USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 5
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Benjamin Harrison, of Rockingham, was a member of the Augusta court-martial, April 19, 1769, and in 1774 commanded a company at Point Pleasant. In July, 1775, he was appointed captain of a company of minute-men. When Rockingham was organized, in 1778, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the militia of that county. According to the information we have, he was not related to the family of Reuben and Daniel Harrison, but came from Eastern Virginia, probably Lou- doun county.
Dr. Peachy R. Harrison, long an eminent citizen of Rockingham, was a son of Colonel Benjamin Harrison, and the youngest of eight children. He was born in 1777, and died in 1848. His wife was Jane Stuart, a daughter of John Stuart, who lived near the Stone church, Augusta.
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The distinguished Dr. Gessner Harrison, Professor of Ancient Lan- guages at the University of Virginia, was the second son of Dr. Peachy R. Harrison. He was appointed professor at the age of twenty-one, and held the position thirty years.
1- In mentioning the denial by one of Mrs. Ingles's descendants of the birth of an infant, etc., during Mrs. I.'s captivity, we must not be understood as questioning the historical accuracy of Dr. Hale. (See " Mrs. Floyd's Narrative.") He is, no doubt, better informed in regard to the matter than any one else.
THE ALEXANDERS AND WILSONS.
Archibald Alexander, the Captain in the Sandy Creek expedition, first sheriff of Rockbridge, &c. (see pages 83 and 164), was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1708, and there married his cousin, Margaret Parks. Their oldest child, a daughter, was born in Ireland, in 1735. Coming to America, in 1737, he settled first at Nottingham, Pennsyl- vania, where four more children were born, including William, the oldest son. About the year 1747 the family came to the Valley and settled in Borden's grant, on Timber Ridge. The wife of Captain Alexander died in 1753. At the time of his wife's death, Captain Alex- ander was in Pennsylvania, having gone there, with John Houston, to present a call to the Rev. John Brown to become pastor of New Provi- dence and Timber Ridge congregations. Before Mr. Brown's arrival, the celebrated Samuel Davies visited the Valley and preached at Tim- ber Ridge. No doubt to the surprise and dissatisfaction of the plain Scotch-Irish people of the Valley, Mr. Davies carried a gold-headed cane and wore a finger-ring, which had been presented to him in Eng- land. Most of the original members of New Providence and Timber Ridge churches, including Archibald Alexander, had been converted in Pennsylvania, under the preaching of George Whitefield, and were called "New Lights." In 1757 he married his second wife, Jane McClure. Her children were five sous and three daugliters. Of Archibald Alex- ander's children, six sons and six daughters became heads of families. The names of the sons were William, Joseph, John, James, Samuel and Archibald. Mary, a daughter of the second wife, became the wife of John Trimble. (See "The Trimbles.")
Robert Alexander, the founder of the first classical school in the Valley (see page 42), was a brother of Captain Archibald Alexander, and preceded the latter to America and to the Valley. He married, in Pennsylvania, Esther Beard. His children were-
I. William, who died in Rockbridge, in 1829, leaving children; 2. Robert, who lived in Campbell county, and was clerk of the county
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court for many years, being succeeded in office by his son, and he by his son, both called Jack Alexander; 3. Peter, who, it is believed, went to the West; 4. Hugh, who died unmarried; 5. James, who married Peggy Lyle, of Rockbridge, and removed to Greenbrier ; and daughters, Ann, Esther, Ellen and Sally. The last-named was the second wife of Colonel John Wilson, of Bath county.
William Wilson and his wife, Barbara McKane, were married in Dub- lin, Ireland. They came to America about 1720, and settled at Forks of Brandywine, Chester county, Pennsylvania. At that place, their son John, mentioned above, was born, in December, 1732 In the fall of 1747, this family came to Augusta, and settled near New Providence church. John went to school to Robert Alexander, and became a skilful surveyor. The Rev. William Wilson, of Augusta, was a cousin of Wil- liam Wilson and wrote his will.
In 1762, William Wilson and his family removed to Jackson's river, now Highland county, near Stony Run church. The next year they were assailed by a band of Indians, supposed to have been a part of those who perpetrated the first Kerr's Creek massacre. [See "The Raid upon the Wilson Family."]
After this Indian raid the Wilsons returned to the neighborhood of New Providence, and remained there till the close of the Revolutionary war, when they went back to Jackson's river. William Wilson died in March, 1795.
At the outbreak of the Revolution, John Wilson entered the military service, and he is said to have commanded a regiment of militia at the siege of Yorktown. Previous to the war he married Isabella Seawright, but she died childless in a short time. In December, 1785, he married Sally Alexander, daughter of his old teacher. He was one of the first justices of Bath, when that county was established, in 1791. His wife died in 1808, and he on the 21st of January, 1820 ..
The children of Colonel John Wilson were a son, William, born Jan- uary 9, 1787, at the house of his grandfather, Robert Alexander; and two daughters, Peggy, who married Mr. Hanna, of Greenbrier, and Esther, who married Major John Bolar, of Bath.
William Wilson, Jr., married Sally McClung. His children were John, who died unmarried, Susan, who married Washington Stephenson, and Sarah, who married Adam Stephenson, of Highland county.
THE RAID UPON THE WILSON FAMILY.
Mrs. Margaret Hanna, of Greenbrier county, who died in 1878, at the age of eighty-seven years, left an account of the assault by Indians upon the Wilson family in July, 1763, written by her at the dictation of her father, Colonel John Wilson. (See "The Wilsons.") This manu-
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script having come into the hands of Dr. John P. Hale, was published by him in The Kanawha Gazette, of December 27, 1887, and we extract from it as follows. The scene of the occurrence was in the present county of Highland, near Stony Run church :
"Just at this time the Wilsons were erecting a new and larger log- house than the original cabin that had hitherto served them.
"John had gone to Dickinson's Fort, not far away, to get some help for the house-raising next day ; while William, Jr. (called Thomas by others), had gone to a little mill, about a mile distant, to get some meal ground for the house raising party.
"Two of the sisters, Margaret and Elizabeth, were out on the river bank washing flax-tow ; Mrs. Wilson, who was in feeble health, had walked out to where they were at work; an Irishman had a loom in the yard and was weaving; two of the sisters, Susan and Barbara, were in the cabin ironing the family clothes, and the father, with some other men, were at work on the new house logs, when the attack was made. " In returning from the Fort, John encountered the Indians suddenly, in a turn of the road. They fired on him, and a ball passed through his clothes just under his arm, cutting the gusset of his shirt. He wheeled his horse quickly and fled back to the Fort to get immediate help to go to the rescue of the family, and about twenty returned with him.
"The Indians had passed on to the cabin. The girls at the river, washing, saw them coming and started to run, and at the same time tried to help their mother away, but she told them to go and save themselves and leave her. In passing, an Indian threw a tomahawk at the old lady, and severely wounded her in the wrist as she threw up her hand to save her face. The Indians did not pursue them, but hurried on to the cabin. They fired at the Irish weaver, but he escaped with a flesh wound in his shoulder.
"As they entered the cabin, one of the girls, Barbara, ran out and was knocked down and her skull probably fractured, but she was not scalped. The girl remaining in the cabin, Susan, closed the door, and when an Indian put his hand in to try to open it, she mashed and burned his fingers with a hot smoothing iron.
" By this time, the father and his men from the new house founda- tion came up, and attacked the Indians with hand-spikes and foot-adze ; the latter, in the hands of Mr. Wilson, and drove them off.
" When John and his party arrived it was dark, and they were unable to see what mischief had been done. They ascended an elevated point near by, to see if they could discover any fire-light or other evidences of life about the cabin.
"Seeing none, they concluded or feared that the family had all been destroyed. In nearing the cabin other dangers suggested themselves, the family had several fierce dogs, which had been trained to great watchfulness, some were taught to sleep at the back door of the cabin, and some at the front, so as to give warning of approaches from either
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direction ; it also occurred to them that if any of the family survived, they would have sentries stationed out to watch for a possible return of the Indians during the night, and that these sentries might fire on them. In the uncertainties, John Wilson himself took the lead, cautiously approached the cabin, and succeeded in reaching it without accident or alarm.
"Upon entering the cabin he was rejoiced to find his father and sister Susan present and unharmed, but was at the same time pained to find his sister Barbara badly wounded, and his mother, two sisters, his brother William and the Irish weaver all missing, and their fates unknown.
"At early dawn next morning, John and his party started out to search for the missing ones. He tracked his mother by her blood about a mile up the river, to where she had alternately walked and crawled, proba- bly not knowing whither she went. When found she was entirely out of her mind and did not recognize her son and friends, supposing them to be Indians still pursuing her; she rallied however, and lived for many years afterward.
" William, Jr., though he usually wore moccasins, had on the day before put on a pair of shoes. Going toward the mill the searchers found by his shoe-tracks where he had attempted to run when the Indians discovered him-where he had slipped and fallen and been captured by them-where, further along, they had tied him to a tree, and afterwards loosened him again, and taken him off with them. His father always thought that if he had had on moccasins instead of shoes he would have escaped and avoided capture. His pursuers were con- fident that he had made his shoe-track 'sign' as conspicuous as possi- ble, so as to enable them to follow the trail, but they never overtook him, and he was carried off to the Indian towns beyond the Ohio.
" A returned prisoner reported to the family, some time after, that she had seen him at the Chilicothe towns, but was not allowed to talk with him. She said he had been adopted by a widow who had lost a son, and was kindly treated. He never got home, but died in cap- tivity."
Another account, by John W. Stephenson, Esq., of Bath, a descendant of Colonel John Wilson, is as follows :
"John Wilson, on the day of the raid, was returning from Staunton, where he had been to get nails to be used in putting up the new house, and had purchased a new hat. When the Indian's shot at him his hat fell off, and he stopped his horse and picked it up. The Indians were so close he could hear their peculiar grunt of satisfaction, thinking they had killed him. He went to a stockade fort, near where Williamsville now is, and got the men to return with him that night. One of the men was David Gwin, then about eighteen years of age. He was afterwards a captain in the Revolution, one of the largest land-owners of Bath county, and grandfather of the Rev. Daniel W. Gwin, D. D., of Ken- tucky, a distinguished Baptist minister."
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Mr. Stephenson states that the son of William Wilson, who was car- ried off by the Indians, was named Thomas.
THE ROBERTSONS.
James Robertson and his son, also named James, came to America from Coleraine, North Ireland, in 1737, and settled in Augusta county. James the younger died in 1754, and his will is recorded in Will Book No. 2, page 72. It is dated September 11, 1751, and was proved in court November 20, 1754. The testator left his real estate to his sons George and Alexander. His personal estate footed up £63, 3s., about. $210. The real estate consisted of 274 acres, conveyed by John Lewis to James Robertson, February 18, 1743, lying on Lewis's creek, "in the Manor of Beverley," adjoining the lands of the Rev. John Craig and others, being a part of 2,071 acres conveyed to Colonel Lewis by William Beverley by deed dated February 22, 1738. It lay between Staunton and Mr. Craig's residence, which was about five miles from town.
Of George Robertson, the older son of James, we have little infor- mation ; Alexander Robertson, the second son, was born November 22, 1748, about a mile from Staunton, it is said, but the distance was probably three or four miles. He married Margaret Robinson, August 18, 1773, in Bedford county. She was born April 13, 1755, on the Roanoke river, then in Augusta, now in Montgomery county, and is described as a woman of extraordinary intellect and exemplary Christian character. She died at the residence of her son-in-law, ex-Governor Robert P. Letcher, in Frankfort, Kentucky, June 13, 1846, in her 92d year.
In August, 1777, George Robertson resided in Botetourt, and Alexan - der in Montgomery. On the roth of that month, George and his wife, Jane, conveyed their one-half of the Augusta farm to Alexander, in consideration of {100; and on the 12th, Alexander and wife conveyed the whole tract to Joseph Bell.
In 1779, Alexander Robertson removed with his family to Kentucky, and settled in Mercer county, where he built " the first fine house in Kentucky." He is said to have been a man of strong mind, sterling moral qualities, and very popular. He was a member of the State Con- vention of 1788, at Richmond (Kentucky being then a part of Virginia), and a member from Kentucky of the Virginia Legislature the ensuing winter. He died in 1802.
George Robertson, son of Alexander, was born in Mercer county, November 18, 1790. He was educated at various Kentucky schools, and finally studied law. When just nineteen years of age, he married Eleanor Bainbridge, who was under sixteen, and set up house-keeping in a "buckeye house " of two rooms. Four persons began married life in
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this house and while occupying it were successively elected to Congress -- John Boyle, Samuel McKee, George Robertson and Robert P. Letcher. Robertson resigned in his third term, 1821-'23. He was Chief Justice of Kentucky from December 24, 1829, till April 7, 1843 ; and again a Judge of the Court of Appeals from 1864 to 1871, when he resigned. His standing is indicated by the offices tendered to him. In 1824, he was offered, but declined, the mission to Columbia, South America, and in 1828, the mission to Peru. He four times declined seats in the Federal Cabinet, and twice a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. Robertson county, Kentucky, was called for him. (Collins's History of Kentucky, volume 2, page 687.) He died, May 16, I874.
MAJOR JOHN HAYS (see pages 143 and 215) lived on a farm under the Jump mountain, Rockbridge. His sons were-I. Michael Hays, of Ohio, who was an officer in the United States Army in 1812; 2. Andrew Hays, a distinguished lawyer of Nashville, Tennessee; 3. John Brown Hays, of Columbia, Tennessee, whose wife was a sister of President Polk; and, 4. James Campbell Hays, of Tennessee and Texas, who was the father of Jack Hays, the Texan Ranger.
TREATIES WITH INDIANS.
On the 2d of July, 1744, a treaty was concluded at Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, between Thomas Lee, member of the Council of State and one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the Colony of Virginia, and William Beverley, Colonel and County Lieutenant of the county of Orange and member of the House of Burgesses, Commissioners ap- pointed by the Governor of Virginia, and twenty-five chiefs of the Six United Nations of Indians. In consideration of four hundred pounds, current money of Pennsylvania, paid partly in goods and partly in gold money, the Indians renounced their right and claim to all the lands in the Colony of Virginia, and acknowledged the title thereto of the King of Great Britain. This is known as the Treaty of Lancaster, and the instrument was witnessed by James Patton, Robert Brooke, Jr., James Madison and others. The deed was proved in the General Court and ordered to be recorded, October 25, 1744.
Some dissatisfaction having arisen among the Indians in regard to the Treaty of Lancaster, a conference was held at Logstown, on the Ohio, in 1752, between chiefs of the Six Nations and Joshua Fry, Luns- ford Lomax and James Patton, Commissioners of Virginia ; and another deed was executed by six chiefs, consenting to the deed of July 2, 1744, and promising to assist and protect British subjects settled "on the southern or eastern part of the river called Alleghany." This deed was
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dated June 13, 1752, and was witnessed by George Croghan, Thomas McKee, William Preston and others.
Logstown was on the western bank of the Ohio, eighteen miles below Pittsburg. It was an important Indian town, and consisted of sixty or seventy cabins inhabited by a number of confederated tribes, including Shawnees. (See page 48.)
At Fort Pitt, on July 10, 1775, the chiefs and sachems of the Six Nations, in consideration of twelve thousand Spanish dollars, "or the value thereof in merchandise," and also "the great justice and integ- rity " of George Croghan to the Indians, conveyed a tract of land on the south side of the Ohio River, beginning opposite the mouth of French creek, or Beef river, etc., etc., containing by estimation six millions (6,000,000) of acres. The deed was signed by six chiefs, one making the mark of "the hill," another of " the mountain," etc .; and was witnessed by John Campbell, Thomas Hosier and George Rootes.
On the 30th of July, 1777, George Croghan "of Fort Pitt, in the State of Virginia," by deed to Dr. Thomas Walker and others, in consider- ation of five thousand Spanish dollars, conveyed "one clear eight and fortieth part" (125,000 acres) of the tract granted by the Indians to Croghan. Among the witnesses to this deed were George Rootes and Strother Jones.
George Rootes is said to have lived in Augusta, near the Stone church, but we have found no trace of him in our county archives. From the catalogue of William & Mary College, we learn that, in 1771, Philip Rootes, son of Philip Rootes of Augusta, was a student at that institu- tion ; and in 1779, Thomas Rootes, of Augusta, was a student there. Strother Jones was the son of Gabriel Jones of Augusta.
The deeds herein referred to are printed in full in the book called the "Page Family in Virginia."
THE MCKEES.
Ten or eleven brothers named McKee came from Ireland to America in 1738, and settled near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Three of these- Robert, William and John-came to Augusta county, but at what date is uncertain. Their descendants state that it was about 1760, but the records of the county show that John McKee purchased a tract of land in the forks of James river, on August 16, 1752.
I. Robert McKee died June 11, 1774, aged eighty-two years, and his wife, Agnes, January 29, 1780, aged eighty-four. They had two sons, William and John.
1. William McKee, son of Robert and Agnes, was born in 1732, and, probably while living in Pennsylvania, was, with his father, at Braddock's defeat. He married his first cousin, Miriam, daughter of John McKee, Sr. His residence was a few miles west of Lexington, and the farm is
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now (1888) owned by descendants of the Rev Dr. Baxter. It is said that he was at the battle of Point Pleasant, and if so, probably belonged to Colonel Fleming's Botetourt regiment. He represented Rockbridge repeatedly in the Legislature, and in 1788 was the colleague of General Andrew Moore in the State Convention which ratified the Federal Con- stitution. He was also one of the first trustees of Liberty Hall Acad- emy. In 1796 he removed to Kentucky, and died there in 1816. He was known in Virginia as Colonel McKee.
Samuel McKee, the fifth son of Colonel William McKee, was born in · 1774. He was a member of Congress from Kentucky from 1809 to 1817, a State judge, and also Judge of the United States district court. His sons were Colonel William R. McKee, who was killed at the battle of Buena Vista in February, 1847; Judge George R. McKee, and Dr. Alex- ander R. McKee. Lieutenant Hugh W. McKee, of the United States Navy, a son of Colonel William R., was killed May II, 1871, in a fight between the men of several war steamers and the Coreans, of South- eastern Asia.
James McKee, the thirteenth son of Colonel William McKee, was the father of the Rev. Dr. J. L. McKee, Vice-President of Centre College, Kentucky.
2. John McKee, the other son of Robert and Agnes, married Esther Houston, aunt of General Sam Houston. A son of his, also named John, was a member of Congress from Tennessee, and one of the first United States Senators from Alabama.
II. William McKee, the pioneer, died in Virginia. His family moved to Kentucky about 1788-'90, and most of his descendants live in that State.
III. John McKee, the youngest of the three brothers who came to the Valley, lived on Kerr's creek, now Rockbridge. · His wife was Jane Logan, and was killed by Indians, as related on page 115. He married a second time, as appears from a deed executed March 14, 1774, by "John McKee and 'Rosanna, his wife, of Kerr's creek, Augusta county," conveying two hundred and eighty-one acres of land, part in Augusta and part in Botetourt, Rockbridge not having been formed at that time. He died March 2, 1792, aged eighty-four. Several of his eight children went to Kentucky, others remaining in Virginia. His de. scendants are numerous.
THE CRAWFORDS.
Alexander and Patrick Crawford, brothers, were among the earliest settlers in Augusta county. They are presumed to have been natives of the north of Ireland, like most of their cotemporaries in the county, but nothing can be learned about their early history. The descendants of both say there was a third brother who also came to the Valley, but
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whose name they do not know. It may be that this third brother was the grand-father of William H. Crawford, of Georgia, whose father, Joel Crawford, removed from Nelson county, Virginia, to South Carolina, in I779.
Alexander Crawford, the elder of the two, married Mary McPheeters, but whether in Ireland or America is not known. He acquired an ex- tensive tract of land in Augusta, covering a part of the Little North mountain, and extending far out into the plain. It embraced sixteen · hundred and forty acres. His dwelling stood on a knoll, at the eastern base of the mountain, and looked out towards the rising sun on a wide tract of level land. It was " beautiful for situation." The spot is about two miles northeast of Buffalo Gap, and a hundred yards south of the present residence of Baxter Crawford, a great-grand-son of Alexander and Mary. The site of the house is now marked by a thicket, sur- rounding a pile of unhewn stones which composed the chimney.
Here Alexander and Mary Crawford had eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. They had an abundance of all the good things the times and country afforded, and until the Indian wars arose, lived in peace and plenty. They belonged to a God-fearing race, and doubt- less walked in the old ways of their pious ancestors. The father and mother, were, however, both slaughtered by savages, on their premises, . with no human eye near enough to witness the tragedy.
Much uncertainty has existed as to the date of the occurrence. But at November County Court, 1764, William McPheeters qualified as ad- ministrator of Alexander Crawford, and, although some of the latter's descendants insist upon an earlier date, it seems highly probable, if not absolutely certain, that the slaughter was perpetrated by some of the Indians who made the second raid upon Kerr's Creek, in October of the year mentioned.
The rumor had gone abroad that an invasion by Indians was threat- ened, and all the Crawford family had taken refuge in a house at the Big Spring. This house was called a fort, being better able to resist an attack than most dwellings of the period, and was often resorted to by the people around in times of danger. It is probably the ancient stone house, still standing and used as a dwelling, on the south side of Middle river, two miles south of the present village of Churchville, and about three miles from Alexander Crawford's. It has long been known as the "old Keller house." The windows are few in number and very narrow, hardly more than a foot wide.
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