USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, with reminiscences illustrative of the vicissitudes of its pioneer settlers (A Supplement) > Part 40
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Captain James Trimble and his wife, Jane Allen, had eight children, six sons and two daughters. One of the daughters, Margaret, married her cousin, James A. McCue, of Augusta (see page 239), and spent a long and honored life in the county. The other daughter, Mary, mar- ried John M. Nelson, a native of Augusta, but long a resident of Hillsboro, Ohio. (See page 225). Allen Trimble, oldest son of Captain James Trimble, was Governor of Ohio from 1826 to 1830, and one of his sons is the Rev. Dr. Joseph M. Trimble, of the Methodist Episcopal Church. William A. Trimble, another son of Captain James Trimble, was a Major in the war of 1812, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in the United States Army till 1819, and a member of the United States Senate from Ohio when he died, in 1821, aged thirty-five years. John A. Trimble, of Hillsboro, the youngest son, a gentleman of literary taste and accomplishments, married a daughter of Dr. William Boys, of Staunton.
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The large and respectable Trimble family of North Mountain, Augusta county, of which the late James B. Trimble was a prominent member, are not related, as far as known, to the family of James and John. The John Trimble mentioned as living in the North Mountain neighborhood in 1755 (see page 66), and also in 1775 (see page 153), was probably the ancestor of the James B. Trimble family.
Judge Robert Trimble and his brother, Judge John Trimble, were distinguished citizens of Kentucky. The former was a member of the Supreme Court of the United States when he died, in 1828. A sketch of him in Peters's Reports, Volume II, says that he was born in Augusta county in 1777; but all the Kentucky authorities state that he was a native of Berkeley county, Virginia. He was probably a grandson of one of the three emigrant brothers who did not come to Angusta.
FORT DEFIANCE is the name of a station on the Valley Railroad, about nine miles north of Staunton. The name has given rise to the belief that a fort stood on the spot during the Indian wars of the eigh- teenth century. Some imaginative or credulous persons undertake to tell about the people congregating there in times of danger, of the investment of the place by Indians, and of its defence on one or more occasions. But no fort was ever built there, and the name is of com- paratively recent origin. For this statement we have the authority of the venerable Adam Link, who lived at the place and conducted the mercantile business there for many years, and who remembers when the name originated. The old stone church, four or five hundred yards south of "Fort Defiance," was fortified during the early times referred to, but, as far as known, was never assailed by an enemy. The report that there was a subterranean passage from the church to the spring is entirely untrue.
THE SMITHS.
Captain John Smith, the ancestor of the Augusta and Rockingham Smiths, appeared at Orange Court, June 26, 1740, and " proved his im- portation," with the view of taking up public land. The record shows that his wife's name was Margaret, and that his children were Abraham, Henry, Daniel, John and Joseph. They came from Ireland by way of Philadelphia, and were accompanied by Robert McDowell. Captain Smith and others qualified as captain of militia at Orange Court, June 24, 1742. We next hear of him as a captain of rangers in 1755. . (See page 76.)
The late Benjamin H. Smith, of Kanawha, a great-grandson of Cap-
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tain John Smith, relates in an unpublished manuscript a series of events in the life of his ancestor, of which there is elsewhere no account. According to this narrative, at some time not stated, Captain Smith, with seventeen men, held a fort where Pattonsburg, on James river, now stands, which was invested by three hundred French and Indians. After a brave resistance for three days, the garrison agreed to surrender the fort upon a stipulation allowing them to return to their homes. Aston- ished and mortified at finding so few men in the fort, the enemy disre- garded the terms of surrender and held the survivors, only nine or ten in number, as prisoners. Three of Captain Smith's sons were with the party, one of whom was wounded during the siege and killed by an Indian after the surrender. The prisoners were taken by the French down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans, and on the way the two young Smiths, who had survived the disaster at the fort, died. Only five of the prisoners lived to reach New Orleans. The Captain and two others were sent to France, and he alone returned to America, after an absence of two years.
Whatever foundation there may be for this story, some of the details are certainly incorrect. There was a fort, so-called, at the mouth of Looney's Creek, a mile above Pattonsburg, but it is safe to say that there never was an inroad into the Valley of three hundred French and Indians. The only Indian raid upon the Pattonsburg neighborhood, of which we have an authentic account, occurred in 1761. (See pages 107, 108.)
Captain Smith died at the residence of his son, Daniel, two miles north of Harrisonburg, after the beginning of the Revolutionary war. He applied for a commission in the army, but was refused on account of his age, which greatly offended him His children who survived him were three sons and one daughter. The latter married Hugh Bowen, of Southwest Virginia, who was killed at the battle of King's Mountain.
I. Abraham Smith, son of John, was captain of militia in 1756. (See pages 91, 92.) In 1758 he was court-martialed, but acquitted, and his accuser subjected to punishment. (See page 103.) In 1776 he was colonel of militia. (See page 159.) In 1778, he was one of the first justices of Rockingham and county lieutenant. He owned a large landed estate at the foot of North Mountain, about two miles from North River, which descended to his son Henry.
John Smith, son of Abraham, was an ensign at Point Pleasant. He was the father of the late Abraham Smith, of Rockingham, of Joseph and Silas H. Smith, of Augusta, and of a daughter named Mancy, wife of William Crawford. (See "The Crawfords.") His wife was Mary Jane Smith, of Culpeper, a descendant of the Captain Smith who visited the Valley, in 1716, with Governor Spotswood. Her first hus- band was Silas Hart, who died without children.
II. Daniel Smith, son of John, was for some time presiding justice of the County Court of Augusta. In 1776 he was captain of militia (see page 159.) When Rockingham county was organized in 1778, he was
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one of the first justices of the peace. He was appointed also colonel of militia and one of the coroners. The first County Court of Rock- ingham was held at his house. His wife was Jane Harrison, sister of Benjamin Harrison, of Rockingham. On the return of the troops from Yorktown, the victory was celebrated by the military of Rockingham at a grand review. Colonel Smith's horse, taking fright at the firing, sprang aside, and spraining his rider's back, caused his death in a few days. Three of his sons participated in the siege of Yorktown, viz :
I. John, father of the late Judge Daniel Smith.
2. Daniel, who was also at Point Pleasant.
3. Benjamin, father of Benjamin Harrison Smith, of Kanawha.
III. William Smith, son of John and brother of Abraham and Daniel. His family went to Kentucky and have been lost sight of by their Vir- ginia relatives.
THE HARRISONS, of Rockingham, were intimately connected with the Smiths, but the early history of the former family is involved in much obscurity. They are said to have come from Connecticut, and to have been descendants of Thomas Harrison, one of the judges who con- demned King Charles I to death. We find, that on July 27, 1744, the Rev. John Craig baptized Elizabeth Herison, "an adult person "; and on January 21, 1747, he baptized David Stuart and Abigal Herrison, "adult persons, after profession of faith and obedience." It is pre- sumed that the females mentioned were members of the Harrison family. John and Reuben Harrison are mentioned under date of 1750, on page 46. Our information is that they were brothers. John never married, and was killed by his slaves. Reuben married, and had several children. Captain Daniel Harrison is mentioned in 1755 (page 78), and again in 1756 (pages 91 and 92). Nathaniel Harrison was fined by the court-martial of Augusta county, October 30, 1761, for failing to mus- ter. How Daniel and Nathaniel were related to Reuben, is not known. Thomas Harrison, the founder of Harrisonburg, the son of Reuben, left four sons : Ezekiel, Reuben, John and Josiah, and one daughter, who married a Warren. The present Reuben Harrison, of Rocking- ham, is a son of Reuben and grandson of Thomas.
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.
R" 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 sons and three daughters. 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 Indians 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, 1874.
MAJOR JOHN HAYS (see pages 143 and 215) lived on a farm under the Jump mountain, Rockbridge. His sons were-1. 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.
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