USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, with reminiscences illustrative of the vicissitudes of its pioneer settlers (A Supplement) > Part 42
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II. Samuel, known for many years before his death as Major Bell. He was a soldier in the Revolution, while quite young, and, with many of his countymen, was with Morgan at the Cowpens. He lived on the farm recently owned by his son, Samuel H. Bell, and now by Archibald A. Sproul, a short distance west of Swoope's Depot.
Major Bell was married three times. His first wife was Nancy, daughter of James Bell, of Long Glade, and her children were: 1. Sarah, wife of Robert Christian : 2. James, who was a lieutenant in the war of 1812, and known for many years as Captain James Bell; and 3. Nancy, wife of John Brownlee, of the Greenville neighborhood.
The second wife of Major Bell was a Miss Cunningham, who had one child, a daughter, who died young.
The third wife was Rebecca Hays, mother of Samuel H. Bell, de- ceased, and Francis Bell, now of Pulaski county.
III. Francis Bell, son of James, married Sally, daughter of James Bell, of Long Glade, who had only one child, a son named James, who died in his youth.
IV. Ann Bell, wife of Francis Gardiner, a soldier of the Revolution.
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Their children were the late James and Samuel Gardiner, Mrs. Henry Sterrett, Mrs. Robert Wright, and others.
V. Betty, the next daughter, was the wife of Benjamin Brown, and mother of Major Joseph Brown, a prominent citizen of the county for many years, who removed to Illinois in 1837, and afterwards to Mis- souri. Major Brown's wife was a daughter of Jacob Swoope, the old merchant and Congressman.
VI. Mary, third daughter of James Bell, died unmarried.
The Stone Church Bells .- There is some uncertainty in regard to the name of the ancestor of this family. It was probably Joseph, as a Jo- seph Bell purchased a lot in Staunton, in 1747, (see page 39). All that is certainly known of him is, that he was a married man and had children, one of whom was named Joseph, and that he and his wife were mur- dered. On a certain Sunday, the year not known, the children of the family went to church, and upon returning home found that their parents had been killed in their dwelling. Two white "indentured servants," a man and a woman, who had disappeared and were never heard of, were supposed to have perpetrated the deed.
Joseph Bell, son of the former, was born in Augusta, May 25, 1742, and died in 1823. His wife was Elizabeth Henderson. Their residence was on the present macadamized turnpike, about four miles north of Staunton.
The children of Joseph and Elizabeth Bell, who attained maturity, were three sons and two daughters. One of the daughters was the wife of the senior John Wayt, and the other the wife of Dr. John Johnston. (See pages 198 and 200).
I. William Bell, son of Joseph, known as Major Bell, was for many years County Surveyor of Augusta. His wife was Margaret, daughter of Captain James Allen (see " The Allens"). Their only son was the late William J. D. Bell. Their daughters were : I. Elizabeth Allen, wife of Joseph D. Keyser, of Alleghany county ; 2. Susan, wife of James Craig, of Mount Meridian, Augusta ; 3. Mary, wife of Addison Hyde ; 4. Mar- garet A., who married, first, John Crawford (he dying childless), and, secondly, Colonel James Crawford ; 5. Nancy, wife of Zachariah McChes- ney; 6. Sarah, second wife of John Wayt, Junior; 7. Rebecca, wife of Benjamin T. Reid ; 8. Julia, wife of Alexander W. Arbuckle of Green- brier ; and, 9. Jane, wife of Rev. John A. Van Lear.
II. James Bell, son of Joseph, was born in 1772, and died in 1856. He was long the senior Justice of the Peace in Augusta (see page 256). His first wife was Sarah, daughter of Captain James Allen, whose children, leaving posterity, were the late Colonel William A. Bell, and Sarah, first wife of John Wayt, Junior. The last wife of James Bell was Margaret Craig, and her children were, John J., David S., J. Wayt, and Henderson M. Bell, Mrs. Jane Arbuckle, of Greenbrier, Mrs. Bettie Kinney, and Mrs. Margaret Young, of Staunton.
III. Joseph Bell, Junior, the third son of Joseph, Senior, resided during
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most of his life in Rockbridge county, near Goshen. His wife was a daughter of Alexander Nelson (see page 225), and Nelson Bell, of Rock- bridge, and Johnston E. Bell, of Greenbrier, are two of his sons.
The Bells of Long Glade .- James Bell came from Ireland and settled on Long Glade, Augusta, about 1740. His wife was Agnes Hogshead. He is said to have been a school teacher, and also a surveyor and scrivener. He probably was the James Bell who was one of the first county magistrates in 1745. His children were :
I. John Bell married three times, successively. His first wife, a widow Young, and his second, Esther Gamble (sister of Colonel Robert Gam- ble), had no children. His third wife, Elizabeth Griffith, had four sons and two daughters. He served two "tours " during the Revolution.
The children of John and Elizabeth were: 1. William, and 2. Abel (both of whom went to Illinois) ; 3. James R. Bell, who married Mary J. Brownlee. He served in the Confederate army, Fifth Virginia regi- ment. Was taken sick at Swift Run Gap in 1862, and died in a short time. His son, Brownlee Bell, a member of Lilly's company, Twenty- fifth regiment, was taken prisoner, and died at Fort Delaware in 1863. Three daughters of James R. Bell survive. 4. Francis, died young, unmarried. 5. Mrs. Rebecca Curry, of Greenbrier. 6. Mrs. Nancy Whitmore, of Augusta.
Il. William Bell, son of James and Agnes, never married. Killed in battle during the Revolution.
III. Francis Bell, married Polly Ervin. No children.
IV. David Bell was in the military service during the war of 1812, and was called Captain Bell. His wife was a Miss Christian. He had five children, two of whom died young. The other three were-
I. James Bell married Sarah Coyner, and had seven sons, six of whom served in the Confederate army during the war of 1861-'5, viz .: (1) Alexander, died of disease contracted in the army; (2) Addison, killed at Chancellorsville, 1863 ; (3) Luther, died of disease contracted in the army, 1862 ; (4) William, severely wounded at Kernstown, March, 1862, practicing medicine in Fauquier ; (5) Daniel, wounded at Gettys- burg, still survives; (6) Frank, wounded during war, survives. The first, second, fifth and sixth were members of Company C, Fifth Vir- ginia regiment, "Stonewall brigade "; the third was a member of the Fifty-second regiment, and the fourth of the "Liberty Hall " company, Fourth regiment. Samuel, the seventh son of James and Sarah Bell, was not in the army, being quite young.
2. John Bell, son of David, married Sophia Ervin, and had seven sons and two daughters, viz: (1) David, Company C, Fifth regiment, died in military hospital at Lynchburg, June 24, 1863; (2) Elisha, member of Carpenter's Battery, wounded at Antietam, lives near Fredericksburg ; (3) William, Company C, Fifth regiment, wounded at Cedar Creek, 1864, survives ; (4) Alexander, Company C, Fifth regiment, taken prisoner at Antietam, and died at Fort Delaware, September 24, 1863 ; (5) Hendren,
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Company C, Fifth regiment, severely wounded at Gettysburg, and after- wards courier for General John B. Gordon, lives in Augusta ; (6) John, practicing medicine in Chicago; (7) Samuel, practicing medicine on Long Glade, Augusta ; (8) Mary, married George H. Ervin ; (9) Marga- ret, not married.
3. Betsy, daughter of David Bell, married Bethuel Herring.
V. James Bell, son of James and Agnes, went to Kentucky and died childless
VI. Thomas Bell, son of James and Agnes, married Rebecca Robert- son, of Botetourt. He inherited his father's homestead, the present Dudley farm, and died in' 1854, aged eighty-two years. His children were-
I. James, married Annie Blair, and had seven children, viz: (1) Thomas M., Company C, Fifth regiment, mortally wounded at Chan- cellorsville, May 3, 1863; (2) James A., Company C, Fifth regiment, severely wounded at Kernstown and died in consequence. The remain- ing children of James and Annie Bell are daughters, all single.
2. Alexander R. Bell, son of Thomas and Rebecca, married Clara Hogshead, and had two sons and five daughters. His son, Thomas A., Fifth regiment, killed at Spotsylvania Courthouse in 1864. His son, James F., and three daughters survive. One of the daughters is the wife of Samuel Bell, son of Samuel, and another the wife of Moses Hutton, of Hardy county.
3. Samuel Bell, son of Thomas and Rebecca, married Sarah Eidson, and had seven children. His son, Thomas P., sergeant of Company C, Fifth regiment, was mortally wounded at Hatcher's Creek, Dinwiddie county, February, 1865. Another son, John V., served in Fitz. Lee's cavalry. Four sons and one daughter survive.
VII. Nancy Bell, daughter of James and Agnes, was the first wife of Major Samuel Bell, of North Mountain.
VIII. Sally Bell, daughter of James and Agnes, was the wife of Francis Bell, of North Mountain.
Of the descendants of James and Agnes Bell, eighteen were soldiers in the Confederate army during the war of 1861-'5; five were killed in battle or died of wounds, and six died of disease contracted in the army.
CAPTURE AND RESCUE OF MRS. ESTILL AND JAMES TRIMBLE.
Allusion is made on page 126 to the capture by Indians of "one of the Trimbles " near the present village of Churchville; and on page 191 the capture of Mrs. Estill is referred to. Since the publication of the ANNALS, the writer has obtained much information in regard to the capture of the persons named, and the circumstances are too interesting to be omitted here.
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Mrs. Estill and young Trimble, her half-brother, afterwards Captain James Trimble, were captured at the same time, but in what year was until recently unknown. One writer puts the date as 1752; another, 1758; a third, 1770, and a fourth, 1778. The incident occurred, how- ever, in 1764, during the last Indian raid into the county, and about the time of the second Kerr's Creek massacre. All accounts agree in the statement that John Trimble, the father of James and step-father of Mrs. Estill, was killed at the time of the capture, and the records of the county show that his death occurred in the fall of 1764. He lived on Middle river, two miles from Churchville, five from Buffalo Gap, and seven from Staunton, or thereabouts.
Besides the date of this occurrence, there is much diversity of state- ment in regard to many of the circumstances. The memoir of Mrs. Jane Trimble, wife of Captain James Trimble, written by her grandson, the Rev. Joseph M. Trimble, D. D., a minister of the Methodist Church, gives the most detailed account of the affair which we have seen. The author states that a white man named Dickinson, who had ffed from Virginia to escape punishment for crime, entered the Valley at the head of thirty Indians, and encouraged them in their cruel work. They raided the dwelling of John Trimble, and killed him as he was going out in the morning to plow. James, then a boy about eight years old, his half-sister, Mrs. Estill, and a negro boy were taken prisoners. Mr. Estill, according to this account, was wounded, but escaped. Where Mrs. Trimble and other members of the family were at the time, or how they escaped, is not stated. A strong stone house stood then, as now, on the opposite side of Middle river, within a mile of Trimble's, and possibly some of the family had taken refuge there. It was called a fort, and is known as the "Old Keller House." The Indians must have passed this house in coming from Alexander Craw- ford's to John Trimble's. The Trimble dwelling was stripped by the Indians of its most valuable contents, and then burned. Four horses were taken and loaded with the plunder. The Indians, with their prisoners and horses, retreated to a cave in the North Mountain, where they had arranged to meet two other divisions of their party. They traveled all night and met their comrades in the morning, who had secured prisoners and plunder in other settlements. The united bands prosecuted their retreat with great rapidity for five days and nights.
The statement that Trimble was going out to plow when the Indians assailed him is a local tradition.
The morning after the murder of John Trimble, Captain George Moffett, his step-son, and the brother of Mrs. Estill, was in pursuit of the enemy, with twenty-five men collected during the previous night. The Indians had fifteen hours' start, but Moffett and his party rapidly gained on them. The fact that the pursuers moved more rapidly than the pursued was a well known one in Indian warfare, the latter being generally encumbered and losing time in the effort to conceal their trail. In the morning of the fifth day, the whites in front of their party
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discovered the Indians on a spur of the Alleghany Mountain, and upon a consultation it was concluded to pause in the pursuit and niake an attack after dark.
The Indians had stopped at a spring near the foot of the mountain. Their food was exhausted, and Dickinson had gone in search of game. Moffett's party were within a mile of the savages, and stealthily draw- ing nearer, when they were startled by the report of a gun. Supposing they had been discovered, the whites dropped their knapsacks and started in a run towards the Indians. They had gone only a few hun- dred yards when a wounded deer bounded across their path. One of the men struck the animal in its face with his hat, which caused it to turn and run back. Another report of a gun and a whoop, satisfied the whites that one of the Indian party had killed the deer, and that the whoop was a call for help to carry it into camp. An Indian on horse- back was immediately seen approaching at a rapid pace. The whites, concealed in tall grass, were not discovered by him till he was in the midst of them; and they dispatched him in an instant, before his com- panions in camp were aware of their approach.
Some of the prisoners were tied with tugs, while the women and boys were unconfined. Mrs. Estill was sitting on a log sewing ruffles on a shirt of her husband, at the bidding of the Indian who claimed her as his prize. James Trimble was at the spring getting water. The In- dians had barely time to get their guns before the whites were upon them. At first, most of the startled prisoners ran some distance, and, becoming mingled with the Indians, it was impossible for the rescuers to fire; but discovering their mistake, they turned and ran to their friends. Then the firing began on both sides. The negro boy was shot, and from the blood discovered on the trail of the flying Indians, it was evident that several of them were wounded.
Moffett and his party desisted from the pursuit. and collecting the stolen property and removing to a distance, spent the night. Early the next morning they began their homeward journey. The Indians, how- ever, rallied, and getting ahead of the whites sought to ambush them in a narrow pass. In this they failed, as also in another attempt of the same kind, in a laurel thicket. They then fell to the rear and followed . the whites for several days; but being foiled in all their schemes, they turned off to an unprotected settlement, which was assailed in their usual manner. The Augusta men reached home unhurt, except one who was wounded in the mountain pass, and was carried on a litter. The loss of the Indians was six killed and several badly wounded.
Such is the account given in the memoir of Mrs. Trimble.
In Collins's History of Kentucky (volume II, page 767), we find a sketch of Captain James Trimble, which gives a different version of the affair. The writer of this account states that the prisoners were captured by a party of nine Indians, led by a half-breed named Dickson ; that immediately after the capture, James Trimble was adopted as a son by Dickson; that Captain Moffett raised a party of eighteen men, and
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overtook the Indians near the present White Sulphur Springs; and that at the first fire all the Indians were killed, except Dickson, who escaped.
The late John A. Trimble, of Ohio, a son of Captain James Trimble, in one of his numerous and interesting communications to the Hillsboro Gazette, gave a third account of the affair. Describing a trip he made on horseback from Mossy creek, in Augusta county, to his home in Ohio, probably in 1827, Mr. Trimble said :
"I was soon in the wild pass of the North Mountain, and approaching Buffalo Gap, in the vicinity of the early home of my father, when I over- took a venerable old gentleman on horseback, who gave me his name, William Kincaid, and inquired my name and residence. He said the name was familiar; he had known a Captain James Trimble who was a native of Augusta. When informed that he was my father, the old gentlemen was startled; he stopped his horse and shook hands most cordially. 'Is it possible !' he exclaimed. 'Why, I was a young man of eighteen when your father was a prisoner, with his sister, young Mrs. Edmonson, afterwards Estill, and I was one of the twelve men who went with Colonel George Moffett in pursuit, and rescued the prisoners away across the Alleghanies. Why, it seems as fresh to my memory as of yesterday, and we are now within a few miles of where your grand- father was killed and his house pillaged by Dickson and his ferocious band of Shawnees. But we had our revenge, and Dickson, their leader, with a boy, were the only ones who escaped from our rifles, for we took them completely by surprise, feasting and sleeping around their camp- fire.'" Mr. Kincaid said that " at one time Colonel Moffett seemed dis- couraged, having lost the trail, when, fortunately, one of the men found the blue-worsted garter of Mrs. Edmonson hanging on a bush, where she had placed it while traveling at night."
Kincaid and James Trimble were both members of Captain George Mathews's company at Point Pleasant, in 1774.
We may add that a family of "Edmistons " lived in the county as early as 1746, but we have no information other than the above that Kitty Moffett was the widow of one of them when she married Benja- min Estill.
We have still another account of the killing of John Trimble and capture of his son and step-daughter, embraced in a letter written by Mr. John A. Trimble, March 28, 1843, a copy of which is in the hands of Judge John H. McCue, of Staunton.
In this letter Mr. Trimble gives the date as 1770, an error of six years, his grandfather having been killed in 1764. He says his father, James Trimble, and a negro boy named Adam, while plowing corn, were sur- prised by a party of Indians and made prisoners. [It is probable that the negro was plowing for wheat, as James Trimble was too young at the time to hold the plow, being only eight years old, and the season (October) was too late for corn.] The alarm was given at the house by the horses running off, and, suspecting the cause, the father, John Trim- ble, proceeded with his gun to reconnoitre. The Indians, having secured
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the prisoners and left them in charge of several lads, started to the house. On the way they encountered John Trimble in a strip of woods, and shot and scalped him. His wife escaped from the dwelling and concealed herself near enough to witness the plundering and burning of the premises. Mrs. Estill (so called here by Mr. Trimble) was enceinte, and being unable to fly was made prisoner. Nothing is said in reference to Mr. Estill.
While this was going on, the young Indians were amusing themselves by throwing their tomahawks at the tree to which James Trimble was tied, often just missing his head.
The account given by Mr. Trimble, in this letter, of the retreat of the Indians, the pursuit by Captain Moffett, and the rescue of the prisoners, is substantially the same as that given by the Rev. Dr. Trimble. He, however, says nothing about "a cave in the North Mountain," or any other parties of Indians, and says the number of men with Moffett was fifteen or twenty. The number of Indians he puts at eight or nine.
Dickson is said to have been a renegade half-blood Indian, who was well-known to the white settlers, among whom he had lived for several years. When hostilities broke out he joined a band of Shawnees, and became a formidable leader. He had often been at John Trimble's house, and after scalping Trimble, exhibited the trophy to the boy James, saying : "Jim, here's the old man's scalp. Do you know it? If you stay with me, I will make a good Indian of you; but if you try to run off, I will have your scalp." He treated Mrs. Estill with respect, walking constantly by her side as she rode on a horse through the passes of the mountains. Mrs. Estill's first child was born a few weeks after her return.
The negro boy Adam was a native African of recent importation, and spoke but little English. Mr. Trimble often heard him, in his old age, relate the incidents of his captivity. During the retreat of the Indians, Adam one day stirred up a "yellow jacket's nest," just as the sparsely- clad savages were filing along, and some of them were assailed and stung by the insects. This so pleased the simple-minded negro that he was about to repeat the act, when the Indian boys administered to him a sound beating.
Just before the arrival of the whites at the Indian camp, Dickson sent James Trimble to the spring for water, which, being somewhat muddy when presented, was thrown in the face of the boy, who was threatened with the tomahawk, and ordered to bring another supply. He returned to the spring, and while waiting for the water to clear was startled by the report of rifles. Surmising that rescuers were at hand, he ran in the direction of the sound and placed himself among his friends.
At the moment of the firing, Dickson was standing by Mrs. Estill, leaning on his gun, and giving directions about ruffling a shirt she was making for him. She sprang to her feet and ran towards the whites, taking the precaution to snatch up a tin vessel and cover her head with it. Dickson pursued her, and hurling his tomahawk, knocked the vessel
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off without injury to her person. He almost immediately confronted Captain Moffett, at whom he fired, but missed, and then turned and fled, making good his escape. Moffett's gun was empty.
Adam had concealed himself during the firing behind a tree, and being mistaken for an Indian was shot at by one of the white men and wounded slightly in the arm.
Mr. Trimble states that, except Dickson, all the Indians fell at the first fire, either killed or mortally wounded. Dickson followed the whites on their return, and fired upon and wounded one of them, named Russell, who was carried home on a litter. Russell encountered Dickson at the battle of Point Pleasant, and killed him in a hand-to- hand conflict.
It is said that the whole number of prisoners carried off by the Indians and rescued as described was six or eight; but who they were, besides those mentioned, is not stated.
MASSACRE OF THOS. GARDINER AND HIS MOTHER.
Thomas Gardiner, Jr., lived on a farm lying on Dry Branch, Augusta county, two and a half miles northeast of Buffalo Gap, where John A. Lightner now lives. According to tradition, he and his mother were killed by Indians, but exactly when is not known. His wife, Rebecca, qualified as administratrix of his estate, June 19, 1764, and it is pre- sumed that his death occurred a short time before that date. Tradition states that, on a Sunday evening, he went out to see after a cow and calf, and was killed at the spring, within a hundred yards of his dwell- ing. No one knows by what means his wife and children escaped, nor where his mother was when killed. He had two sons, one of whom, Samuel, was the ancestor of the Mint Spring Gardiners. The other, Francis, was a soldier of the Revolution, who died July 26, 1842, father of the late James and Samuel Gardiner and others.
Thomas Gardiner was a near neighbor of Alexander Crawford, who also was killed by Indians, as related elsewhere in this Supplement. [See "The Crawfords."] Their dwellings were about two miles apart. Gardiner was killed before June 19, 1764, as stated, and possibly Craw- ford's death occurred at the same time. If the Indians came through Buffalo Gap, they must have passed Crawford's dwelling to reach Gardiner's, and it would seem unaccountable that the one should be taken and the other left. But the proceedings of Indians were often as eccentric as the devastations of a spring frost, which cuts down one stalk of corn and passes over another. All we know certainly in regard to Crawford's latter days is, that he was alive February 18, 1762, when he became one of the securities of Thomas Gardiner, Jr., in a guardian's bond; and that he was dead by November court, 1764,
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when his administrator qualified. He owned an unusual amount of personal property, and in the ordinary course of affairs his administra- tor would qualify as soon as possible after his death. It is, therefore, probable that he was a victim of the Indian raid of October, 1764.
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