USA > Virginia > Washington County > Washington County > History of southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County, 1777-1870 > Part 12
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
whom may act, after being duly sworn, do view the best way from Maiden Springs settlement (now in Tazewell county) into the Great Road.
No further orders pertaining to Washington county were en- tered by the court until March 2, 1774, on which day Patrick Por- ter was given leave to build a mill on Falling creek, the waters of Clinch river, this being the first mill erected on Clinch river, so far as the records disclose.
On the same day, on the motion of Charles Allison, leave was given him to build a mill on his land, on the South Fork of Hol- ston, near the head spring.
On the same day the court appointed Andrew Miller and Thomas Ramsay commissioners to view the nighest and best way from Thomas Ramsay's, by Kennedy's mill, to the Great Road.
At a meeting of the court on May 3, 1774, the court, on the petition of the inhabitants of Beaver creek, ordered Benjamin Lo- gan to open a road from James Fulkerson's to the wagon road ,at Joseph Black's (now Abingdon), the best and most convenient way.
On the same day the court directed Anthony Bledsoe to take a list of the tithables in Captains Looney's, Shelby's, and Cocke's com- panies, William Campbell in his own and Captain Arthur Camp- bell's companies, and William Russell in his own and Captain Smith's companies.
The County Court of Fincastle county was composed of men of dignity and respectability, and they purposed to deal with the at- torneys practicing at their bar in such a manner as to command the respect of the bar and the citizens of the county, and, as an evidence of the manner in which they dealt with the members of the legal profession, we here copy an order made by this court on May 3, 1774 :
"John Gabriel Jones, having misbehaved himself in the court, it is ordered that for his contempt he make his fine with our Lord, the King, by the payment of twenty shillings, and that he be taken," etc.
On the same day a peculiar order was entered, which read as follows :
"John Dougherty came into court, and, it being fully proved that his left ear had been bitten off by a person in an affray, it is ordered that the same be recorded." It is hard to perceive his ob-
137
Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
ject in making this proof and having it recorded unless there ex- isted at that time, or at an earlier date, some law or custom by which criminals lost their ears.
At the August term of this court it was directed that a road be built from Arthur Campbell's mill to Blue Spring, at the head of Cripple creek, by way of Rye Bottom, and on August 3d, being the same day as the above order, the court directed a road to be built from Arthur Campbell's mill to Archibald Buchanan's, on the North Fork of Holston river.
In the preceding pages we have given a great deal of the records of the County Court of Fincastle county directing the opening of the first roads and granting permission to erect the first mills on the waters of the Holston and Clinch rivers, and it cannot be other- wise than interesting, for, previously to the opening of these roads, the early settlers of this country, as a general rule, were compelled to follow the Indian and buffalo trails made before their advent.
The main trail down the Holston and through Washington county was, from the very earliest time of which we have any record, called the Great Road. Before the erection of the first mills on the waters of the Holston, if the early settlers wished to have meal, it could be obtained in one way only, and that by cracking the grains of corn with a hammer or by some other similar method.
The first deed executed to any of the settlers on the Holston was dated January 5, 1773, and was made by Edmund Pendleton. It conveyed to Benjamin Logan and John Sharp 676 acres of land situated on Beaver creek, alias Shallow creek, and was the same land surveyed by John Buchanan for Edmund Pendleton on April 2, 1750.
On the same day Edmund Pendleton conveyed to William Cocke and Robert Craig 950 acres of land situated on Spring creek, alias Renfro's creek, being the same land surveyed by John Buchanan, deputy surveyor of Augusta county, for Edmund Pendleton on April 2, 1250, and described in the survey as lying on Renfro's creek. This survey covered a considerable part of the farms now owned and occupied by C. L. Clyce, Jerry Whitaker, Allen Lester and H. B. Roberts on Spring creek.
The four conveyances above described are older by more than one year and three months than any others to be found in the pres-
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
ent bounds of Washington county, the next oldest conveyance bearing date April 14, 1774.
It may be interesting at this point to know the oath required of the members of the first County Court administering justice among the settlers upon the Holston. We here copy the oath :
"You shall swear that as a justice of the peace in the county of Fincastle in all articles in the commission to you directed, you shall do equal right to the poor and to the rich, after your cunning, wit and power according to law; and you shall not be of any counsel of any quarrel hanging before you, and the issues, fines and amercements that shall happen to be made, and all the forfeitures which shall fall before you, you shall cause to be entered, without any concealment or embezzling; you shall not let for gift or other causes, but well and truly you shall do your office of justice of the peace, as well within your county court as without; and you shall not take any gift, fee or gratuity, for anything to be done by vir- tue of your office, and you shall not direct or cause to be directed, any warrant by you to be made to the parties, but you shall direct them to the Sheriff, or bailiffs of said county, or other the King's officers or ministers, or other indifferent persons, to do execution thereof, so help you God."
The oath of a justice of the County Court in Chancery was as follows :
"You shall swear that well and truly you will serve our sovereign lord, the King, and his people, in the office of a justice of the county court of Fincastle in Chancery, and that you will do equal right to all manner of people, great and small, high and low, rich and poor, according to equity and good conscience and the laws and usages of this colony and dominion of Virginia, without favor, affection ยท or partiality. So help you God."*
A considerable number of people had settled in the immediate vicinity of Abingdon, and eastward to the head waters of the Hol- ston, and in the beginning of this year two congregations of Pres- byterians had organized in the county-one at Sinking Spring (now Abingdon) and another at Ebbing Spring, on the Middle Fork of the Holston river, near the James Byars farm; and in the month of April, 1773, Samuel Edmiston was commissioned by the two congregations above mentioned to present a call to the Rev.
*5 Hen. Stat., pages 489-490,
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
Charles Cummings at the Reverend Presbytery of Hanover when sitting at the Tinkling Springs, in Augusta county. This call was reduced to writing and signed by the members of the Sinking Spring and Ebbing Spring congregations. It was presented to the Presbytery by Samuel Edmiston for the services of Mr. Cum- mings at Brown's meeting-house, in Augusta county, on June 2, 1723. The call with the signatures thereto is as follows :
"A call from the united congregations of Ebbing, and Sinking springs, on Holston's river, Fincastle county, to be presented to the Rev. Charles Cummings, minister of the gospel, at the Reverend Presbytery of Hanover when sitting at the Tinkling Spring :
Worthy and Dear Sir,-We, being in very destitute circum- stances for want of the ordinances of Christ's house statedly ad- ministered amongst us ; many of us under very distressing spiritual languishments ; and multitudes perishing in our sins for want of the bread of life broken among us; our Sabbaths too much pro- faned, or at least wasted in melancholy silence at home, our hearts and hands discouraged, and our spirits broken with our mournful condition, so that human language cannot sufficiently paint. Hav- ing had the happiness, by the good providence of God. of enjoying part of your labors to our abundant satisfaction, and being uni- versally well satisfied by our experience of your ministerial abili- ties, piety, literature, prudence and peculiar agreeableness of your qualifications to us in particular as a gospel minister-we do, worthy and dear sir, from our very hearts, and with the most cor- dial affection and unanimity agree to call, invite and entreat you to undertake the office of a pastor among us, and the care and charge of our precious souls, and upon your accepting of this our call, we do promise that we will receive the word of God from your mouth, attend on your ministry, instruction and reproofs. in public and private, and submit to the discipline which Christ has appointed in his church, administered by you while regulated by the word of God and agreeable to our confession of faith and directory. And that you may give yourself wholly up to the important work of the ministry, we hereby promise to pay you annually the sum of ninety pounds from the time of your accepting this our call ; and that we shall behave ourselves towards you with all that dutiful respect and affection that becomes a people towards their minister, using all means within our power to render your life comfortable and
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
happy. We entreat you, worthy and dear sir, to have compassion upon us in this remote part of the world, and accept this our call and invitation to the pastoral charge of our precious and immor- tal souls, and we shall hold ourselves bound to pray.
George Blackburn,
John Long,
David Carson,
Win. Blackburn,
Robert Topp,
Samuel Buchanan,
John Vance,
John Hunt,
William Bates,
John Casey,
Thomas Bailey,
William McMillin,
Benjamin Logan,
David Getgood,
John Kennedy,
Robert Edmiston,
Alex. Breckenridge,
Robert Lamb,
Thomas Berry,
George Clark,
Thos. Rafferty,
Robert Trimble,
James Molden,
Thomas Baker,
Wmn. McGaughey,
William Blanton,
John Groce,
David Dryden,
James Craig,
Robert Buchanan,
Wm. McNabb,
Thomas Sharp,
Chrisr. Acklin,
John Davis,
John Berry, James Montgomery,
John McNabb,
Arthur Blackburn,
Samuel Houston,
Chris. Funkhouser,
Nathl. Davis,
Henry Creswell,
John Funkhouser, Sr.,
Saml. Evans,
George Adams,
John Funkhouser, Jr.,
Wm. Kennedy, Andrew McFerran, Saml. Hendry,
James Dysart,
William Miller,
Wm. Edmiston,
John Patterson,
Andrew Leeper,
Thos Edmiston,
James Gilmore,
David Snodgrass,
John Beaty,
John Lowry,
Wm. Christian,
Danl. McCormick, Francis Kincannon, Jos. Snodgrass,
David Beaty, George Teator,
Andrew Colville, Robert Craig,
James Thompson,
Stephen Cawood,
Joseph Black,
Robert Denniston,
James Garvell,
Jonathan Douglass,
William Edmiston,
John Cusick,
Saml. Edmiston,
Robert Gamble,
Andrew Kincannon, John Kelley,
Andrew Martin,
Augustus Webb,
John Robinson,
James Kincannon,
James Berry,
James Dorchester,
James Trimble,
James Fulkerson,
Margaret Edmiston, John Edmiston, John Boyd,
Richard Heggons,
Joseph Gamble,
Halbert McClure,
George Buchanan,
Thomas Evans, William Marlor,
Michl. Halfacre,
Rob. Buchanan, Jr., Edward Jamison, Nicholas Brobston, Alexander McNutt, William Pruitt, John McCutchen,
Samuel Briggs, Wesley White,
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Southwest Virginia. 1948-1786.
Stephen Jordan,
Robert Kirkham,
John Lester,
Alex. Laughlin,
Martin Pruitt,
Hugh Johnson,
James Inglish,
Andrew Miller,
Edward Pharis,
Richard Moore,
William Berry,
Joseph Lester,
Thomas Ramsey,
James Piper,
Saml. White,
Samuel Wilson,
James Harrold,
William Lester,
Joseph Vance, Saml. Newell,
William Poage,
William Young.
David Wilson,
Saml. Buchanan,
William Davidson,
David Craig,
Thos. Montgomery,
James Young,
William Berry,
Samuel Bell.
John Sharp,
Moses Buchanan,
John Campbell.
This call was accepted by Mr. Cummings, but no record is pre- served of any installation being appointed or performed. It was intended that this call should have been presented at a session of the Presbytery in the preceding April, but, for some cause, it was delayed until the following June. Having accepted this call, he removed his family to the Holston, and settled upon three hundred acres of land on the head waters of Wolf Hill creek, which he pur- chased from Dr. Thomas Walker for the consideration of thirty- three pounds, and which land was conveyed to him by Dr. Walker by a deed dated April 14, 1774.
We hope our readers will indulge us if we pause at this place to remark that every acre of this three-hundred-acre tract of land is to-day. 129 years thereafter, in the possession of the direct lineal descendants of the Rev. Charles Cummings. A remarkable fact.
As soon as he had settled his family on the Holston, he set about the performance of the duties pertaining to his station with all the energy and intelligence of which he was capable. He purchased from Dr. Thomas Walker. for five shillings, by estimation, fifty- five acres of land, which land was deeded by Dr. Walker "to the minister and congregation of the Sinking Spring Church and their successors for the time being on April 14, 1174. This tract of land was bounded as follows: Beginning at a red oak corner to Andrew Colvill, running thence E. 10 poles to a white oak. N. 20'. E. 126 poles to a hickory; thence N. 31'. W. 48 poles to a chestnut on a high ridge, S. 53', W. 96 poles to a chestnut and a white oak on the side of said ridge, S. 35'. E. 46 poles to a large white oak, S. 40'. W. 28 poles to a black oak near Sinking Spring,
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
S. 36', E. 48 poles to a white oak; thence E. 12 poles to the be- ginning."*
A considerable part of northwest Abingdon is built upon this same tract of land.
The first meeting house of the Sinking Spring congregation was erected on the first rise in the present cemetery in the rear of the Martin vault, and was a very large cabin of unhewn logs. It was from 80 to 100 feet long and about 40 feet wide, and had a very remarkable appearance.
Governor David Campbell, in speaking of the men who signed this call, says: "In early life I knew personally many of those whose names are signed to it, and I knew nearly all of them from character."
They were a most respectable body of men, were all Whigs in the revolution, and nearly all, probably every one of them, performed military service against the Indians, and a large portion of them against the British in the battles of King's Mountain, Guilford Courthouse, and other actions in North and South Carolina.
Such was the character of the first men who inhabited our county and worshipped in this, the first place of worship, on all the waters of the Holston and Clinch.
Daniel Boone again visited the waters of the Holston in the fall of this year. The Boones and five other families set out from their homes on the Yadkin river, N. C., on September 25, 1773. "They passed through Washington county and on into Powell's Valley (on their way to Kentucky), where they were joined by William Bryan, with forty other people. While this body of emi- grants were leisurely traveling through Powell's Valley a small company, under James Boone, Daniel Boone's eldest son, left the main body and went to the home of William Russell to secure pro- visions, and on the 9th of October James Boone and his company, among the number being Russell's son Henry and two slaves, en- camped a few miles in the rear of the main body. At this point they were, the next day, waylaid by a small company of Shawnese and Cherokee Indians, who were supposed to be at peace with the white settlers. On the morning of the 10th James Boone and his entire company were captured, and, after cruel torture, were slaught- ered. After this occurrence Daniel Boone's company of emigrants
*Deed Book "A," page -, Fincastle county.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
broke up and returned to the settlements, and Daniel Boone and his family returned to the home of William Russell, near Castle's Woods, on Clinch river, about forty miles distant, and took up their residence in an empty cabin on the farm of Captain David Glass, seven or eight miles from William Russell's, where they spent the winter of 1:23-1124. Daniel Boone had twice, previously to this time, visited the Kentucky wilderness, and had decided to settle in the beautiful country which he had visited. And thus rudely were his first efforts frustrated.
The motive actuating the Indians in making this assault must have been jealousy of these, the first emigrants to Kentucky. They could not have had for their object the securing of plunder alone, for the Indians had long lived in peace with the white settlers without any effort to murder or burn. In this assault six men, including Boone's son, were slain, and their cattle and plunder secured and carried off.
We have now reached the time when the eyes of all frontiersmen were fixed upon the fertile lands lying beyond the Cumberland mountains. The Kentucky wilderness was no longer visited by the hunter alone, but the explorer and the settler were seeking an opportunity to acquire a future home in the new country.
A distinguished author, in speaking of the condition of the Indians at that time, says: "Recently they had been seriously alarmed by the tendency of the whites to encroach on the great hunting grounds south of the Ohio, for here and there hunters and settlers were already beginning to build cabins along the course of that stream," and in another place the same author speaks as fol- lows: "The savages grew continually more hostile, and in the fall of 1723 their attacks became so frequent that it was evident a general outbreak was at hand. Eleven people were murdered in the county of Fincastle alone. The Shawnese were the leaders in all these outrages. Thus the spring of 1724 opened with every- thing ripe for an explosion. The Virginia borderers were fear- fully exasperated, and were ready to take vengeance upon any In- dian. whether peaceful or hostile, while the Shawnese and Mingoes, on their side, were arrogant and overbearing, and yet alarmed at the continual advance of the whites."*
The Virginia Colony was at peace with the Cherokees, and
*The Winning of the West, Vol. I., pages 250-252.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
most of the Indians' depredations during the year 1774-1775 were committed by the northwest Indians.
A Mr. Russell and five of his companions were murdered by the Indians in the fall of the year 1773 in Fincastle county, and about the same time two men, by the name of Cochran and Foley, and a man by the name of Hayes, with his three companions, were murdered by the Indians, but as to the locality of these murders or the circumstances attending them we have no information.+
In the course of the summer of 1774, a number of the citizens of Fincastle county were captured and killed by the northern In- dians, among the number being Thomas Hogg and two men near the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and Walter Kelly, with three or four other persons, below the falls of the Great Kanawha. William Kelly and a young woman were captured on Muddy creek, a branch of Green river. Kelly was killed and the young woman carried into captivity. During this same summer a man by the name of Shockley, a scout employed by the County Court of Fincastle county, was shot and killed, and on the 7th day of August, 1774, the house of one John Lybrook, situated on Sinking creek in the present county of Craig, was attacked by the Indians. Lybrook was wounded in the arm, and only saved his life by hiding in a cave. Three of his children (one of them a sucking infant), a young woman, a daughter of one Scott, and a child of widow Snidow were killed. All the children were scalped but one, and were mangled in a most cruel manner. At the same time and in the same community, John and Jacob Snidow and a younger brother, whose name is not known, were captured and made pris- oners. Two of the brothers escaped from the Indians on the fol- lowing Wednesday, but the other was carried into captivity and remained with the Indians until he acquired their habits and be- came so fond of their manner of life that he ever afterwards lived among them. At the same time a Miss Margaret McKinsie was captured and carried into captivity, where she remained for eighteen years, at the end of which time she returned to New river and married a Mr. Benjamin Hall.
The white settlers near Pittsburg were on very bad terms with the northwest Indians. On the last day of April, 1774, a small company of Indians left the camp of the Indian Chief Logan, at
*Wm. Preston Mss.
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Southwest Virginia. 1746-1786.
Yellow creek, and crossed the river to visit a man by the name of Greathouse, a place which they had been accustomed to visit for the purpose of buying rum from the whites. The Indians were made drunk with liquor, and while in this condition were cruelly murdered by Greathouse and his associates. Nine Indians in all were murdered at this time, among the number being the entire family of the Indian Chief Logan. Logan had always been the friend of the white man, and had always been exceedingly kind and gentle to women and children, notwithstanding the fact that some of his relatives had been killed by the whites some years before. Logan was a skilled marksman and a mighty hunter of com- manding dignity, who treated all men with a grave courtesy and exacted the same treatment in return. He was greatly liked and respected by all the white hunters and frontiersmen whose friend- ship and respect were worth having. They admired him for his dexterity and prowess, and they loved him for his straightforward honesty and his noble loyalty to his friends .*
This last stroke was more than Logan could stand. He at- tributed his misfortune to Captain Cresap, and he began at once to raid the settlements with small bands of Indians. This raid was upon the settlers of the Holston and the Clinch. On his first expedition he took thirteen scalps, six of the number being chil- dren. He was pursued and overtaken by a party of men com- manded by a man by the name of MeClure, but he ambushed and defeated them on MeClure's creek, now in Dickenson county, and it was from this occurrence that the creek obtained its name. Again, during the same year. he visited the waters of Holston, within twelve miles of the present location of Bristol, and cap- tured and murdered many families. At the house of one Roberts. whose family was cut off. Logan left a war-club, to which was tied a note, which read as follows :
"Captain Cresap .- What did you kill my people on Yellow creek for? The white people killed my kin at Conestoga a great while ago, and I thought nothing of that. But you killed my kin again on Yellow creek. and took my cousin prisoner. Then I thought I must kill, too, and I have been three times to war since; but the Indians are not angry, only myself.
July 21, 1774. "CAPTAIN JOHN LOGAN."
*Winning of the West, Vol. I., page 256.
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Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786.
While the settlers at Pittsburg provoked this difficulty, it seems that the settlers on the Holston and Clinch were the principal sufferers thereby.
Numerous surveyors, with their instruments, visited Kentucky during this year. Among the number were James Douglas, Han- cock Taylor, Isaac Bledsoe, and John Floyd. The last named left the home of Colonel William Preston at Smithfield on April 9, 1774, accompanied by eight men. They passed down the Kanawha river to the Ohio, where they were informed by a company they met that an Indian war was probable; notwithstanding which in- formation they continued their explorations, surveying many tracts of land on the Ohio and in the present State of Kentucky. We here give a list of a few surveys made by the men who visited Kentucky in this year. We copy this list from the fact that it is exceedingly interesting, and for the further reason that it contains the first sur- veys made by the white man in the present State of Kentucky :
Notable Tracts of Land, Surveyed by John Floyd, Hancock Taylor and James Doug- las, in 1774-1775, lying mostly in Kentucky
TIME.
NAME.
ACRES
LOCATION.
April 25, 1774 Mitchell Clay.
1,000
Both sides Bluestone Cr., Clover Bottom.
20, 1774|Wm. Inglis.
200
H'd Spring Wolf Cr., Burks Garden.
= 22, 1774 Wm. Inglis.
1,000
Abbs' Valley.
June 7, 1774 Col. Wm. Christian.
2,000
66
3, 1774 Jas. McCorkle.
1,000
Bear Grass Creek, Br. of Ohio. 6
April 15, 1774 Col. Geo. Washington
2,000
Bank of Cole River.
June
7, 1774 John Floyd.
1,000
W. Bear Grass Creek.
July
8, 1774 Patrick Henry.
2,000
66 Elk Horn Creek, Br. of Kentucky. = 66
-
7, 1774 Patrick Henry.
3,000
66 66
66 66
66 12, 1774 Wm. Russell.
2,000
N. Br. Ky. River, 95 miles from the Ohio.
6, 1774|Wm. Preston.
1,000
S. Br. Kentucky River.
66 20, 1774 Audley Paul.
2,000
N. Br. of Kentucky.
May
6, 1774|Wm. Christian.
1,000
9. Side Ohio, 3 miles above mouth of Ky.
June 2, 1774 Wm. Byrd.
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