History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920, Part 47

Author: Pendleton, William C. (William Cecil), 1847-1941
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: Richmond, Va. : W. C. Hill printing company
Number of Pages: 732


USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-1920 > Part 47


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There is an old story to the effect that Burke was to be given one thousand acres of the level land in the Garden as compensation for showing Patton the country; and that Colonel Patton and his associates did not comply with their contraet. In other words, that Burke was defrauded. It has also been a tradition that Patton made an inclusive survey of all the choice land in the basin, and appropriated it to himself and his kindred. There is no record in existence which shows that any such survey was ever made. In fact no surveying was done in the Garden until 1753, and this was


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under the grant for 800,000 acres to the Loyal Company. A sur- veying party composed of Colonel Patton, Colonel John Buchanan, Wm. Ingles, James Burke, and possibly others, in that year sur- . veyed two tracts, one of 345 acres and another of 200 acres, for Wm. Ingles. At the same time a tract of 400 acres was surveyed for James Burke, and was, no doubt, given him by Colonel Patton for services rendered. This was the boundary on which Burke built his cabin and made clearings. It was there that Colonel Andrew Lewis camped for two days in 1756 with his little army that went on the Sandy River expedition; and there his soldiers


This beautiful landscape shows the location of the house of the Floyds when they lived in Burke's Garden. The house stood in the grove of sugar trees at the left of the picture. On the right is seen the handsome residence of Mr. R. M. Lawson, who now owns one thousand acres of the splendid Floyd estate, that consisted originally of about three thousand acres.


found enough potatoes in Burke's patches to supply them with food for two days.


Though it is known that Burke married a widow Griffith, there is nothing I can find of record to show that he had, at the time he was sojourning in the Garden, any children of his own, or that he ever took his family there. His adventurous disposition and avidity for hunting caused him, somewhat like Daniel Boone, to lead a wan- dering life. He was driven by the Indians from the Garden in 1756, and, when seeking a place of safety, met the Sandy River expedition at, or near, Draper's Valley in the present Pulaski County ; and told Colonel Lewis of the visit of the savages to the


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Garden. This was why Lewis marched there without delay, hoping that he would get upon the trail of the Indians and destroy them before they got back to Ohio. Burke never returned to the Garden. There is ample evidence in the records of the county clerk's office of Tazewell to show that he disposed of his 400 acre tract to Wm. Ingles who had two tracts of land adjoining. It is probable he exchanged it for the land he afterwards occupied on New River in the present Giles County ; and where he had a fort in 1774, near the mouth of Sinking Creek.


When Thomas Ingles moved his family from Abb's Valley to


The black cross is about the spot where James Burke built his cabin in 1763, and where Thomas Ingles' family were made captives in 1782. The land belongs to the estate of the late Rufus Thompson.


Burke's Garden he took up his abode in the house that James Burke had built and had occupied during his brief stay in the Garden. Ingles enlarged the house, and made other improvements in the way of buildings and the clearing of land. The records of the county court of Tazewell County disproves the tradition that the Indians burned the house of Thomas Ingles when they made his family cap- tives in 1782. At the same time that Colonel Buchanan made sur- veys for Ingles and Burke he surveyed large boundaries of the choice lands in the Garden for Colonel James Patton. As pre- viously related, Colonel Patton was killed by the Indians at the Draper's Meadows massacre in 1755. He was survived by two


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daughters, Mary, wife of William Thompson, and Margaret, wife of Colonel John Buchanan. By his will, which was probated by the county court of Augusta County, at Staunton, in November, 1755, he divided his estate equally between his two daughters. The splendid Burke's Garden lands were allotted to Mrs. Mary Thomp- son, and they afterwards passed to her son, Captain James Patton Thompson, grandson and namesake of Colonel Patton.


Col. Peter Litz was of the first generation born in Burke's Garden. He was of pure German blood, was a man of splendid qualities and was one of Tazewell's most highly esteemed citizens. He was born April 25th, 1802, and died April 3rd, 1880.


Mrs. Mary Thompson, or her son James, had, in some way, acquired a right to the Burke's Garden lands belonging to the estate of Wm. Ingles, including the Burke traet of four hundred acres. Captain Thompson moved to the Garden from his former residence at Town House, now Chilhowie, in Smyth County. In 1806 he instituted a chancery suit in the county court of Tazewell to extract from Thomas Ingles his equitable title in the land formerly owned by his father, Wm. Ingles. The style of the suit was James Thompson vs. Thomas Ingles; and on the 27th of May, 1806, the county court of Tazewell entered a decree from which the following extract is taken :


"This court conceiving the holder of an equitable claim, may relinquish the same to the legal proprietor before the same is


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adjudged to such equitable claimant by adjudication, whereupon the court doth order and decree that, in case the heirs, Executors or other persons representing William Ingles, Decd., should by adjudi- cation or otherwise obtain any lands within the place called Burks Garden, in the bill mentioned, that the Defendent do at his own costs by Deed of conveyance, convey one third part thereof to the said Plaintiff, with general warranty against himself and all other persons ; and in case the Heirs, Executors. Administrators, assigns, or any person or persons, claiming under William Ingles, Decd, should by adjudication or otherwise, obtain four hundred acres of


Captain George G. Gose was born in Burke's Garden on January 28th, 1822, and died November 14th, 1889. He served in the Confed- erate army for about one year as Captain of Company C, 23rd Bat- talion, Va. Inf. Captain Gose passed all his life in Burke's Garden, and was one of its most substantial and respected citizens.


Land in right of James Burke then the court doth order and Decree that the said defendent do at his own costs convey unto the Plaintiff one third part thereof, in one entire square so as to include the improvements made by the defendant and his father William Ingles, and also to include the house where Burke, and afterwards said defendant resided."


This decree proves conclusively that James Burke owned and occupied, and afterwards abandoned and sold to William Ingles, four hundred acres of the best land in the Garden; and that the


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house that Burke built in 1753 or 1754, plus improvements made by William and Thomas Ingles, was standing in 1806. The decree of the county court of Tazewell was executed to such an extent as to vest the title of the Burke land completely in James Patton Thompson. And on the 26th day of April. 1813, Captain James Thompson and Margaret, his wife, conveyed by deed to Archibald Thompson, "one certain tract or parcel of land in Burke's Garden, including the Old Station, containing 300 acres more or less." The decree and deed, citcd, prove beyond question that James Burke was not fraudulently deprived of any land in the Garden, and that Thomas Ingles' house was not destroyed by the Indians when they made his wife and children captives in 1782.


I have been unable to ascertain definitely who was the first permanent settler in Burke's Garden and when he settled there. James Patton Thompson was certainly one of the first, if not the first to take up his residence in the Garden. Among the most prominent settlers from 1800 to 1820 were: Peter Litz, Philip Gose, Philip Greever, Gasper Ritter, John Heninger, George Spracher, Peter Gose, John Day, George Rhudy, Mathias Fox, William Hall, and James Meek. Nearly all these first settlers have many descendants still living in the Garden.


THE COVE.


One of the most attractive and noted sections of the county is the Cove. It is composed of two distinct but contiguous coves. They are known, respectively, as Bowen's and Barns' Cove; and take their name from Rees Bowen, who settled there in 1769; and Robert Barns, who located there in 1784 or 1785. The two coves cover an area of approximately 5 x 41/2 miles, and contain about 15,000 acres of as fine grazing and agricultural land as can be found any where on the continent.


In 1852 Bickley wrote about the Cove as Follows: "This is a large area of nearly level land, containing about fifteen square miles, and situated at the west end of Thompson's Valley, between Clinch and Short mountains, which was evidently, at one time connected with the Rich Mountain. The waters seem to have accumulated, (in Barns' Cove) and forced a way through that spot now known as Maiden Spring. The land is very fertile, well timbered and watered, and the surrounding farms in fine order. Add to it the


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adjoining lands and residences of Maj. H. S. Bowen and Col. Rees T. Bowen and I know of no section in Tazewell County, of the same extent, so desirable. The society is good, and the inhabitants very hospitable. I hesitate not to call this the garden spot of Tazewell County. It was settled in 1772 by John Craven, who was followed, the next year, by Rees Bowen, David Ward, and William Garrison, the latter, however, settled on its very edge. The descendants of these men are still in the Cove. The Wards, Bowens, Gillespies, Barnses, and Youngs, constitute a major part of its population. The scenery from here is very fine, and the climate warmer than other parts of Tazewell."


The Wards, Bowens, Barns, and Gillespies, descendants of the first settlers, still constitute the greater part of the inhabitants and own nearly all the land in the Cove. George Ward lives where his ancestor, David Ward, located his home. Rees Bowen, the fifth, resides at the old Maiden Spring homestead, in view of the spot where his ancestor, Lieutenant Rees Bowen, built his fort in the pioneer days. Joseph G. Barns lives near where his great- grandfather, Robert Barns, erected his cabin in 1785 or 1786. Jeff Gillespie lives on the spot where his ancestor. Thomas Gillespie, built his dwelling just after the Revolution. The descendants of the pioneer families are almost certain to own and occupy this beautiful and fertile section for many coming generations, as the present generation are as much wedded to the soil as were their pioneer ancestors. As each generation comes and goes, their love for this beautiful land seems to grow more intense.


THOMPSON VALLEY.


Thompson Valley was one of the sections of the Clinch Valley to first attract pioneer settlers; and in this valley the Indians com- mitted their first diabolical massacre of white people within the bounds of the present Tazewell County. Joseph Martin, John Henry and James King settled in the valley in 1871. On the 8th of September, 1774, John Henry and his wife and three children were murdered by a band of Indians, led by Logan, the Mingo chief. If Martin and King have any descendants now living in the county, they are unknown to the author. William Thompson, with his family, settled in the valley in 1772, and it received its name from him.


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The area of Thompson Valley is approximately 13 x 21/2 miles, and contains about 20,000 acres of valuable grazing and farming land. It lies between Clinch and Rich mountains and runs, from its head, a westerly course. On the south side of Rich Mountain, within this valley, is found some of the very finest grazing lands in Tazewell County. This is the only instance in the county, or in Southwest Virginia, where a mountain is equally rich on both its north and south side, and this, perhaps, accounts for the name given the mountain.


The Maiden Spring fork of Clinch River, which Captain Dan Smith, in surveys he made in 1774 for John Henry and William Thompson, called the "South Fork of Clinch River," has its source at the head of Thompson Valley. This stream flows down the valley a distance of about ten miles, then sinks or enters a cave, flows under Rich Mountain, and gushes out about a mile southwest of Liberty Hill and flows on down by Maiden Spring.


There are a number of excellent farms in the valley. The Thompsons and other descendants of William Thompson, the pioneer, constitute a large share of the population, and own a great part of the most valuable lands in the valley.


POOR VALLEY.


Just across Clinch Mountain, south of Thompson Valley, and running parallel with that valley, is another valley. It lies between Clinch and Brushy mountains, and was named by the early settlers, Poor Valley, because the land is not as fertile as in the other valleys of Tazewell County. But if it was situated in the eastern part of the State, it would be considered both fertile and beautiful. There is very little, if any, limestone in the valley, which accounts for its lack of fertility, as compared with the limestone sections of the county.


Poor Valley constituted a part of Washington and Wythe counties until twenty-six years after Tazewell was formed. Then, upon the petition of the few citizens who lived in the valley, the General Assembly by an act passed on January 4th, 1826, attached it to Tazewell County. The Valley has an area of approximately 17 x 11/2 miles, its length being greatly out of proportion to its width, and contains about 16,000 acres, most of the land being level.


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At the head of the valley the Laurel Fork of the North Fork of Holston River has its source. This beautiful crystal stream flows down the valley to the line between Smyth and Tazewell coun- ties, passes through Laurel Gap of Brushy Mountain, and enters the North Fork of Holston in Smyth County. The water is free-


Major Otis Caldwell was for many years a resident of Poor Valley. He was born Dec. 12th, 1820, and died Sept. 6th, 1912. He held the rank of major in the Confederate army.


stone and there are many fine springs, some of them of considerable volume. The valley is well adapted to fruit culture, and the inhabi- tants rarely fail to have an abundant crop of apples.


BAPTIST VALLEY.


Bickley says that Baptist Valley received its name "from the number of persons belonging to the Baptist denomination of Chris- tians, who settled in it." It covers an area of approximately 10 x 1 miles, contains about 6,400 acres; and lies between Kent's Ridge and the ridge that divides the waters of the Clinch and the Dry Fork of Sandy River. Among the first settlers in this valley were: James and Charles Skeggs, Richard Pemberton, Johnson, Thomas Maston, Wiliam Patterson, and John Deskins.


The farms, generally, are of small acreage, and were badly and intensely cultivated until some twenty years ago, when the farmers began to handle their land in a scientific manner. At this


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time there is no part of the county where the lands are more indus- triously and skilfully cultivated, or where the yield per acre is more abundant. The Tazewell C. H. and Kentucky Turnpike passed through the valley its entire length; and a few years ago a part of the road was reconstructed and macadamized and is now one of the best roads in the county. It is one of the best fruit grow- ing sections of the county, and the apple trees rarely fail to bear heavily. Tourists who travel through the valley are delighted with the scenery, the views from the road being very beautiful.


RICHLANDS VALLEY.


The Richlands Valley, which is in the extreme western part of the county, is not extensive, but has become one of the busiest and most interesting localities in Tazewell. It has an area of 2 x 4 miles, or 5,000 acres of very valuable land. The most of it is bottom land and lies on the north and south sides of Clinch River, which winds its way through the valley. From these fertile river lands the place received its name, and in their midst is located the thriv- ing and coming town of Richlands. The local industrial enter- prises, including nearby coal operations, furnish a good market for most of the products of the smaller farmers.


CLEAR FORK VALLEY.


The Clear Fork Valley is situated at the extreme east side of Tazewell County, and extends from the divide at Gratton, six miles east of the Court House, to Rocky Gap in Bland County. That part of the valley which lies within Tazewell County has an area approx- imately of 81/2 x 2 miles, or 11,000 acres. The valley lies between Rich and Buckhorn mountains, and received its name from the beautiful creek that is a branch of Wolf Creek.


When the pioneers came in from the east they traveled up Clear Fork, where they found and followed a trail that had been made by herds of buffalo and that had been used by Indian hunting and war parties in their travels to and from the New River Valley. The farms on Clear Fork are not large, but they are fertile and cultivated with great industry; and the products are bountiful. The farmers of that section always have something to sell, and they are a thrifty and excellent people.


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WRIGHT'S VALLEY.


The valley known as Wright's Valley lies both east and west of the divide at Tiptop. In 1772 Major John Taylor settled at the extreme west end of the valley, near the place afterwards owned by his son Charles, and known as the "Charles Taylor place." Jesse Evans settled the same year just west of the village of Tiptop, at the place afterwards known as the "Buse Harman place." The valley later received its name from a man named Wright; and it was called Wright's Valley as early as 1782. It has an area of about 91/2 x 1 miles, or 6,000 acres.


The north fork of Clinch River heads in the western part of Wright's Valley, and one of the branches of Bluestone heads in that part of the valley east of the divide. When the Indians came up Tug Fork to make attacks upon the settlers they always passed through Wright's Valley ; and Jesse Evans' children were massacred by the savages in 1779. Evans was then living at the Buse Harman place. There are some excellent farms in the west end of the valley, notably that of the late W. G. Mustard, which is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Henry S. Bowen.


ABB'S VALLEY.


The valley in Tazewell County that has been written of and talked about most is Abb's Valley. Its area is small when compared with some of the most noted localities of the county, but it has been given extended notoriety from the tragic fate that befell Captain James Moore and his family. The valley received its name from Absalom Looney who discovered it while on a hunting and sang- digging expedition west of New River. It covers an area of approx- imately 10 x 1 miles, and contains about 6,400 acres of fine grazing and farming land.


When James Moore and Robert Poage moved with their families to Abb's Valley, in 1770 or 1771, they found an abundance of pas- turage for their stock, as a considerable part of the valley was destitute of forest growth, and a heavy bluegrass sod covered the open spots. The valley is very cavernous, and, as a result, no running surface stream flows down or across it. All the branches that come down from the hollows or the ridges, and the springs that burst out at the base of the hills sink and enter the caverns.


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These create an underground stream that courses down the valley, and gushes out as a big spring near the east end of the valley.


Until the railroad was built to Pocahontas in 1883, Abb's Valley was one of the most isolated and inaccessible sections of Tazewell County. Pocahontas is just across the ridge that bounds the valley on the north, and the water supply of the town is procured from the big spring referred to above. A part of the estate of Captain James Moore is owned by his great-grandson, Oscar Moore, and another part by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Samuel P. Mustard. The greater part of the valley has passed from the possession of the descendants of the early settlers.


THE BLUESTONE VALLEY.


Of the various valleys in Tazewell County not one is more interesting and important than the Bluestone Valley. In extent it is equal to Burke's Garden, as its area is 13 x 21/2 miles, or 20,000 acres. The first settlers in this very attractive section were: Thomas and James Maxwell, Benjamin Joslin, James Ogleton, Jacob and Israel Harman, and Samuel Ferguson. They settled


Charles Fitzgerald Tiffany, whose father, Hugh Tiffany, was one of the early settlers in the Bluestone Valley. He married a daughter of James Moore, the captive. Mr. Tiffany was born June 6th, 1800, and died Feb. 12th, 1876. He was an active and influential citizen and left a splendid estate to his only child, Mrs. Alex St. Clair.


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there in 1771 or 1772; and all of them, except Joslin and Ogleton, subsequently became conspicuous figures in the history of Tazewell.


Bluestone Valley lies along the north side of East River Moun- tain. Beginning at the divide which separates the waters of the Clinch from the waters of the Bluestone, it extends in an easterly direction to a point southeast of Graham. Through the entire length of the valley ran the old Cumberland Gap and Fincastle Turnpike. A splendid modern highway now occupies the location of the old turnpike; and it is, perhaps, the most traveled road in the county.


CHAPTER IV.


DEVELOPMENT OF POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL CHARACTER OF ITS PEOPLE.


A very important period in the history of its people was reached when the county of Tazewell was created and organized. The political, social, and industrial character of the people who then occupied the territory of the new county had to be developed and fashioned. Tazewell County had been made an integral part of the government of the Commonwealth of Virginia; and thereby constituted a unit of the great Federal Government, that eleven years previously had been brought into existence by the adoption of the Constitution and called the United States of America. George Washington had been elected and inaugurated as President of the Nation, in 1779, and had been elected for and served a second term.


Immediately following the first inauguration of President Wash- ington it became necessary for those who had framed the Consti- tution to interpret its true intended import and spirit; and apply it to the conduct of the splendid Republic which the fathers had conceived from the Virginia Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.


In May, 1784, Mr. Jefferson was appointed by Congress min- ister plenipotentiary to Europe to assist John Adams and Benjamin Franklin in negotiating treaties of commerce with the several European Powers; and in March, 1785, he was appointed minister to France to succeed Dr. Franklin. He continued as the represen- tative of the United States at the French Court until 1789, when, at his request, lie was granted a leave of absence to bring his daugh- ters, who had been with him in Paris, back to their home at Monti- cello. . Upon his arrival at Norfolk, Virginia, he received a letter from President Washington, urgently requesting him to enter his Cabinet as Secretary of State. At first Mr. Jefferson was reluc- tant to accept the position, as he wished to return to France and witness the struggle that country was making to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republican form of government. This he hoped to see done upon the principles set forth in the Virginia Bill of Rights; and a system of government established similar to


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that embodied in the Constitution of the United States. But, at the urgent solicitation of John Adams, then Vice President, James Madison, and other distinguished patriots and statesmen, he ac- cepted the appointment and became the first Secretary of State under the Constitution.


On the 8th of March, 1790, Mr. Jefferson started from Rich- mond for New York, then the seat of government, to enter upon the important duties of his office. He traveled by way of Phila- delphia to have an interview with Dr. Franklin, who was then lan- guishing from what proved to be his last illness. Franklin and Jefferson were equally earnest advocates of a popular democratic form of government; and were completely in accord in their inter- pretation of the spirit and letter of the Federal Constitution. After his interview with Franklin he journeyed on to New York, arriving there on the 21st of the month. He found that much important business had already accumulated in his Department of the Govern- ment; and was astounded by discovering that a strong desire was being expressed for a monarchical form of government by the wealthy and aristocratic families of New York. This sentiment was not confined to the aristocrats of New York, but was being espoused by such distinguished political leaders as Alexander Hamil- ton, Fisher Ames, Governeur Morris, and others. Some years after- wards, Mr. Jefferson said:




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