USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
331
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
people to regard the piece as a fiction, and the person himself as almost a myth. Some of the details are certainly fictitious. It is said that Dr. Waddell never appeared in public in the costume described by Wirt. He is described also as a very old man, whereas he was only sixty-four, although his blindness and palsy probably caused him to appear older. Wirt represents himself as a stranger who had never heard of the preacher till he encountered him in the rustic meeting house. They were well acquainted, however, years before the letters of the British Spy were published ; and instead of no one in Richmond knowing of the preacher, he was well known by many people there. Other liberties were taken by Mr. Wirt, but to his dying day he de- clared that he had given a truthful account of Dr. Waddell's eloquence.
The children of Dr. Waddell who survived him were: James G., born in Lancaster ; Mrs. Elizabeth Calhoun, Mrs. Janetta Alexander, and Ann H., born in Augusta ; and Addison, (M. D.), Sally and Lyttelton, born in Louisa, near Gordonsville.
THOMAS ADAMS, a native of the county of Essex, England, was in early life clerk of Henrico County Court, Virginia, and later a mer- chant in London. Returning to Virginia, he settled in New Kent county. In 1766, he purchased from John Carlyle two hundred acres of land on the Great Calfpasture river, in Augusta. In 1771, he purchased from Carlyle two hundred and fifty acres in the same valley ; and in 1772, he acquired from William Wills one hundred and ten acres on a "branch of the Great River of the Calfpasture." He also acquired lands from the government by patent. All the deeds de- scribe him as "Thomas Adams, of New Kent." It is well known that most of the African slaves imported into Virginia in former times were brouglit over by New England "skippers"; and from a bill of sale which has been preserved, it appears that on the 12th of May, 1773, in consideration of £42, 10s., Thomas Adams purchased a negro girl from "Joseph Hanwood, of Newbury, in the Province of New Hampshire, Marriner." ( Virginia Historical Collections, Vol. VI, page 23. )
In 1778-'80, Mr. Adams was a member of the Continental Con- gress, from lower Virginia. During the year 1780 he removed to Augusta, and spent the remainder of his life here. A deed dated November 17, 1780, by which he conveyed two hundred and thirty- five acres of land, acquired by patent in 1769, to Moore Fauntleroy, describes him as a citizen of Augusta. In 1786, he represented the county in the State Senate. He is described as an ardent patriot, and from his writings, etc., he was evidently a man of great intelligence and benevolence.
He died at his home in the Pastures in the year 1788, leaving a widow, but no children. His will is dated October 14, 1785, and begins as follows : "Being about to take a perilous journey to the Ohio river." It was presented in the County Court of Augusta and proved October 22, 1788. The testator provided amply for his wife, aud constituted his brother, Richard, and his nephews, William
332
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Adams Fry, William Smith and William Adams, his residuary lega- tees and devisees. He was particularly solicitous for the welfare of his slaves, and enjoined it upon his legatees to treat them kindly, and " not to sell or barter them away as cattle." In regard to one of the negroes, he says : " As there is no man to whom I consider myself under greater obligations than to my slave Joe, I hereby declare Joe a freeman, and give him full and complete emancipation."
The ANDERSONS .- John Anderson, the immigrant, acquired by grant, June 3, 1738, 747 acres of land in Augusta county, which is be- lieved to be the farm on Middle river, where the Valley turnpike crosses that stream.
His oldest son, Robert, married Ann Thompson of Augusta, and removed to South Carolina before the Revolutionary war. During the war he served as Colonel nnder General Andrew Pickens. Anderson County, S. C., was named for him.
His uext son, Andrew, served as Ensign, Lieutenant and Captain in the war of the Revolution, and in 1781 was stationed with his regi- ment at Fort Pitt. For many consecutive years after the war he represented Augusta county in the House of Delegates, being then known as Colonel Anderson. He was married twice. The children of his first wife were: (1) Dr. George Anderson, of Montgomery county ; (2) Mrs. Brown, of Kentucky ; (3) the first wife of Major William Poage. His second wife was Martha, daughter of Patrick Crawford, and her children were: (1) John; (2) James, (both of whom died leaving no children); (3) Robert, who married Nancy Dean, of Greenbrier, and lived and died on the Middle river farm ; (4) William, who died in New Orleans; (5) Nancy, wife of William Crawford ; and (6) Sally, wife of Jacob Ruff.
James Anderson, third son of John, removed to South Carolina before the Revolution, and during the war was a Captain in the American army. His wife was Agnes, daughter of James and Mary (Laird) Craig.
The fourth son of John Anderson was William, who also was a Captain during the Revolution, and in 1784 removed to Kentucky with the Trimbles, Moffetts and others.
The daughters of John Anderson were : (1) Margaret, who mar- ried James Allen ; and (2) Jane, who married first Hugh Allen, and second William Craig.
The REV. WILLIAM WILSON had two sons, Dr. James Wilson and Thomas P. Wilson. His brother, Thomas Wilson, married a Miss Poage, of Augusta, and settled in Morgantown, Monongalia county.
The sons of Thomas Wilson were : 1. Edward C. Wilson, a lawyer and member of Congress; 2. Rev. Norval Wilson, of the Methodist Episcopal church, father of Bishop Alpheus Wilson ; 3. Alpheus P. Wilsou, a prominent lawyer and member of the State
333
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Senate, from a district embracing all northwest Virginia from Penn- sylvania to Kentucky. He removed to New Orleans, and in 1830 fell from a steamboat and was drowned.
MAJOR JOHN HAYS 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 dis- tinguished 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.
EDWARD MCLAUGHLIN, a native of Londonderry, Ireland, set- tled early in the eighteenth century near the place now called Goshen, in Rockbridge county. His wife was a Miss Irvin. He was a mem- ber of Captain Dickinson's company at Point Pleasant, and during the Revolutionary war participated in the battles of the Cowpens, Guilford, and Yorktown. His son, Edward I., was the father of Judge William McLaughlin.
CHAPTER XIII.
FROM THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTION TO THE YEAR 1800.
Before the Revolutionary war many German people found their way to the new world, and several of our Valley counties were largely settled by them. They were, for the most part, Lutherans and Tunkers, or German Baptists, and have transmitted their religious faith, with their steady habits, to their posterity. They brought their German Bibles with them, and for several generations the lan- guage of the fatherland was used by them in their households. Indeed, many of the older people never learned to read or speak English. Before the close of the Revolution a considerable part of the best lands in Augusta county was occupied by people of this race.
Other German people also came at an early day, and their descendants are now numerous in the county. These were Protestants of the "German Reformed " faith, who hold to the theology of John Calvin. The denomination originated in the Palatinate, adjacent to Prussia. They were subjected to persecution by their Roman Catholic rulers, and at one crisis Frederick William, King of Prussia and fatlier of Frederick the Great, interfered efficiently for their protection. The first immigrants of this faith formed settlements in Pennsylvania in 1684, and their first minister in America was the Rev. Philip Boehm, who came here in 1720. There is no essential difference in the creeds of the " German Reformed " and Presbyterians of Scotch or Scotch- Irish descent, but distinct organizations are kept up at various places in the county, showing the tenacity with which people cling to the usages in worship of their forefathers. Bethel church, of the one de- nomination, and St. John's, of the other, are almost side by side ; and a similar spectacle is exhibited in the village of Churchville, the hamlet so called because it contains no less than four churches.
Peter and George Hanger, the ancestors of the numerous family of that name, settled in Augusta in 1750, it is said, having been born in Germany, but coming here from Pennsylvania. The former lived at Spring Farm, near Staunton, and died there in 1801. In 1780 he was appointed a justice of the peace, but declined to qualify. One of
335
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
his sons, of the same name, lived at the place on the Winchester road, since called Willow Spout, but formerly widely known as "Hanger's," during the days of Bockett's stages, Knoxville teams and militia musters.
The most numerous family in the county, and possibly in the country, is that known as Koiner, Coiner, and Coyuer. Michael Koiner came to America, from Germany, between 1740 and 1745, and settled in Pennsylvania .* He had ten sons and three daughters. Three of his sons,-George, Adam and Casper,-came to Augusta county and in 1787 were followed by their father, who proceeded to purchase farms. His other sons,-Martin, Philip, Frederick and George Michael,-also came to Augusta, and settled aud died here. The three eldest sons were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. The ancestor died in 1796, and was buried in Trinity churchyard, near South river .- [Peyton's History of Augusta County.]
Before the Revolutionary war arose, the descendants of the early Scotch-Irish settlers of Augusta began to scatter abroad. Some of the Lewises, Breckinridges and McClanahans went to Botetourt couuty. Andrew Lewis and Robert McClanahan, Jr., were living in Botetourt before the battle of Point Pleasant. Thomas Lewist living near Port Republic, became a citizen of Rockingham after that county was organized. William Lewist removed to the Sweet Springs about the year 1790. Some of the family located in Bath county. Soon after the Revolution, several of the Breckinridges went to Kentucky, and from one of them descended the distinguished mnen of that name. Immediately after the war, in 1783, the Rev. Dr. Waddell, of Tinkling Spring, who came to Augusta from Lancaster county in 1776, removed to the neighborhood of Gordonsville, where he died in 1805. He sold the Springhill place, for which he had paid £1,000, in two parcels-one of 840 acres to Mr. James Powell Cocke for £1,050 ; and the remainder, or the greater part of it, called " Round Meadow," to Samnel Hunter for £1,200. To show the gradual
* On October 21, 1892, the descendants of Michael Koiner, to the number of more than nine hundred, met at Trinity church and unveiled a monument to their ancestor.
t Thomas Lewis died in 1790. His sons were Andrew, Thomas, Charles and William B.
¿ William Lewis died in 1812. His sons were John, a Captain at Point Pleasant and an officer during the Revolution ; Thomas, an officer in Wayne's army ; and William I., who was a member of Congress from the Campbell District in 1815-'17 .- [Peyton's History.]
336
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
enhancement in the price of land, we mention further that Mr. Cocke sold liis 840 acres, Springhill proper, in 1793, to John Swisher, of Rockingham, for {1,600 ; and Swisher's heirs sold it in 1812 to John Coalter for £4,110. Thus the prices of the tract were in dollars, in 1783-'5, $3,500 ; in 1793, $5,333.3373 ; and in 1812, $13,700.
Just before he removed from the county, Dr. Waddell was invited to preach one-half his time to the Presbyterians in Staunton, and it is curious to observe that the call on behalf of the town people was signed by Alexander St. Clair and William Bowyer, the last church-wardens of Augusta parish, of whom we have any account.
An anecdote in relation to Dr. Waddell, which has come down to us, gives some idea of the state of the times. During his residence here coffee was very little used in the county, but having been accus- tomed to it in lower Virginia, he continued to use it after he came to the Valley. Some of his flock were scandalized at his indulgence in such a luxury, and felt called upon to administer a rebuke. They, however, to strengthen their cause, made out of the matter a case of flagrant Sabbath-breaking. Therefore the minister was charged with the offence of having hot coffee on Sunday morning as well as other days ! He met the accusation calmly, and asked, "What do you have for breakfast ?" They replied, "Mush and milk." "But," he asked further, "is the mush hot or cold ?" "Hot, of course," they replied. "Well," said he," "You have cold mush on Sunday, and I will have cold coffee."
Dr. Waddell was succeeded at Tinkling Spring by the Rev. John McCue, who, while living in the county, preached more or less statedly in Staunton for some years. There was, however, no regular Presby- terian church organization in Staunton till 1804. The early Presby- terian settlers were generally engaged in farming and grazing, and sought rural shades in which to worship, turning away, apparently, from towns and villages. Hence, throughout the Valley, their country churches antedate those in the towns.
Colonel Robert Porterfield, a native of Pennsylvania, but living in Jefferson or Berkeley county when the Revolutionary war arose, settled here, on South River, near Waynesborough, at the close of the war. He attained the rank of Captain in the Continental army, and was afterward made Colonel and General of Virginia militia. Revolu- tionary soldiers, not exempt by age or physical infirmity from military duty, were enrolled in the militia at the close of the war. General Porterfield was a member of Captain Thomas Turk's company, and
337
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
by a court-martial held November 25, 1787, was fined for failing to muster .*
Archibald Stuart, a native of Angusta, but reared in Rockbridge county, located in Staunton, in 1785, to practice law. While a very young man he was elected by the people of Botetourt to represent them in the State Legislature, residence of delegates in the county not being required at that time.
Jacob Peck, long an enterprising citizen, was living here in 1780, having come from Pennsylvania.
The first meeting of Free Masons in Staunton was " under dis- pensation," March 31, 1785. Staunton Lodge was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Virginia, at Richmond, October 28, 1786, "the charter names " being Alexander Long, William Chambers, and John Paris.
Jacob Swoope and John Boyst came to Staunton from Phila- delphia, in 1789, and embarked in the mercantile business. Both of them married here, but the wife of the latter dying in a short time, he returned to Philadelphia, where he died in 1798. Mr. Swoope re- mained in Staunton, and acquired wealth and prominence.
Some time between 1785 and 1790, several persons came to Staunton from different places, all of whom were prominent and in- fluential in their day, and some of whom reared large families. We refer to John Wayt (the senior of that name), Joseph Cowan, Andrew Barry, Peter Heiskell, Michael Garber, Lawrence Tremper, and a school teacher named Clarke. Mr. Wayt came from Orange county. He was a merchant, a magistrate, and high sheriff, several times a member of the Legislature, and long active in all affairs concerning church and state. He died in 1831, leaving no child. Mr. Cowan
* General Porterfield, then a Lieutenant in the Continental Line, was with the army at Valley Forge. Capt. Philip Slaughter, of Culpeper county, in a letter writteu January 1, 1847, gives a graphic account of the sufferings of the soldiers during that winter. He says: "Captain Charles Porterfield, Capt. Wm. Johnson, Lieut. John Marshall, (afterwards Chief Justice of the U. S.), Lieut. Robert Porterfield, Lient. James Wright and myself, were messmates the winter the army quartered at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, for four months, or thereabout. We built an open cabin in December, when the snow was two to three feet deep, chinked it with small saplings between the logs; snow all winter so deep that we could not get dirt for cramming it ; the cold wind pouring in between the cracks. We were without bedding of any sort ; many not a single blanket. We had no money, no credit, almost naked, and many times only half rations. We suffered more than I can describe."
tJohn Boys married Anna St. Clair, daughter of Alexander St. Clair, and his only child became the wife of Dr. Addison Waddell.
338
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
.
and Mr. Barry were natives of Ireland, and leading merchants ; Mr. Garber came from Pennsylvania, and Mr Heiskell from Frederick county. Lawrence Tremper was born in New York and married there. During the war he was a Lieutenant in the Continental army. He was by trade a leather-breeches maker. During the administration of John Adams he was appointed postmaster at Staunton, and held the office continuously till his death in 1841. He also retailed drugs, patent medicines, and candy. Mr. Clarke, the school teacher, canie from Pennsylvania, like so many others. He left four sons, Samuel, John, William, and Thomas, who long resided in the county, and the first of whom, in a quiet way, filled a large space in the community for many years.
Three brothers came to Staunton from Nelson county, probably about the year 1790, Chesley, Jacob, and William Kinney. The first named was clerk of several of the courts which sat here, and the father of five sons and a daughter. Jacob Kinney was a lawyer. His only child was a daughter, the wife of the late Erasmus Stribling, and mother of Dr. F. T. Stribling and others. William Kinney, Sr., was a bachelor, and pursued no regular business during the latter years of his life, but he was noted for genial traits which made him a welcome guest in many homes.
Richard Madison, the second clerk of the County Court, died in February, 1785. He succeeded his father, John Madison, who re- signed, November 17, 1778, on account of old age and infirmity, and was succeeded as clerk by Col. Alexander McClanahan. Elijah Mc- Clanahan and Alexander St. Clair, a committee appointed by the Court to examine the Clerk's Office, reported April 19, 1785, that the late clerk had grossly neglected his duties. Deeds, wills, etc., had not been recorded for several years, and the proceedings of the Court had not been entered up since March 21, 1774. Thereupon, the Justices of the County Court brought suit in the General Court against William Bowyer, administrator of Richard Madison, to recover £300, the cost of making up the records. The cause was removed to the District Court when that Court was opened at Staunton, and on April 5, 1790, the plaintiffs were non-suited, on the ground that the cause of action was a tort, and expired with the person committing the offence. In partial excuse for the clerk it must be said that he was more or less in the military service during the war. He was Ensign of Captain Zachariah Johnston's company in 1781. The irregularities in the clerk's office show the disorganization of the times.
339
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
By the year 1787, the people of the county thought it high time to provide a more suitable place for the judicatories of the Common- wealth of Virginia to sit in. Therefore, on the 22nd of March of that year, the County Court appointed Commissioners to "draw a plan for a new court-house " and to let out the work. The Commissioners were Sampson Mathews, Alexander St. Clair, Michael Bowyer, Robert Gamble, James P. Cocke, and William Bowyer. The house No. 2 was not abandoned till December 17, 1788, and then, "on account of the inclemency of the weather and the court-house being in bad repair court adjourned to the house of Mr. Peter Heiskell." the Washington Tavern. The houses, Nos. 1 and 2, had now to be put out of the way, and the latter was sold to Anthony Mustoe for £3, 17s. 2d., -less than $12.00.
The court-house No. 3 was completed and occupied by the court in the fall of 1789. It was a square stone building two-stories high, and stood about the center of the lot. The court room occupied the whole lower story. The floor of the upper story was supported by wooden columns, one of which was garnished with iron clamps in which the hands of felons were fastened to be branded with hot irons ; there was no State penitentiary at that time. The clerk's office was probably accommodated at first in one of the upper rooms; but a low brick house was afterwards erected for it on or near the site of the original court-honse. Court-house No. 3 stood and was used by the courts till the year 1835.
An act of assembly, passed November 6, 1787, added twenty-five acres of land belonging to Alexander St. Clair to the town of Stanton. This addition has always been known as Newtown. Other land, belonging to Judge Stuart, in the northeast part of town, was added by act of assembly passed in 1803.
The earliest returns of commissioners of the revenue for Angusta county, found in our local archives, are for the year 1787. Parts of Bath and Pendleton counties were then included in Augusta. The commissioners of the revenue were James Ramsey, Joseph Bell, and Charles Cameron. Alexander McClanahan was clerk of the County Court. The number of horses and mules in the county was 7,747; cattle, 15,692 ; ordinaries, 5, kept by John Bosang, Windle Grove, Peter Heiskell, James McGonigle, and Thomas Smith, (all in Staunton); practising physicians, 4,-Drs. William Grove, Alexander Humphreys, Alexander Long, and Hugh Richie. The number of gigs was two, owned by John Ermitage and Robert Richardson. There were no four-wheeled riding-carriages in the county.
340
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
The tax on physicians was £5 each ($1623.) Lawyers were not listed by Commissioners of the Revenue, but were required to pay to the clerk of the court one-tenth of all legal fees. The tax had to be paid down in each case, or the attorney was not allowed to appear. This was in addition to the tax of 1784, which was £15 ($50) on each admission to practise in the Superior Court, and 20 shillings ($3.337/3) in the County Court.
The ordinary kept by Peter Heiskell in 1787, was the Washing- ton Tavern, which occupied the site of the present Virginia Hotel, N. E. corner of New and Courthouse streets. Thomas Smith kept the Bell Tavern, diagonally opposite the Washington, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Michael Garber.
William Bowyer, sheriff of the county in 1787, reported to the Governor that not one-third of the taxes of 1783-4 had been collected, and that no purchasers would attend sales of property levied on.
Pendleton county was formed from Augusta, Rockingham, and Hardy in 1788.
In the State Convention of 1788, which ratified the Constitution of the United States, Augusta was represented by Zachariah Johnston and Archibald Stuart.
Zachariah Johnston was born in Augusta about the year 1743, near the present village of Fishersville. He is described as a man of a religious temper, of great simplicity of manners, and utterly void of hypocrisy. As we have seen, he was a member of the House of Delegates during the Revolution. He was also a member in 1785, and warmly supported the act for establishing religious freedom. While that act was pending, he is said to have delivered an effective speech in favor of it, declaring that he would leave his own church if it should become a State church. Near the close of the convention of 1788, he delivered quite a long speechi in favor of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, which may be found in the volume of Virginia Debates, page 460. We copy one paragraph. Mr. John- ston said :
"It is my lot to be among the poor people. The most that I can claim, or flatter myself with, is to be of the middle rank. I wish 110 more, for I am content. But I shall give my opinion unbiased and uninfluenced-without erndition or eloquence, but with firmness and candor. And in so doing I will satisfy my conscience. If this Con- stitution be bad, it will bear equally as hard on me as on any member of society. It will bear hard on my children, who are as dear to me as any man's children can be to him. Having their happiness at heart,
341
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
the vote I shall give in its favor, can only be imputed to a conviction of its utility and propriety."
Mr. Johnston was a Presidential Elector in 1789, and with his nine associates, headed by Patrick Henry, voted for General Wash- ington. He removed to Rockbridge in 1793, and died there in 1803.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.