USA > Virginia > Augusta County > Augusta County > History of Augusta County, Virginia > Part 9
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HISTORY OF AUGUSTA COUNTY.
of the mountains ; thence N. N. E. 270 poles ; thence N. 31º, E. 4So poles thence N. 19º, E. 460 poles ; thence N. 60°, E. 374 poles ; thence S. 34? E. 234 poles to the north of a dry meadow ; and lastly. N. 70°, E. 4,190 poles to the red oak and hickory mentioned at the end of the sixth source by the river side; with all woods, underwoods, springs, marshes, low grounds, feedings. and their due share of all coal, mines and quarries, as well discovered as not discovered, within the bounds and limits aforesaid, and being part of the said quantity of 118,491 acres of land, and the rivers, waters and water-courses therein mentioned, together with the privileges of hunting, hawking, fishing, fowling, and all other profits, commodities and hereditaments whatsoever to the same or any part thereof belonging or in any wise appertaining : To have and to hold, possess and enjoy the said part or parcel of land, and all other the above granted premises, and every part thereof, with their and every of their appurtenances, unto the said William Beverley, Sir John Randolph, Richard Randolph, and John Robinson, to their heirs and assigns forever, to the only use and behoof them, the said William Beverley, Sir John Randolph, Richard Randolph, and John Robinson, their heirs and assigns forever ; to be held of us, our heirs and successors, as of our Manor of East Greenwich, in the county of Stout, in free and common soccage, and not in villenage, or by Knight's service; they passing and paying unto us, our heirs and successors, for every fifty acres of land, and so proportionately for a lesser or greater quantity than fifty acres, the fee rent of one shilling yearly, to be paid upon the feast of St. Michael, the archangel ; and also cultivating and improving three acres, part of every fifty of the tract above mentioned, within three years after the date of these presents: Provided always, That if three years of the said free rent shall be in arrear and unpaid, or if the said Wm. Beverley, Sir John Randolph, Richard Randolph and John Robin- son, their heirs and assigns, do not, within the space of three years next ensuing after the date of these presents, cultivate and improve three acres, part of every fifty of the tract above mentioned, upon the estate hereby granted, shall cease and be utterly determined, and thereafter it shall and may be lawful to and for us, our heirs and successors, to grant the same lands and premises, with the appurtenances, to such other person or per- sons as we, our heirs and successors, shall think fit.
In witness whereof, we have caused these, our letters patent, to be made. Witness, our trusty and well-beloved William Gooch, Esq., our Lieu- tenant Governor, and Commander-in-Chief of our Colony and Dominion of Virginia, at Williamsburg, under the seal of our said colony, the 6th day of September, 1736, in the fourth year of our reign.
WILLIAM GOOCH.
The tract thus conveyed extended across the Shenandoah Valley, and the southern portion included the present site of Staunton. Public atten- tion was attracted by this and similar grants of various tracts of fertile lands at nominal prices, and the basest motives of personal gain were attributed to the parties interested, not excepting the Governor, who, with the grantees, was denounced in unmeasured terms.
The grant for Beverley Manor had no sooner been issued than the grantees sought industriously to attract immigrants from the northern colonies and from Europe. Advertisements, setting forth the advantages of the country, were conspicuously displayed in Alexandria, Philadelphia,
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and other seaports, and they were sent to Europe by settlers who wished to draw their friends after them.
In this work they were aided by an Englishman by the name of Benja- min Burden, or Borden, who was settled in trade in New Jersey, but who frequently visited Eastern Virginia, and during these visits had ingratiated himself with the Lieutenant-Governor. Burden came to America as the agent of Lord Fairfax, and while in Williamsburg formed the acquaintance of John Lewis, who was on a visit to the city. Lewis was pleased with the social qualities and keen judgment of the enterprising agent, and in- vited him to Bellefonte. Burden accepted, and spent some months under the hospitable roof of the Founder. He was delighted with the manners and customs of the settlers ; with the beauty and fertility of the country, and with the comparative leisure enjoyed by the people-a leisure devoted to hunting, fishing, and rural sports. While at Bellefonte, he shot over the country with the Founder's sons, Thomas, Andrew and William Lewis. During one of their excursions they captured a buffalo calf, which Burden took on his return to Williamsburg and presented to the Governor. The General was so much gratified at this and other civilities on the part of Bur- den, that he directed a patent to be made out, authorizing Burden to locate 500,000 acres of land on the Sherando (Shenandoah) or James Rivers, west of the Blue Ridge. This large grant extended from the southern line of Beverley Manor, and embraced the whole upper part of Augusta and Rockbridge. It was surveyed by Capt. Jno. McDowell, who, some years later, in December, 1743, fell into an ambush while on this land, near the junction of North and James rivers, and was killed by Shawnee In- dians. Burden's grant was upon the sole condition that he would settle, within ten years, one hundred families upon the said land. Burden im- mediately returned to England, and in 1737, returned with the required number of families, among whom were the McDowells, Crawfords, Mc- Clures, Alexanders, Wallaces, Moores, Mathews, and others, who became the founders of some of Virginia's distinguished families.
Neither Burden nor the proprietors of Beverley Manor relaxed their efforts to secure emigrants, and the population increased with such ra- pidity, as we have seen, that it resulted in the establishment of the county of Augusta the following year. Other causes were at work to hasten the settlement of the country about Staunton. Lord Fairfax held, under pa- tent from James II, all that part of Virginia known as the Northern Neck. Under this grant, Fairfax claimed for the western boundary of his terri- tory a line from the head springs of the Rappahannock, supposed to rise in the Blue Ridge, and the head springs of the Potomac, supposed to rise in the Alleghanies. This claim embraced the lower end of the Shenandoah Valley, now composed of the counties of Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, Frederick, Clarke, Warren, Page, Shenandoah and Hardy.
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His Lordship's claim was neither admitted in Virginia nor in England, and the colonial government continued to issue warrants to enterprising men, for surveying and appropriating extensive tracts west of the Blue Ridge, on condition of permanent settlements being made. Under these grants, settlements were made on the lands claimed by Fairfax, and ex- tended quickly as far south as Linvel Creek, in Rockingham county, which was in Beverley Manor.
Disputes arose between Fairfax and these settlers, and expensive law suits ensued. This state of things alarmed many immigrants, and in hopes of greater security, they passed south, beyond the limits of Fairfax's claim, and settled in Beverley Manor and to the south of it. The upper Valley was, for these reasons, more rapidly occupied by the Europeans than the lower. Augusta, being thus benefited, made exceptionable progress in both population and wealth, which brought about her organization as a county at the early period of 1745. In the general work of inviting popu- lation to the country west of the mountains, the grantees were aided by the whole weight and authority of the government. The Legislature passed an act at the session of 1752 to encourage persons to settle on the waters of the Mississippi, in Augusta, " as well His Majesty's natural born subjects, as foreign Protestants, willing to import themselves and their families and effects, as the settling of that part of the country will add to the strength and security of the colony in general, and be a means of aug- menting His Majesty's revenue of quit rents;" and it was enacted that said settlers should be exempt from taxes for the term of ten years.
At this period there existed, as for some time previously in the colony, a regular militia system, rendered necessary by Indian wars, which oc- curred, more or less, along the entire frontier, from New Hampshire to Georgia, from 1690 to 1794. As from this period, 1752, John Lewis, the Founder, is uniformly styled Colonel, it cannot be doubted that he was about this time commissioned Colonel, or chief officer of the militia. Under this commission, it became the duty of the Colonel to list all free male persons above the age of twenty-one, within the county, under such captains as the Colonel should think fit to appoint. By this act, public officers in the civil service were exempt from duty in the militia, and " any of the people commonly called Quakers." That war was near, and Indian incursions were apprehended, is evident from their acts, requiring the officers and men to be thoroughly armed and accoutred, and every militia man to keep at his house at all times one pound of gunpowder and four of ball. He was also required, when called out, to bring the same into the field with him. These arms, accoutrements, &c., were exempt from seizure and distress. The Colonel was further empowered to require all militia men " to go armed to their respective parish churches." A court-martial was held after every general muster, composed of the field-officers and
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captains, for trying delinquents, of which the following officers were to be members: the Colonel of the county, the Lieutenant-colonel, and the Major. The militia was regularly trained, and in September of each year was assembled for a general muster or battalion drill. A similar militia system existed in all the colonies, from Massachusetts to Georgia, and by it were trained and formed for service the future Washingtons, Lewises, Lees, Putnams, Waynes, Moultries, Greenes, and Gateses.
As much of our present civilization and progress is due to the pious men who first preached the Gospel in the wilderness, we shall give in the next succeeding chapter a brief account of the Presbyterian Church and other religious sects, which preceded the Established Church in the Valley. MARY GREENLEE, THE SO-CALLED WITCH-HER DEPOSITION IN THE BURDEN CASE.
Mary McDowell, who married James Greenlee, was the daughter of Ephraim McDowell, one of the early settlers on Burden's grant, and a great aunt of the late Gov. James McDowell, of Rockbridge. She was a woman of more than ordinary brightness and vivacity of intellect, but many aberrations of mind and eccentricities of character and conduct. Early disappointment in a love affair heightened her natural peculiarities, and these, with her superior abilities and her independence, caused her neighbors to regard her as a witch. Nothing in those days was too wild and remote from the reality of things, not to meet with an eager welcome, at least, from many. She was, no doubt, as were all witches, thought to have signed in her own blood a contract with the devil, to abjure the Christian religion and all reverence for the true God; that she would steadily refuse to listen to any one who should desire to convert her or convince her of the error of her ways and lead her to repentance. Many of our ancestors, no doubt, believed this contract was duplicated, to pre- vent mistakes, and that while the Prince of Darkness retained one copy, the other was in possession of Mrs. Greenlee, and often consulted by her. Such, notoriously, were the supposed conditions and custody of these compacts with Satan. On one occasion, at a "quilting party " at her own house, and when hospitably pressing one of the ladies to eat more, she said gaily, " The mare that does double work should be best fed." The rash ignorance of the party construed this to mean that she herself was a witch, and this woman the mare she rode in her nightly incursions to the conse- crated haunts of diabolical intercourse. Her crimes, and many were attri- buted to her, were said to have proceeded from malignity and resentment, and she was supposed to go forth at night into the open air, and there, amidst darkness and the storm, to curse her victims and pursue her unholy incantations. No wonder the more superstitious of her neighbors shrank from her with holy horror, poured out curses upon her from the bottom of their hearts. In a somewhat mysterious ay, some of the stock of Mr.
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Craig, an inhabitant of the Triple Forks, disappeared, and the loss was attributed to Mrs. Greenlee, for witches were understood to have the power of destroying life, without the necessity of approaching the person or beast whose life was to be taken. One method was by exposing an image of wax to the action of the fire, while in proportion as the image wasted away, the life of the individual, who was the object contrived against, was undermined and destroyed. Another, was by incantations and spells. Either of these was styled "compassing, or imagining the death." Possessed of such subtle and dangerous power, and indulging in such practices, in the opinion of her neighbors, one can readily understand the indignation and abhorrence with which she must have been regarded.
From so much of the story of Mrs. Greenlee as is preserved, it is prob- able her vanity was flattered at the terror she inspired in her simple neigh- bors, and that she was greatly amused at the fright she caused these rus- tics. Possibly, in the end, she deluded herself, and began to think her imprecations had a real effect ; that her curses killed-provided, always, that she indulged in any, which is open to doubt.
Mary Greenlee inherited not only the hard intelligence, but the pluck, of her Covenanter stock ; was the kinswoman of the Founder, surrounded by a powerful family, and indulged few fears of coming to the ordeal of fire and water. In that superstitious age, however, to pursue, at the expense of her ignorant neighbors, a mysterious conduct might be likened to whet- ting the knife that was to take her life-digging her own grave. That she escaped trial under the ancient laws of Virginia is, in view of all the facts, surprising. Rather would we have expected to hear that she had been seized by the hair of the head, or nape of the neck, and drawn before a judge. The belief in witchcraft of our ancestors was sincere, and this is the less to be wondered at when we consider that these superstitions are cropping up in the civilized life of the present day in "spirit manifesta- tions." The belief, however, in these matters is now confined to a class who may be, not inappropriately, styled "cranks."
Let us rejoice that light has broken in upon us, and that amidst the in- evitable ills of this life we are no longer harassed, like our forefathers, with imaginary terrors and haunted by frightful images.
In the Burden case, Mrs. Greenlee underwent, in 1806, a long examina- tion, testing her temper and memory. In the midst of the examination the question was put to her, "How old are you ?" She tartly replied, " Ninety-five the 17th of this instant; and why do you ask me my age ? Do you think I am in my dotage?" Her deposition, which follows, can- not fail to be read with interest. It casts much light upon our early days, supplies valuable information as to the early settlers, their manners and customs, and has not inaptly been styled the corner-stone of our county history.
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DEPOSITION OF MRS. JAMES GREENLEE, TAKEN NOVEMBER 10, 1806, IN THE SUIT OF JOSEPH BURDEN, PLAINTIFF, VS. ALEX. CUETON AND OTHERS, DEFENDANTS.
Mrs. Greenlee, being sworn, deposeth and saith :
That she, with her husband, James Greenlee, settled on Burden's large grant, as near as she could recollect, in the Fall of the year 1737. * That shortly before her settlement on said grant, she, together with her husband, her father, Ephraim McDowell, then a very aged man, and her brother, John McDowell, were on their way to Beverley Manor, and were advanced as far as Lewis'es creek, intending to stop on South river, hav- ing, at that time, never heard of Burden's tract. That she remembers of her brother, James, having, the Spring before, gone into said Manor and raised a crop of corn on South river, about Turks, near what was called Wood's Gap. That about the time they were striking up their camp in the evening, Benj. Burden, the elder, came to their camp and proposed staying all night. In the course of conversation, said Burden informed them he had about 10,000 acres of land on the waters of James river, or the forks, if he could ever find it, and proposed giving 1,000 acres to any one who would conduct him to it. When a light was made, he produced two papers, and satisfied the company of his rights. The deponent's brother, John McDowell, then informed him, said Burden, he would con- duct him to the forks of James river for 1,000 acres ; showed said Burden his surveying instruments, &c., and finally it was agreed that said McDow- ell should conduct him to the grant, and she thinks a memorandum of the agreement was then made in writing. They went on from thence to the house of John Lewis, in Beverley Manor, near where Staunton now stands, who was a relation of deponent's father. They remained with him a few days, and there, she understood, further writings were entered into, and it was finally agreed they should all settle in Burden's tract. That said John McDowell was to have 1,000 acres for conducting them there, agreeable to the writing entered into, and that the settlers were, moreover, to have 100 acres for every cabin they should build, even if they built forty ca- bins, and that they might purchase any quantity adjoining at 50 shillings per hundred acres. The deponent understood that said Burden was inter- ested in these cabin rights, as they were called, for that any cabin saved him 1,000 acres of land. These cabin rights were afterwards counted, as deponent understood, and an account returned to the govern- ment, then held at Williamsburg, and she has heard, about that time, many tests of the manner in which one person, by going from cabin to cabin, was counted, and stood for several settlements.
She recollects, particularly, of hearing of a serving girl of one James Bell, named Millhollen, who dressed herself in men's cloaths and saved several cabin rights, perhaps five or six, calling herself Millhollen, but varying the Christian name. These conversations were current in that day. She knows nothing of the fact but from information. She under- stood that it was immaterial where the cabins were built ; that they were to entitle the builder to 100 acres as aforesaid, whenever he chose to lay it off, and that he had a right to purchase, at 50 shillings as aforesaid, any, larger quantity. One John Patterson was employed to count the cabins rights, as she understood. He was accustomed to mark the letters on his hat with chalk, as she has been informed, and afterwards deliver the ac- count to her brother, John McDowell, and remembers to have heard that-
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her brother had expressed his surprise at so many people by the name of Millhollen being settled on the land, but which was afterwards explained by the circumstance of the servant girl above mentioned, and was a sub- ject of general mirth in the settlement. She does not know whether this plan of saving several cabin rights by one person appearing at different cabins, was suggested by Burden, the elder, or not. She understood that every person saving a cabin right got 160 acres for each right so saved, as he, Burden, was to have a cabin for every 1,000 acres. When the party with which she travelled, as aforesaid, came, as they supposed, into the grant, they stopped at a spring, near where David Steele now lives, and struck their camp, her brother and said Burden having gone down said branch until they were satisfied it was one of the waters of James river. The balance of the party remained at that spring until her brother John and said Borden, as she understood, went down to the forks formed by the waters of the South and North river, and, having taken a course through the country, returned to said camp. They then went on to the place called the Red House, where her brother, John, built a cabin and settled where James McDowell now lives. The first cabin her hus- band built was by a spring, near where Andrew Scott now lives, but when deponent went to see it, she did not like the situation, and they then built and settled at the place called Browns. They sold this after some short time, and purchased the land on which her brother, James, had made an im- provement, now called Templetons, and where she resided until about the year 1780, being within sight of where her father, then near a hundred years of age, resided. This was the first party of white people that ever settled on the said grant. The said Burden, the elder, remained on the grant from that time, as well as she can recollect, for perhaps two years and more, obtaining settlers, and she believes there were more than a hundred set- tlers before he left them. She believes he was in the grant the whole time from his first coming up until he left it before his death, but how long be- fore his death he left it, she does not know. He resided some time with a Mrs. Hunter, whose daughter afterwards married one Greene, and to whom, she understood, he gave the tract whereon they lived. When the said Borden left the grant, she understood he left his papers with her brother, John McDowell, to whose house a great many people resorted, as she understood, to see about lands, but what authority her brother had to sell, or whether he made sales or not, she does not know. Her brother, John, was killed about Xmas before her son, Samuel, her first son of that name, was born. He was born, as appears by the register of his birth in the Bible, about April, 1743. The date of this register is partly obliterated, in the last figure, but from the date of the birth of the preceding and subsequent child it must have been, as she believes, in 1743, that said Samuel was born.
Young Benj. Burden came into the grant before her brother's death. She recollects this from the circumstance of his being then in ordinary plight, and such that he did not seem much respected by her brother's wife, and when she afterwards married him she could not but reflect on the change of circumstances. She understood that he was altogether illiter- ate. She said Benjamin, junior, lived with her brother, John, whilst in the grant, but returned to his father's before the death of said John, and after his father's death returned, fully empowered by his father's will to com- plete titles and sell lands, and then married the widow of her said brother, and continued to live at the place where her said brother settled as afore-
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said, until his death. This place, now called the Red House place, is about three-quarters of a mile from Templetons, where the deponent resided as above.
Joseph Burden, (a son of old Ben. Burden, the grantee,) had resided at his brother, Benjamin's, some years before his, (Benjamin's) death ; had gone to school, and was here at his death; had the small-pox about the time of her brother's death, some time after which (deponent does not recollect precisely, but believes it was not long,) he went away, not being, very well liked, as she understood, and not made very welcome; was then but a lad about 18 or 19, as well as she can recollect from his appearance. This deponent recollects John Hart, who had removed to Beverley Manor some short time before the removal of this deponent and her friend, as above stated, but she cannot say whether he surveyed for the said Benja- min or not ; she understood he was a surveyor. The people who first set- tled and purchased did not always have their lands surveyed at the time of the purchase; as she understood, some had their lands surveyed and some had not, but when it was not surveyed, they described it by gen- eral boundaries. Beatty was the first surveyor whom she knows that surveyed in the grant. The said Borden had been at Williamsburg, and some one, perhaps the Governor's son-in-law, by name Needler, and his other partners, had in a frolic given him their interest in said grant. She understood there were four of them-the Governor, Gooch, his said son- in-law, and two others whose names she does not recollect, who were in- terested in the order of Council for said land, and that Burden got it from them, as above; this was his information. She well recollects that her brother, John, assisted one Wood to make the survey of said large grant after they removed to it, as aforesaid, it being at the time of their removal, as aforesaid, held by order of Council, as she understood. The said Woods and her brother made the survey, she believes, after the cabin rights were taken in, as above stated. Many people came up, and many settlements and cabins were made immediately after their settling on the tract, as aforesaid.
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