst, sold in 1795 to William Moon Jr.
Hugh Morris, sometime previous to '1769, purchased land in the North Garden, contiguous to the Cross Roads. An Episcopal Church was built on this land, on the hill south of the village, and in the conveyance of the land to his son in 1772, Hugh recites that he never gave the land the church occupied, but invests his son with power to act as it seemed best. He died in 1774. His son, Hugh Rice Morris, resided on the land in North Garden, and died in 1820. It is said he was an Episcopal clergyman. In the notice of his death it was stated, that he was present at the first court held in the county, and witnessed the proceedings attending its organization. About 1817 he built the mill below the Cross Roads, now known as Kidd's Mill. His wife's name was Ann, and his chil- dren Henry, Samuel, Rice, William, Tandy and Elizabeth. Rice removed to Augusta County, but returned to Albemarle, and resided in the neighborhood of Scottsville; his daughter Sarah became the wife of Robert Dyer. Tandy was a physician, and practised in the vicinity of Warren. Wil - liam married Ann, daughter of Marshall Durrett, bought from Howell Lewis the farm, with the large brick house, on which Stephen Carpenter now resides, and died in 1832. His son William married Helen, daughter of James Alex - ander, and removed to Mississippi. Henry continued to live near the Cross Roads. The old church, a wooden structure, becoming dilapidated by the ravages of time, he gave the
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