USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > Annals of Augusta county, Virginia, from 1726 to 1871 > Part 5
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To this document the Governor replied, in a letter to the Modera- tor of the Synod, as follows :
"Sir .- By the hands of Mr. Anderson I received an address signed by you in the name of your brethren of the Synod of Philadelphia. And as I have always inclined to favour the people who have lately re- moved from other provinces to settle on the western side of our great mountains, so you may be assured that no interruption shall be given
* Mr. Anderson was a native of Scotland. He died in 1740 at his home in Pennsylvania.
# John Caldwell lived in Charlotte county, and was the grand-father of John C. Calhoun of South Carolina.
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
to any minister of your profession, who shall come among them, so as they conform themselves to the rules prescribed by the Act of Tolera- tion in England, by taking the oaths enjoined thereby, and register- ing the place of their meeting, and behave themselves peaceably to- wards the government. This you may please to communicate to the Synod as an answer to theirs. Your most humble servant, William Gooch."
The loyalty of the Scotch-Irish settlers of the Valley to the house of Hanover is not over-stated by the Synod in their address to the Governor. Indeed, that spirit was characteristic of their race. Froude remarks, in substance, that of all the people of Ireland, the Presbyte- rians of Ulster liad most canse to complain of the severities of the British government, for while uniformly loyal they received no favors in return.
The Governor, in his reply, alludes to the "toleration" of Dissen- ters provided by law. This was on certain conditions. Their places of worship, or meeting-houses, were required to be licensed and regis- tered in the county courts. In eastern Virginia the number of such places in a county was limited, but in the Valley there appears to have been no restriction of the kind. All ministers of the gospel were obliged to take divers and sundry oaths, and especially to abjure the "pretender" to the throne of Great Britain, the Pope of Rome, and the doctrine of transubstantiation. The people were not liable to fine for not attending the parish churches, but they were compelled to con- tribute to the support of the established religion, and their ministers were not allowed to celebrate the rite of marriage. Until the year 178I any couple desiring to be legally married had to send for or go to some minister of the Established Church, however far off he might live.
Governor Gooch is regarded as being averse to persecuting meas- ures, yet he is supposed to have encouraged the settlement of the Val- ley chiefly from a desire to remove the frontier of civilization further from Williamsburg, and to place a hardy and enterprising race of peo- ple between the capital and the savage Indians.
CHAPTER II.
FROM 1738 TO THE FIRST COUNTY COURT.
Up to the time to which we have now arrived, the whole region west of the Blue Ridge constituted a part of the county of Orange. In the year 1738, however, on November I, the General Assembly of the colony of Virginia passed an act establishing the counties of Frederick and Augusta. The new counties were so named in honor of Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King George II, and father of George III, and his wife, the Princess Augusta .* The act separated all the territory west of the Blue Ridge, and extending in other directions "to the ut- most limits of Virginia," from Orange county, and erected it into the two counties named. The line between them was "from the head spring of Hedgman's river to the head spring of the river Potomack." Augusta was much the larger of the two counties. It embraced, north- ward, the present county of Rockingham and a part of Page; to the south, it extended to the border of Virginia; and to the west and northwest, it extended over the whole territory claimed by Great Britain in those quarters. It included nearly all of West Virginia, the States of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and, as contended by Vir- ginians, a part of western Pennsylvania.
* Prince Frederick died March 21, 1751, after a short illness. According to Thomas Carlyle, he was "a poor dissolute, flabby fellow-creature." The follow- ing epigram, which Carlyle compliments as "an uncommonly successful piece of its kind," expresses the feeling of the country about him :
Here lies Priuce Fred, Who was alive and is dead :
Had it been his Father, I had much rather ;
Had it been his brother,
Sooner than any other ;
Had it been his sister,
There's no one would have missed her ;
Had it been his whole generation, Best of all for the Nation ; But since it's only Fred, There's no more to be said.
Princess Augusta fell into disrepute after the death of her husband, and was accused of undue intimacy with her confidential adviser, Lord Bute. She aud Bute ruled the young King, George III, for some years with a rod of iron .- Macaulay's Essay on Chatham.
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
The act provided that the two new counties should remain part of the county of Orange and parish of Saint Mark until it should be made to appear to the Governor and council that there was "a sufficient num- ber of inhabitants for appointing justices of the peace and other officers, and erecting courts therein." In the meanwhile, the inhabitants were exempted from "the payment of all public, county and parish levies in the county of Orange and parish of Saint Mark" ; but no allowance should be made "to any person for killing wolves within the limits of the said new counties." The act further provided for the payment of all levies and officers' fees "in money or tobacco at three farthings per pound," and also for the election, by freeliolders and housekeepers, of twelve persons in each county, to constitute the vestries of the respec- tive parishes as required by the laws relating to the Established Church. As we shall see, the county of Augusta was not fully or- ganized and started on its independent career till the year 1745.
The business of the people of Augusta was transacted at Orange Court-house till December, 1745, when the Court of Augusta was or- ganized. In the meantime all persons in the Valley "having suits to prosecute, pleas to enter," etc., had to take the long trip on horse- back, through the gaps in the mountain and by "bridle paths" to Orange, spending two or three days on the way. Moreover, as there was no minister of the Established Church in the Valley till 1747, all couples living here and wishing to be married, had to travel across the Blue Ridge to Orange, or elsewhere, in search of a minister authorized by law to perform the service.
William Beverley's deeds to John Lewis, George Hudson, George Robertson and Patrick Campbell were admitted to record February 22, 1739.
On the same day, "John Lewis, Gent., having taken the oaths and subscribed the Test, was sworn into his military commission ac -. cordingly." The title, or rank, is not given, but it was no doubt that of Colonel.
On the 28th of February, John McDowell, who settled in Borden's Grant, made oath at Orange court "that he imported himself, Magda-' line, his wife, and Samuel McDowell, his son, and John Rutter, his servant, at his own charge from Great Britain, in the year 1737, to: dwell in this colony, and that this is the first time of proving their rights in order to obtain land pursuant to the royal instructions."
Zachary Taylor obtained license to keep an ordinary, March 22, 1739.
And now we have the first reference to a public road west of the: Blue Ridge. June, 1739, "John l'oage, David Davis and George
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Hutchison having, according to an order of Court, viewed and laid off a road from Beverley Manor," etc., "It is ordered that the said road be cleared from John Young's at the North Mountain to the top of the Blue Ridge to the bounds of Goochland county." The order of court directing the laying off of the road was not found.
Early in 1740, or shortly before, there was a great influx of popu- lation into the Valley. On the 22d of May, 1740, fourteen heads of families appeared at Orange Court to "prove their importation." The first order of the series is as follows :
Alexander Breckinridge came into Court and made oath that he imported himself, and -- , John, George, Robert, -, Smith, - -, and Letitia Breckinridge from Ireland to Philadelphia, and from thence to this colony, at his own charges, and this is the first time of proving his and their rights in order to obtain land, which is ordered to be certified." He, however, acquired by purchase from Beverley 245 acres, on March 24, 1741.
The blanks above indicate names which are illegible in the record book. Of only one of Alexander Breckinridge's children, Robert, have we any particular account. Possibly most of the others died young .* There is no mention in the order of the daughter named Sarah, but she was the wife of Robert McClanahan when the family came to the Valley.
On the same day with Breckinridge, the following settlers in the Valley appeared in Court and proved their importation in like manner, all having come from Ireland through Philadelphia, viz :
James Bell and his children, John, Margaret and Elizabeth. These were the "Long Glade Bells."
John Trimble and his children, Ann, Margaret and Mary.
John Hays and his children, Rebecca, Charles, Andrew, Barbara, Joan and Robert.
Patrick Hays and his children, Francis, Joan, William, Margaret, Catharine and Ruth.
William Brown and his children, Mary, Robert, Hugh and Mar- garet.
Robert Patterson, his wife Grace, and his children, Thomas, Mary and Elizabeth.
David Logan, his wife, Jane, and his children, Mary and William,
Robert Poage, his wife, Elizabeth, and his children, Margaret, John, Martha, Sarah, George, Mary, Elizabeth, William and Robert.
* In a deed from Wm. Null to John Coalter, Nov. 28, 1750, for 210 acres of land on Mill Creek, mention is made of Robert McClanahan's lines and the cor- ner "to the grave yard of John Breckinridge who was murdered by Indians."
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
John Anderson, his wife, Jane, and his children, Esther, Mary and Margaret.
George Anderson, his wife, Elizabeth, and his children, William, Margaret, John and Frances.
Samuel Scott, his wife, Jane, and son, John.
Robert Scott, his wife, Ann, and his children, Mary, George and Esther.
David Wilson, his wife, Charity, and son, James.
James Caldwell and his children, Mary, Jean, Agnes, John, Sarah and Samuel.
John Stevenson and his children, Sarah and Mary.
John Preston came in with Breckinridge and others, but postponed proving his importation till 1746, when he appeared before the court of Augusta, "to partake of his Majesty's bounty for taking up lands."
On the 26th of June, 1740, the following Augusta people "proved their importation," having come from Ireland through Philadelphia, viz :
Hugh Campbell and his children, Esther and Sarah.
Robert Young and his children, Agnes, John, Samuel and James.
John Smith, his wife, Margaret, his children, Abraham, Henry, Daniel, John and Joseph, and Robert McDowell. This was Captain John Smith, of Augusta, who became prominent during the Indian wars, as did his sons, Abraham, Daniel and John.
Henry Downs was presented by the Grand Jury, November 27, 1740, "for Sabbath-breaking by travelling with loaded horses to Shar- rendo," on the information of John and William Dewitt.
The Presbyterians of Augusta continued their "supplications" to the Presbytery of Donegal for a pastor to reside amongst them. In 1739, they first applied for the services of the Rev. Mr. Thompson who came and preached for a time. Next they presented a call to the Rev. John Craig. At a meeting of Presbytery, in September, 1740, "Rob- ert Doak and Daniel Dennison, from Virginia, declared in the name of the congregation of Shenandoah, their adherence to the call formerly presented to Mr. Craig ;" and on the next day Mr. Craig "was set apart for the work of the Gospel ministry in the south part of Bever- ley's Manor."
The Rev. John Craig was born in 1709, in County Antrim, Ire- land. He was educated at Edinburgh ; landed at New Castle upon tlie Delaware, August 17, 1734 ; and was licensed by the Presbytery to preach in 1737. As stated, he came to Augusta in 1740. "I was sent," he recorded, "to a new settlement in Virginia of our own peo- ple, near three hundred miles distant."
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
At his death, in 1774, Mr. Craig left a manuscript giving some account of himself and the times in which he lived.
He married June 11, 1744, "a young gentlewoman of a good fam- ily and character, born and brought up in the same neighborhood where I was born, daughter of Mr. George Russel, by whom I had nine children."*
Referring to his settlement in Augusta, he says : "The place was a new settlement, without a place of worship, or any church order, a wilderness in the proper sense, and a few Christian settlers in it with numbers of the heathens travelling among us, but generally civil, though some persons were murdered by them about that time. They march about in small companies from fifteen to twenty, sometimes more or less. They must be supplied at any house they call at, with victuals, or they become their own stewards and cooks, and spare nothing they choose to eat and drink."
It is interesting to learn how the Dissenters of the Valley managed their congregational affairs ; and here is a copy of the obligation sub- scribed by the people of Tinkling Spring : "Know all men by these presents, yt us, ye undernamed subscribers, do nominate, appoint and constitute our trusty and well-beloved friends, James Patton, John
* The first, third and fifth children died young, and another must have died after the narrative was written, as we can learn of only five of his children who came to maturity.
His only son was named George. He married a Miss Kennerly, and re- moved to Kanawha. The daughters of Mr. Craig were,-
I. Patience, wife of William Hamilton. This conple had three sons and five daughters, viz, :
1. Jolın C. Hamilton, married Sally Craig-no relation. The late William and John Hamilton, of Christian's creek, were sons of John and Sally.
2. Hugh Hamilton, married Betsy, daughter of Samuel Clark of Staunton. He went to Missouri and died there. His son, Dr. William Hamilton, was long an assistant physician at the Western Lunatic Asylum.
3. . Andrew Hamilton, married Nancy Craig-no relation.
II. Mary Craig, daughter of the Rev. John Craig, married Charles Baskin, who was baptized by Mr. Craig, March 15, 1741, Captain Baskin, as he was called, was badly wounded at the battle of Guilford, in 1781. He had two chil- dreu, Captain John C. Baskin, of the war of 1812, and a daughter, who married William Grimes.
III. Joanna Craig, married John Hamilton, a brother of William, liusband of Patience. No children.
IV. The name of Mr. Craig's fourth daughter is not known. She married an Atwater, and had two children : John, who died in service during the war of 1812, and Hannah, who married George Craig, of Putnam county.
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Finley, George Hutchison, John Christian, and Alexander Breckin- ridge, to manage our public affairs ; to choose and purchase a piece of ground and to build our meeting-house upon it ; to collect our minis- ter's salary, and to pay off all charges relating to said affair ; to lay off the people in proportion to this end; to place seats in our said meeting house, which we do hereby promise to reimburse them, they always giving us a month's warning by an advertisement on the meet- house door, a majority of the above five persons, provided all be ap- prised of their meeting, their acting shall stand; and these persons above-named shall be accountable to the minister and session twice every year for all their proceeds relating to the whole affair. To which we subscribe our names in the presence of Rev. Mr. John Craig, August 11th, 1741."
One of the subscribers having failed to pay his subscription, or as- sessment, was sued in the County Court, and the commissioners ob- tained a verdict and judgment against him for six pounds.
When James Patton located in the county he took up his abode on South River above Waynesborough, at or near, the present Porce- lain Works, and called the place Springhill. Beverley's patent em- braced the land occupied by Patton, and the latter had no deed till February 21, 1749, when Beverley conveyed to him the tract, 1,398 acres, more or less, for the nominal consideration of five shillings, [831/3 cents].
Outside the large land grants to Beverley, Borden and others, patents were issued from time to time for small tracts to various per- sous. One of the earliest of this class, which we have seen, is dated September 1, 1740, and is signed in the name of King George II, by James Blair, acting Governor. It granted to James Anderson 270 acres "lying in that part of Orange county called Angusta, on a branch of Cathry's river, called Anderson's branch," &c., in consideration of the importation of five persons to dwell within this our Colony and Do- minion of Virginia, whose names are : John Anderson, Jane Anderson, Esther Anderson, Mary Anderson, and Margaret Anderson ; and the further consideration of five shillings,-provided the "fee rent " of one shilling for every fifty acres be paid annually, and three acres in fifty be cultivated and improved within three years. The tract is probably the same now owned by Thomas S. Hogshead, near Stribling Springs. But no stream in that neighborhood is known at this day as Ander- son's branch.
Benjamin Borden, (probably Benjamin, Jr.), appeared at Orange Court, February 26, 1741, as a peaceable subject of the King in fear of his life. On the day mentioned, he "swore the peace" against George
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Moffett, making oath that "he goes in danger of his life, or some bod- ily hurt, by the said George Moffett." The latter appeared in Court, and was regularly "bound over to keep the peace," his securities being James Cathray and John Christian. Moffett was probably an uncle of Col. George Moffett, long a prominent citizen of Augusta, who was, however, only six years old in 1741. As we shall see, a person of that name lived in Borden's tract in 1742.
We continue our extracts from the records of Orange County Court :
February 26, 1741, "John Craig, a Presbyterian minister, in open Court took the oaths appointed by act of Parliament to be taken instead of the oaths of allegiance and supremacy and the oath of abjuration, and subscribed the Test : which is ordered to be certified."
William Beverley, on February 14, 1742, conveyed to Mr. Craig 335 acres of land,-no doubt the tract on Lewis's creek, where Mr. Craig lived, afterwards owned by Benjamin T. Reid, and now ( 1887,) by the heirs of Robert S. Harnsberger.
James Patton brought sundry suits in 1741, and from that time till 1746, he and Beverley often appeared in court as litigants.
William Thompson qualified as administrator of John Campbell in 1741, John Lewis security. The decedent was the ancestor of Colo- nel Arthur Campbell, General William Campbell and many others.
A new "Commission of the Peace" was issued by the Governor in the fall of 1741, and on the 3d of November the Justices were sworn in. Among them were John Lewis, James Patton, and John Buchan- a11, all of whom sat in court that day.
William Beverley qualified as County Lieutenant of Orange and also of Augusta, November 3, 1741.
Under date of November 27, 174 1, we find some items of general interest, viz :
The Grand Jury presented "Jonathan Gibson of the Parish of St. Thomas, Gent., for not frequenting his parish church for the space of two months last past, on ye information of the Rev. Richard Harts- well." Mr. Gibson immediately appeared in court, confessed judg- ment, and "it was considered by the court that he pay the church wardens of St. Thomas parish ten shillings current money, or one hun- dred pounds of tobacco." There were two or more parishes in Orange county at that time. In one of these, St. Mark's, Augusta, was in- cluded till 1745. St. Thomas' parish was mainly in what is now Madison county.
On the same day, and also on the information of Mr. Hartswell, the following presentments were made : Richard Cross, James Picket and
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
Thomas Wood, for not frequenting their parish church ; and Tully Joices, Bartholomew Baker and Jonathan Henning, "for swearing an oath, each, on the 23d of this iustant, November, 1741."
"Thereupon, on the information of Tully Joices, the jury present- ed the Rev. Richard Hartswell, of ye parish of St. Thomas, for being drunk on the 23d instant,"-the day the swearing was done. This was evidently a spiteful proceeding on Tully's part. What came of the presentment we failed to discover.
Bishop Meade could not ascertain the name of the first minister of St. Thomas' parish. On page 75, Vol. II, he says : "At that time" [1740], "an old Scotch minister of the Episcopal Church, whose name I have not been able to ascertain, but who, it seems, was fond of good cheer and a game of cards, officiated regularly at that church." Mr. Hartswell was doubtless the person referred to.
James Patton qualified as "Colonel of Augusta County," May 27, 1742.
On June 24, 1742, John Buchanan, John Smith, Samuel Gay, James Cathray and John Christian qualified as captains of militia; and John Moffett and William Evans as lieutenants. On the same day the following constables were appointed, viz : John Steaveuson, Thomas Turk, James Allen, Patrick Martin, John Gay and James Cole.
Many deeds, executed by Beverley aud Borden, respectively, were admitted to record in the latter part of 1742, and the number of suits had greatly increased.
The inhabitants of the new county of Augusta discovered before long that living without payment of taxes was not desirable. Poor people could not be provided for ; roads could not be cleared, nor bridges built ; and, especially, the wolves were multiplying beyond all endurance. They, therefore, made "humble suit" to the assembly, and in accordance with their wishes, in May, 1742, an act was passed "for laying a tax on the inhabitants of Augusta county." The act provided that the County Court of Orange should divide the county of Augusta into precincts, and appoint persons to take lists of tithables therein, and that each tithable should pay two shillings (3373 cents) yearly to James Patton, John Christian and John Buchanan, to be laid out by them in hiring persous to kill wolves, etc., etc., in such man- ner as should be directed by the court-martial to be held annually in the county.
What the people had to sell, and where they sold their products, are questions we cannot answer. Probably peltries and such live stock as they could raise and send to market were their only means of ob- taining money.
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ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
The state of the country and of society in the settlement, from its origin till the year 1745, was quite singular. The dwellings of the people were generally constructed of logs, and the furniture was simple and scanty. There were no roads worthy of the name, and no wheeled vehicles of any kind ; horseback was the only means of transportation. There was no minister of religion till Mr. Craig arrived, except tran- sient visitors on two or three occasions ; no marriage feasts, nor fune- ral rites, and very few sermons on the Sabbath to call the people to- gether. There were 110 courts and court days, except at Orange Court- house, beyond the mountain. From allowances by the vestry for pro- fessional services to the poor, subsequent to 1747, we learn the names of several physicians who lived in the county at an early day. Drs. Foyles and Flood are mentioned in 1753, but we have no other infor- mation in regard to them. No lawyer resided in this bailiwick till 1753, when we find Gabriel Jones, the "king's attorney," residing ou his estate near Port Republic. But the sturdy Scotch-Irish people pressed into the country, and by the year 1745 the Alexanders, Allens, Andersons, Bells, Bowyers, Breckinridges, Browns, Buchanans, Camp- bells, Christians, Craigs, Cunninghams, Dickinsons, Doaks, Finleys, Johnstons, Kerrs, Lewises, Lyles, Matthewses, Millers, Moores, Mc- Nutts, Moffetts, McPheeterses, McClungs, McDowells, Pattons, Pick- enses, Pattersons, Pilsons, Poages, Prestons, Robinsons, Scotts, Sit- lingtons, Stuarts, Tates, Thompsons, Trimbles, Wilsons, Youngs, and others abounded in the settlement. Other immigrants of the same race came in afterwards.
On the 30th of July, 1742, the inhabitants of Borden's tract peti- tioned Governor Gooch to commission John McDowell captain of mili- tia, and the paper is one of the "curiosities of literature." We give an exact copy of it from the Calendar of Virginia State Papers :
"To the Honorable, William Gooch Esqr His Majestys' Lient : Gov- ernor &c &c- "Sr
"We your pittionours humbly sheweth that we your Honours Loly and Dutifull Subgauckes hath ventred our Lives & all that we have In fettling ye back parts of Virginia which was a veri Great Hassirt & Dengrous, for it is the Hathins (heathens) Road to ware, which has proved hortfull to feveril of ous that were ye first fettlers of these back woods & wee your Honibill pittionors fome time a goo pittioned your Honnour for to have Commissioned men amungst ous which we your Hounours moft Duttifull fubjects thought properist men & men that had Hart and Curidg to hed ns yn time of - & to defend your Contray and your poor Sobgacks Iutrist from ye voilince
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