USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 20
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"I have built a little fort in which are eighty-seven persons, twenty of whom bear arms. We are in a pretty good posture of defence, and with the aid of God are determined to make a stand. In five or six other places in this part of the county they have fallen into the same method and with the same resolution. How long we may keep them is uncertain. No enemy have appeared here as yet. Their guns are frequently heard and their footing observed, which makes ns believe they will pay us a visit. My two sisters and their families are here and all in good health. We bear our misfortunes so far with * * x * and are in great hopes of being relieved. I
Captain Christian can't wait have a thonsand things
* I give you joy."
The asterisks indicate parts of the letter torn out.
THE MOFFETTS.
At an early day in the history of the county there were two families of this name in Angnsta, which, as far as their respective de- scendants know, were not at all related. The ancestor of both fami- lies was named John. One of these John Moffetts was buried in the North Mountain grave-yard. His son, William, whose wife was Elizabeth Gamble, was for many years a leading citizen of the county. Some of the descendants of James Moffett, brother of William, reside in the Tinkling Spring neighborhood and in Rockbridge. William Moffett is said to have been the first Augusta farmer who raised as much as a thonsand bushels of wheat in one season .*
The prominent representative in the county of the other family was Colonel George Moffett, who is often mentioned in the ANNALS, and to some members of this family we here particularly refer.
John Moffett, the ancestor, was amongst the first settlers of the county. His wife's maiden name was Mary Christian, and his chil- dren were George, Robert, William, John, Mary, Kitty and Hannah.
* He was the grandfather of the late William Moffett Tate.
.
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
At some time prior to 1749. - probably as early as 1742, -he left his home in Augusta to go to North Carolina, and was never heard of afterwards. In the course of time he was presumed to be dead, proba- bly killed by the Indians, and his widow, Mary Moffett, qualified as his administratrix, February 28, 1749, executing bond in the penalty of £500, with her brothers, Robert and William Christian, as her se- curities. Mrs. Moffett contracted a second marriage, with John Trimble, hy whom she had one son, James Trimble.
Col. George Moffett, son of John and Mary Christian Moffett, was born in 1735 .- His wife was a sister of Colonel Samuel McDowell. He lived on the Middle River farm, owned for many years past by the Dunlap family, called Mount Pleasant, and built the stone dwelling honse still on the place. He was not only prominent during the Indian wars and the Revolution, but was so also in civil affairs, hav- ing been a justice of the peace, an elder in the Presbyterian church, and one of the first trustees of Washington College, Lexington. He is said to have been a man of commanding presence, and eminently re- ligious. He died in 1811, aged seventy-six years, and was buried in Augusta church graveyard. His children were Jolin, James McD., Samuel, William, Mrs. General McDowell, of Kentucky, Mrs. Col. Joseph McDowell, of North Carolina, Mrs. Kirk, of Kentucky, and Mrs. James Cochran, of Augusta connty. James McDowell Moffett was the father of the late Mrs. John McCue, and Mrs. Cochran was the mother of Messrs. John, George M., and James A. Cochran.
Two of Col. Moffett's brothers removed to Kentucky in 1783, with their half brother, James Trimble and many other Augusta people. Robert Moffett, one of the two, settled in Jessamine county. He had two sons, Jolin and George, who were captured by Indians soon after their arrival in Kentucky. The ages of the boys were about six and eight years, respectively. They were taken to the Indian town of Piqua, on the Miami river, in Ohio, and John was adopted into the family of Tecumseh's mother. At Wayne's treaty, in 1794, these prisoners were given up, and their father was present with the Kentucky troops to receive back his long-lost sons. George, the younger of the two, was eager to return home ; but John was re- luctant to leave liis Indian mother and friends. He went back, how- ever, with his father, but was restless and unhappy and finally returned to Piqua. There he remained with the Indians till they sold their reservation and removed west of the Mississippi river.
The late John A. Trimble, of Ohio, in a letter dated March 31, 1881, and addressed to Dr. George B. Moffett, of West Virginia, says that when he was a child, in 1807, he saw John Moffett, who was then on his return from a visit to Kentucky. He was in the vigor of man- hood, dressed in Indian costume and traveling on foot. Mr. Trimble saw him again in 1828, at his home near Piqua. He had lived dur- ing his boyhood and youth with Tecumseh, the celebrated Indian chief. and seemed much attached to him. At the time of Mr. Trim- ble's visit, Moffett had recently married an elderly lady and settled down to civilized life. But in his early life he had au Indian wife. Mr. Trimble says :
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"I was descending the Mississippi in 1819, and landed at a point below Memphis called Mill's Landing. Mr. Mills, the pioneer settler there, had a trading post with the Mississippi Indians, who were en- camped about the post. My brother, Cary Trimble, was with me. Mr. Mills, hearing we were from Kentucky, claimed relationship, his wife being a grand-daughter of Robert Moffett, of Woodford. We were invited to his house and my brother at once recognized Mrs. Mills as a relative whom he had known fifteen years before in Kentucky. She related a strange surprise she had a few evenings before from a very old Indian woman. She had noticed for several days the man - ners of this woman and her close scrutiny and eager gaze as she would meet her. At last she came up to her, exclaiming : 'Moffett ! you are Moffett !' Somewhat startled, she called to Mr. Mills, who understood the Indian language, and he learned that the woman was the repudiated wife of John Moffett, a prisoner among the Indians at Piqua, 'long time ago. The woman said she knew Mrs. Mills from her likeness to her uncle when he was a boy. She said also that she had a son, Wicomichee, a young Indian chief, so called 'because his father left him.'
Mr. Trimble says further, that during the Black Hawk war of 1833, in Northern Illinois, Wicomichee was employed by General At- kinson to recover the captive daughters of Dr. Hull, of Illinois or Missouri, and that he did find and bring them into camp to their father.
THE TRIMBLES.
Five brothers, James, Moses, David, John and Alexander Trimble. came to America from Armagh, Ireland, some time between 1740 and 1744. James and John settled in Augusta county.
I. James Trimble brought with him to America a certificate of a Sir Archibald Atkinson testifying to his good character and qualifica- tions as a land surveyor. Upon the organization of Augusta county, in December, 1745, he was appointed and qualified as deputy county surveyor. He married Sarah Kersey, of the Cowpasture, and lived near the site of Lexington. His remains were interred in the Old Monmouth graveyard. His children were six sons and four daugh- ters. Jane, the oldest daughter, married William McClure; Agnes married David Steele, ancestor of the Rockbridge family of that name ; Sarah married Samuel Steele and removed with him to Tennessee, and Rachel married Joseplı Caruthers, who also went west.
John Trimble, son of James, was born August 24, 1749, and mar- ried Mary Alexander, a daughter of Captain Archibald Alexander by his second wife. Like his father, he was a surveyor. He died while still a young man, leaving one son, named James, born July 5, 1781, who went with his mother to Tennessee, after her second marriage to Lewis Jordan. This son, James, came back to Virginia, studied law with Judge Coalter at Staunton, and returning to Tennessee, practiced his profession at Knoxville and Nashville. He died in 1824. A son of his, named John, was recently living near Nashville.
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Alexander Trimble, another son of James, was born February 15, 1762, married Martha Grigsby, and died in 1816, leaving no child. He lived at a place called Holly Hill, three miles east of Lexington. His widow, a woman of rare intelligence, survived him for more than fifty years. To a letter addressed by her in 1845 to John Trimble, of Nashville, we are indebted for most of this family history.
William Trimble, youngest son of James, was sheriff of Rock- bridge, and died in Staunton in 1794, when on his way to Richmond with taxes collected by him.
II. John Trimble, brother of James, the surveyor, settled in An- gusta on Middle river, about two miles from Churchiville, five from Buffalo Gap, and eight from Staunton. He married Mrs. Mary Mof- fett, widow of John Moffett, and mother of Colonel George Moffett and others. His death occurred in 1764, he having been killed by Indians at the time of the second Kerr's Creek inassacre. His widow and his brother, James, qualified as his administrators, November 20, 1764. He had one son, James.
James Trimble, son of John, was born in Augusta in 1756. When a boy of eight years of age, at the time his father was killed, he and others were captured and carried off by Indians.
On the 18th of March, 1768, George Moffett qualified in the County Court as guardian of "James Trimble, orphan of John Trimble."
When eighteen years of age, in 1774, James Trimble was a mem- ber of Captain George Mathews' company at the battle of Point Pleasant. During the Revolutionary war he was Captain of Rifle Rangers. His second wife was Jane Allen, daughter of Captain James Allen, of Augusta. In 1783 he, with his family and many others, re- moved to Kentucky and settled in Woodford county. He liberated his slaves, and was about to remove to Hillsboro, Ohio, when he died, in 1804.
Captain James Trimble and his wife, Jane Allen, had eight chil- dren, six sons and two daughters. One of the daughters, Margaret, married her cousin, James A. McCue, of Augusta, and spent a long and honored life in the county. The other daughter, Mary, married John M. Nelson, a native of Augusta, but long a resident of Hills- boro, Olio. 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.
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 Jolın. The John Trimble mentioned as living in the North Mountain
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neighborhood in 1755, and also in 1775, 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' Reports, Volume II, says that he was born in Au- gusta county in 1777 ; but all the Kentucky authorities state that he was a native of Berkeley county, Virginia. He was probably a grand- son of one of the three emigrant brothers who did not come to Augusta.
THE BOWYERS.
Several brothers of this name were among the early settlers of Au- gusta. Their father, Michael Bowyer, believed to have been of French Huguenot descent, died before the year 1761. His sons were-
1. Thomas Bowyer. He removed to Botetourt, and in 1780-1 was a captain in the 8th Virginia regiment, continental line. After- wards he was designated as Major Bowyer. He died childless in 1785.
2. John Bowyer went to the settlement in Borden's grant, in 1753, when quite a young man, and at first was a school-teacher, as appears from a deposition in an old suit. He, however, soon married Magdalene Woods-McDowell-Borden, and became independent. At August Conrt, 1763, he qualified as captain of Augusta militia. He was one of the first Justices of Botetourt, in 1770. In 1781, he was colonel of Rockbridge militia, [his residence being in that part of Botetourt which was thrown into Rockbridge on the organization of the latter county,] and went with his command to lower Virginia on the occasion of Arnold's invasion. His second wife was Mary Baker, of Maryland, aunt or cousin of Mrs. Judge Stuart and Mrs. James Lyle of Staunton. He died near Lexington, iu 1806, leaving no child. He is known as General Bowyer.
3. William Bowyer was a merchant in Staunton from 1766 to 1775, and probably longer. In 1772 he was a member of the vestry of Augusta parish, and a church warden in 1777. As Lient. Colonel of militia, he commanded a body of men sent to reinforce General Mc- Intosh on the Ohio river, in August, 1776. The Court Martial of the county, on April 15, 1779, fined him fio for not attending a previous meeting. He was Lieut. Colonel of Col. Sampson Mathews' regi- ment, in the expedition to lower Virginia, in 1781. He was Sheriff of Augusta in 1784. His first wife was a daughter of Israel Christian, by whom he had a daughter who married a Miller, ancestor of the late Fleming Bowyer Miller of Botetourt. His second wife was Margaret Ann, daughter of Thomas Lewis, and widow of John McClanahan, (son of the first Robert McClanahan. ) A son of the second wife, William C. Bowyer, was a lawyer, and married a Miss Burwell. Col. William Bowyer lived at the place in Staunton now known as Kalorama. He died intestate some time before 1808, and his step-son, John McClanahan, administered on his estate.
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
4. Michael Bowyer qualified as Lieutenant of militia at Angust court, 1763. At a meeting of the court martial, April, 11, 1766, he was fined for attending without a sword. He married Frances Car- penter, in 1766, the certificate of marriage being signed by the Rev. John Jones, and witnessed by Alexander St. Clair and Chris. Graham. He was a member of the Vestry in 1773, and of the County Committee in 1775. He is said to have been a lawyer, but early in the Revolu- tionary war he had a store in Fincastle, which he left in charge of his nephew, Henry Bowyer, to join the army. He was the father of Capt. John Bowyer, who lived and died near Lexington, leaving a large family.
5. Lnke Bowyer is believed to have been a brother of the former. Gen. John Bowyer qualified as his guardian in 1761, and in the official bond the ward is described as "orphan of Michael Bowyer." He was a lawyer, and one of the two attorneys who qualified to pratice at the opening of Botetourt County Court, in 1770.
Col. Henry Bowyer was a Revolutionary soldier, and long a prom- inent citizen of Botetourt, but it is not known whose son he was. Maj. Thomas Bowyer speaks in his will of Henry Bowyer as his nephew. It is said that when his uncle Michael joined the army early in the Revolution, he left his store at Fincastle in charge of Henry, who was a mere boy. The latter wound up the business in quick time, and joined the army himself, serving most of the time with the cavalry under Col. William Washington. He was Clerk of the Courts of Botetourt from 1791 till 1831, when his son, Henry M. Bowyer, suc- ceeded him in office. He died in 1833.
COLONEL WILLIAM FLEMING.
In August, 1755, the month after Braddock's defeat, William Fleming landed in Norfolk. He was educated at the University of Edinburg, and served for some years as a surgeon in the British Navy. Not liking that profession he resigned and came to Virginia. As we have seen he was a lieutenant in the Sandy Creek expedition of 1756, and acted as surgeon. He was afterwards appointed ensign in the First Virginia Regiment, commanded by Washington. In 1758, he was commissioned lieutenant, and served in the campaigns of Forbes and Abercrombie. He was made captain iu 1760 and stationed at Staunton, it is said. After his marriage, in 1763, to a daughter of Israel Christian, he resumed at Staunton the practice of medicine and surgery.
Captain Fleming (so called in the record-book) was chosen a Vestryman of Augusta parish, November 24, 1764, in place of John Mathews, deceased, and continued to serve in that office till June 27, 1769. The records of the Vestry show that he was repeatedly allowed payment of bills for professional services to the poor, and from his private account books it appears that he. was often called to visit patients in Bedford county. In the fall of 1769 he removed to the new
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county of Botetourt, of which he was one of the first justices of the peace.
He commanded the Botetourt regiment at Point Pleasant in 1774. In 1779-'80 he was a member of the Continental Congress at Phila- delphia, and was the only person from west of the Blue Ridge who sat in that body. Being a member of the Governor's Council in 1781, he acted as chief executive of the State for a time during that year, in the temporary absence from Richmond of Mr. Jefferson.
It is said that he was repeatedly sent by the Government to Ken- tucky as commissioner to settle land claims, etc., but never removed from Virginia. His death occurred in 1795, at his residence, called Bellmont, near the present town of Roanoke, and his remains were in- terred in the family burial ground.
The children of Col. Fleming were, 1. John, who never married; 2. William, who married Sally - ; 3. Leonard J., who married Mary, a daughter of Col. William Bowyer; 4. Priscilla, wife of Samuel Wilson; 5. Dorothy, wife of James Bratton; 6. Eliza, wife of Samuel G. Ramsey; and 7. Anne, wife of the Rev. Dr. George A. Baxter.
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 eighteenth century. Some imaginative or credulous persons under- take 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 comparatively 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 hun- dred 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.
CHAPTER VII.
INDIAN WARS, ETC., IN 1764.
We now rapidly approach the end of Indian troubles in Augusta county. As white population advanced, the savages receded, and the people of Augusta, as it now is, were delivered from danger and alarm. Indeed, none of the massacres, of which we have given an account, occurred within the present limits of the county ; but the scenes of disaster being, at the various times mentioned, parts of the county, the incidents could not be omitted in our history. We pre- sume no reader will think we have devoted too much space to the his- tory of these times. The events related were of thrilling interest. The narrative shows what toil and suffering our ancestors endured to obtain homes for themselves, and to transmit a goodly heritage to us. As we now sit under our vine and fig tree, with none to molest or make us afraid, let us devoutly thank God for present peace and safety.
We find in Mrs. Floyd's narrative a brief account of an assault by Indians on the home of David Cloyd, which was in the present county of Montgomery. Colonel William Preston, who then lived at Green- field, had gone to Staunton, in March, 1764, when one day, early in the morning, Mrs. Preston was startled by the report of two guns in quick succession in the direction of a neighbor's house half a mile dis- tant. Presently Joseph Cloyd rode up on a plow-horse with the gear- ing on and related that Indians had killed his brother John, had shot at him (the powder burning his shirt), and having gone to the house had probably killed his mother. Mrs. Preston immediately sent a young man who lived at her house to notify the garrison of a small fort on Craig's Creek, and then despatched a white man and two negroes to Mr. Cloyd's. The latter found Mrs. Cloyd tomahawked in three places, but still alive and conscious. She told about the assault by the Indians, their getting drunk, ripping up the feather beds, and carrying off the money. One of the Indians wiped the blood from her temples with a corn-cob, saying, "Poor old woman !" She died the next morning.
The papers in a law suit tried in the County Court of Augusta, in 1766, give the sequel to the above story. The Indians carried off upwards of {200 in gold and silver. They were pursued by a party
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of the militia, and one of them was killed on John's creek, at a dis- tance of thirty miles or more from Cloyd's house. The dead Indian was found in possession of £137, 18s. A dispute arose among the militia as to whether the money belonged to them or to Cloyd, and un- til the question should be settled, the coin was deposited in the hands of James Montgomery. It was distributed by Montgomery to the militia, many of whom, however, returned their portions to Cloyd, to the amount of £106, 17s. 2d. Cloyd thereupon paid to each of the men who returned the money, the sum of thirty shillings ($5), the re- ward he had previously offered, and sned Montgomery for the re- mainder-£31, tod. The suit was decided November 27, 1766, in favor of Cloyd, but an appeal was taken to the General Court, and we do not know the result. Gabriel Jones was attorney for Cloyd, and Peter Hogg for Montgomery.
It is interesting to see the names of the coins then in circulation. The sum of £137, 19s. 81/2d. was made up as follows: "13 Double Loons, 36 Pistoles, 1 Half Double Loon, 4 Guineas, 4 Loodores, 16 Round Pistoles, 3 Half Pistoles, 2 Half Johannas, 9 Dollars, and some small silver."
The pistole was a Spanish coin, worth $3.60 ; the doubloon was also Spanish, and worth $7.20; the guinea was English, and worth $4.66 ; the louis-d'or, called loodore, was French, worth $4.44 ; and the Johannas, called joe, was Portugese, worth $8.
In the year 1764, William Kinkead lived near the source of the Big Calfpasture river, Augusta county, his family consisting of his wife and two children, a boy and a girl .- The story is, that because of the insecurity of the times, the neighbors had brought their valuable possessions to Kinkead's house, it being larger and a safer hiding place than their own dwellings. This fact became known, and led to an attack by Indians.
On the 14th of April, 1764, Kinkead being out on his farm, his home was beset by a party of savages. His wife, finding that escape was impossible, with extraordinary heroism, assisted the Indians in their hurried preparations to leave, so that they might get off before her husband's return, and danger to his life be avoided .- When he came back, his wife and children had been carried off.
Nothing was heard of the captives till after Bouquet's treaty of November, 1764, when Mrs. Kinkead, with other prisoners, was de- livered up in pursuance of the stipulation. She carried in her arms an infant daughter born during her captivity, July 25, 1764. Her ac- count of the two older children was, that the boy kept up with the party on their return to Ohio for several days; but he was put in
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the immediate charge of a young Indian, who seemed to take pleasure in tormenting the child, often pushing him back and forcing him to reclimb banks and steep places. By this system of treatment the little captive became exhausted and unable to proceed as at first. He was then tomahawked and killed in his mother's presence, one of the Indians, however, having the humanity to cover her eyes that she might not witness the spectacle. The daughter was separated from her mother about the time the infant was born. Her name was Isabella. She was not recovered by her parents till some time after her mother's release. When brought to the rendezvous, she was dressed in skins and clung to the skirt of a squaw. So changed was she in appearance that even her mother failed to recognize her at first, but finally identified her by a scar on her foot, where she had been bled .- She grew up, married Andrew Hamilton, and has many descendants.
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