USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia > Part 4
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first band of adventurers over the summit of the Blue Ridge. He was one worthy of the enterprise, and the enterprise was one worthy of him. He was born in 1676, at Tangier, then an English colony in Africa, his father being the resident physician. The son was literally bred in the army, and, uniting genius with courage, served with distinction under the Duke of Marlborough. He was dangerously wounded in the first fire of the French at the battle of Blenheim, while serving as quartermaster-general, with the rank of colonel. He arrived in Virginia June 23, 1710, as lieutenant-governor under George Hamilton, Earl of Orkney. He was the most distinguished individual that controlled the destinies of the colony prior to the Revolution.
Spotswood determined to learn more of the vast wilderness west of the mountains, and accordingly equipped a party of thirty horsemen, and, heading it in person, left Williamsburg on the 20th of June, 1716. Pressing onward through King William and Middlesex counties, thence by way of Mountain Run to the Rap- pahannock, which they crossed at Somerville's Ford, and thence to Peyton's Ford on the Rapidan. From here they proceeded to near the present site of Stan- nardsville, in Green county, whence they passed through the Blue Ridge by way of Swift Run Gap. Crossing the Shenandoah river, about ten miles below where Port Republic now stands, near what is known as River Bank, in Rockingham, the intrepid governor and his little band pushed onward to the west across the Shenandoah Valley and through the mountain de- files, until on the 5th of September, 1716, on one of the loftiest peaks of the Appalachian range, probably
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within the limits of what is now Pendleton county, West Virginia, they halted and drank the health of King George. What a spot! Never before had the voice of civilized man been heard amid this mountain fast- ness. There, for the first time, stood representatives : of the Anglo-Saxon race, gazing upon the lofty peaks towering above the illimitable wilderness. Here Rob- ert Brooke, one of the party, and the king's surveyor- general, made the first scientific observation ever made upon the Allegheny mountains.
The party returned to Williamsburg, and gave the most glowing description of the country which they had visited. They had passed the great valley, whose fertile fields were, two centuries hence, to render it the home of thousands of people noted for their culture and refinement. On the mountain-sides they had dis- covered those mysterious hygeian fountains from which flowed the life-giving waters which have since obtained a world-wide celebrity. For the purpose of inducing emigration to this far western land the governor estab- lished the "Transmontane Order, or Knights of the Golden Horse-Shoe," giving to each of those who had accompanied him a miniature horse-shoe, some of which were set with valuable stones, and all bearing the inscription, "Sic jurat transcendere montes"-"Thus he swears us to cross the mountains." These were given to any one who would accept them, with the un- derstanding that he would comply with the inscription.
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Virginia was fast becoming a nation. In 1715 her population numbered 72,000 whites and 23,000 ne- groes. But one colony-Massachusetts-outnumbered her, and that by only a thousand inhabitants. A profit- able trade was established with the West Indies in the
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ALEXANDER SPOTTSWOOD, Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia from 1710 to 1722.
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exchange of corn, lumber and salted provisions for sugar, rum and wine. During the administration of Spotswood her advancement in commerce, population and wealth was more rapid than that of any of her sister colonies. The frontier extended even to the base of the Blue Ridge, but no white man had dared to find a home in the great valley which takes its name from the principal river-the Shenandoah, "The Daugh- ter of the Stars." In the next chapter we shall tell the story of its settlement and occupancy by white men.
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CHAPTER V.
EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
The Valley Region-John VanMatre, probably the first White Man that Trav- ersed the Beautiful Valley-The Land Warrant of John and Isaac Van Matre -- Their Claim Purchased by Joist Hite-He 'and Others rear Cabin Homes near the Present Site of Winchester-Pioneer Settlers of the Lower Valley- The Northern Neck-Lord Fairfax-His Patents and Manors-John Salling and John Marlin Explore the Upper Valley-Salling a Prisoner among the Indians-His Return to Williamsburg-John Lewis, the Founder of Augusta County-Grant to William Beverly and Others --- " Beverly Manor"-Benjamin Burden-Burden's Grant-His Colonists-The Scotch-Irish-Their Character -Organization of Augusta and Frederick Counties-View of the Valley in 1750.
THE Valley Region includes all the country lying between the Blue Ridge on the one side and the Alle- gheny mountains on the other, and because of the great fertility of its soil it is called "The Garden of Virginia." It is the central part of the great valley which is co-extensive with the Allegheny range, that part of it south of Virginia being known as the Cum- berland valley. Geologists trace it far north, even to the banks of the Mohawk river in New York. They inform us that it belongs to the Silurian formation, which places it upon the Azoic and beneath the De- vonian rocks. There are several varieties of slate, sandstone, and conglomerates ; limestone also abounds. Many beautiful streams flow through the valley ; the summer is cool and pleasant, but the winter is cold and damp.
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The first quarter of the eighteenth century passed away and all this region remained a howling wilderness. But the time was near at hand when those who were ordained to settle the wilderness were to occupy the land. "Westward the star of empire takes its way." The Shenandoah valley lay in its line of march, and it must be redeemed from the sway of savage men and made the dwelling-place of civilization.
Tradition relates that a man of the name of John VanMatre, a representative of an old Knickerbocker family early seated on the Hudson, was the first white man who traversed the South Branch valley-the Wappatomica of the Indians. He was an Indian trader making his headquarters with the Delawares ; whence he journeyed far to the south to trade with the Cherokees and Catawbas. Returning to New York, he advised his sons, if they ever removed to Virginia, to secure lands on the South Branch, they being the best he had seen in all his travels. (Vide Kercheval's "History of the Valley of Virginia," page 46.)
Acting upon this advice, Isaac VanMatre, one of the sons, visited the frontier of Virginia about the year 1727, and so pleased was he with the lands described by his father that, in 1730, he and his brother John re- ceived from Governor Gooch a patent for 40,000 acres, which they located and surveyed the same year. (Land- Office Records of Virginia.) The next year they sold a portion of these lands to Joist Hite, and to him belongs the honor of having first planted the standard of civil- ization in Virginia, west of the Blue Ridge.
In the year 1732, he, with his family, his sons-in-law George Bowman, Jacob Chrisman, and Paul Froman, with their families, and Robert Mckay, Robert Green,
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William Duff, Peter Stephens, with others, to the num- ber of sixteen families, left York, Pennsylvania, and cutting their way through the unbroken wilderness, crossed the Potomac-Cohongoruta of the Indians- two miles above the present site of Harper's Ferry, and thence proceeding up the valley, they halted and reared their cabins near where Winchester now stands. Hite settled on Opequon, about five miles south of Winchester; Peter Stephens and several others halted three miles farther south, and became the founders of Stephensburg; George Bowman went six miles still farther and settled on Cedar creek; Jacob Chrisman built his cabin near what has ever since been known as Chrisman's Spring, about two miles south of Stephens- burg ; Paul Froman located on Cedar creek, and Rob- ert Mckay on Crooked creek. The others found homes in the same neighborhood. These were the pioneer settlers in the Valley of Virginia. Very soon they were followed by others who located around and among them. (Kercheval, page 41.)
Among those who came within the next two years were Benjamin Allen, Riley Moore, William White, Robert Harper-name preserved in that of Harper's Ferry-William Stroop, Thomas and William Forester, Israel Friend, Thomas Shepherd-name preserved in that of Shepherdstown-Thomas Swearingen, Van Swearingen, James Foreman, Edward Lucas, Jacob Hite, John Lemon, Richard Mercer, Edward Mercer, Jacob VanMatre, Robert Stockton, Robert Buckles, John Taylor, Samuel Taylor, Richard Morgan, and John Wright.
Another land grant which played an important part in the settlement of the valley was that known as the
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" Fairfax Patent." In the 21st year of Charles II .- 1681 -- a grant was made to Lord Hopton and others, of what is known as the "Northern Neck" of Virginia. The patentees sold it to Thomas Lord Culpeper, to whom it was confirmed by letters patent in the fourth year of James II .-- 1688. The tract of country thereby granted was, " All that entire tract of land, lying and being in America, and bounded by and within the heads of the rivers Tappahannock, alias Rappahannock, and Quiriough, alias Potomac river, the course of said rivers as they are commonly called and known by the inhabitants, and description of their parts and Chesa- peake Bay." Within its limits were embraced the present counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Rich- mond, Westmoreland, Stafford, King George, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Culpeper, Madi- son, Shenandoah, and Frederick, in Virginia ; and Jef- ferson, Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, Grant, and a portion of Tucker, in West Virginia. This immense estate descended from Lord Culpeper to his only daughter Catherine, who married Thomas, fifth Lord Fairfax, from whom the proprietary descended to their eldest son, Thomas, who became the sixth Lord Fairfax. He came to Virginia about the year 1745, and in 1748 employed George Washington, then in his seventeenth year, to survey and lay off into lots that part of the estate lying in the valley and Alle- gheny Mountains, that the proprietor might collect rents and make legal titles. Young Washington crossed the Blue Ridge and aided by George Fairfax, the eldest son of William Fairfax, whose daughter Washington's eldest brother, Lawrence, had married, satisfactorily performed the work. Several manors were laid out
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among which were the following: Manor of Leeds, located in Culpeper, Fauquier and Frederick counties, containing 150,000 acres; the South Branch Manor, in what is now Hardy county, including 55,000 acres, and Greenway Court, in Frederick, embracing 10,000 acres.
At a point thirteen miles southeast of Winchester, within the last-named manor, Lord Fairfax fixed his residence. Here he continued to reside until his death, December 12, 1782, soon after the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, an event he is said to have much lamented. He never married, and leaving no issue to inherit his vast estate, he bequeathed it to the Rev. Denny Martin, his nephew, in England, on the condition, however, that he should apply to the Parliament of Great Britain for the passage of an act authorizing him to take the name of Fairfax. He complied with the terms, but like his uncle never married, and at his death left the estate by will to General Phillip Martin, who also died without issue and left it to two maiden sisters. Later on Chief-Justice Marshall, Raleigh Colston and General Henry Lee purchased the title of the Fairfax legatees in England, so that there is not now any part of the once immense estate in possession of a repre- sentative of the Fairfax family. It has caused more litigation than any other land grant on the continent. In 1736 the Fairfaxes entered a suit against Joist Hite, alleging that the lands which he had purchased from the VanMatres were within the limits of the Culpeper patent. The cause continued in the courts until 1786, a period of fifty years, when every one of the origi- nal parties to it were in their graves. (Howe's " His- torical Collections," p. 235; "Kercheval," pp. 138, 139, 140.)
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Let us notice briefly the exploration and settlement of the Upper Valley. In the absence of towns and roads the first settlers in the valley were supplied with many needed articles by peddlers who went from house to house. Among these itinerant vendors of small wares was one John Martin, who travelled from Williamsburg to the country about Winchester. His visits to the inhabited part of this romantic country inspired him with a desire to explore the unknown part toward the southwest. In Williamsburg he induced John Salling, a weaver by occupation, to accompany him on an exploring expedition.
Repairing to Winchester they proceeded through the valley until they reached the banks of the Roanoke, probably near the present site of Salem. Here they were met by a roving band of Cherokees and made prisoners. Martin had the good fortune to escape, but Salling was carried a captive to their towns on the upper Tennessee. Here he remained some time and then went with a party of Indians to the Salt Licks of Kentucky to hunt buffalo. Kentucky, like the Valley of Virginia, was a middle ground of contention be- tween the northern and southern tribes. Here the Cherokees were attacked and defeated by a body of Indians from Illinois. Salling was again made prisoner and carried to Kaskaskia, where an old squaw adopted him as a son. While detained in this remote region he accompanied his new tribesmen on some distant expeditions-once even to the Gulf of Mexico-and saw many countries and tribes of savages, then wholly unknown in Virginia. At length he was purchased from his Indian mother by an exploring party of Spaniards, who wanted him for an interpreter. He
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travelled with them on their way northward, until he reached Canada, where he was kindly redeemed by the French governor and sent to New York, whence he found his way back to Williamsburg after an ab- sence of more than three years. Here he entertained interested hearers with the story of his adventures, and gave a glowing description of the southern or upper portion of the Valley of Virginia-a broad belt lying between parallel ranges of mountains; its vales watered by clear streams, its soil fertile, its plains covered only with shrubbery and a rich herbage, grazed by herds of buffalo and its hills crowned with forests ; a region of beauty as yet, for the most part, untouched by the hand of man, and offering unbought homes and easy subsistence to all who had the enterprise to scale the mountain barrier, by which it had so long been concealed from the colonists. (Howe's " Historical Collections," p. 452.)
But now this region was to become the home of civilized men. John Lewis, the ancestor of the family of that name in the Virginias, was the first pioneer, and the first European settler within the present limits of Augusta county. He was born in France in 1673, of Scotch-Irish parents who had passed over to that country but were driven back to their native land by the storm of persecution which afflicted the Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. John Lewis had two brothers, William and Samuel, both of whom grew to manhood amid the quiet scenes of their Caledonian home. William re- moved to the north of Ireland, where he married a Miss McClellan, by whom he had issue, one son, Andrew, who wedded a Miss Calhoun, and left issue, two sons,
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John, born 1678, and Samuel, born 1680, both of whom came to Virginia and became the ancestors of the Lewises of James river, representatives of which are.now scattered over West Virginia, Kentucky and Northern Georgia. The best-known representative of this branch of the family was Meriwether Lewis, who in company with William Clarke explored the Pacific coast in 1806. Samuel married, and after a short residence in Ireland emigrated to Portugal, where all trace of him was lost. (See Smiles' " History of the Huguenots.")
John Lewis continued to reside in Scotland until 1714, when he married Margaret Lynn, a daughter of the Laird of Loch Lynn, who was a descendant of the chieftains of a once powerful clan in the Highlands, whose heroism is so celebrated in Scottish clan legends, and removed to Ireland, where he became the owner of a free-hold lease of three lives. The farm upon which he resided was situated in County Donegal, Province of Ulster, and was known as "Campbell's Manor," and was the property of the Campbells, so famous in history. (Peyton's "History of Augusta County," p. 26.) After a few years it passed into the possession of Sir Mungo Campbell, whose reckless- ness soon involved him in debt, to pay which he re- solved to increase the rents of his lessees, or dispossess them. Many submitted, but Lewis resolved not to yield to such injustice, and when the agent of the lord of the manor informed him of the terms he re- fused to pay the additional sum assessed. The lord at once determined to eject him, and with that object in view, accompanied by a number of followers, repaired to the house in which Lewis, his wife, three
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children and a sick brother of his wife were domiciled. Finding the door barricaded, a musket loaded with several balls was discharged through the wall; one bullet mortally wounded the invalid brother and an- other passed through the wife's hand. Lewis, now enraged to the highest pitch, resolved to sell his life as dearly as possible, and to sell it in defence of his helpless ones. With no weapon but a club, he rushed into the yard, and first meeting the lord, slew him at a single blow; the next to fall was the steward, who shared the fate of his master. The others fled in rapid haste, leaving Lewis in possession of the estate. But this occurrence forever ended his career in Ireland. He had committed no crime against the law of either man or God, for he had fought in defence of himself and loved ones. But he lived under a monarchical govern- ment, the policy of which was to preserve a difference in the ranks of society. A tenant had killed his land- lord, and if Lewis remained he would suffer death. Even with justice on his side his fate was sealed the moment he surrendered himself to the officers of the law, and he therefore determined to leave the country. Disguised as a Quaker, he hastened to a little harbor in the bay of Donegal, where he went on board a vessel about to sail. After visiting the shores of several countries, he arrived at Oporto, in Portugal, in the year 1729. There he had a brother engaged in the mercantile business, who advised him that he might elude the vigilance of his enemies, by proceeding to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the brother to send his family to that place. Lewis acted upon this advice, and for a year watched anxiously from the shores of Pennsylvania the coming of loved ones from the scene
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of separation beyond the sea. At length there was a joyful reunion and Lewis at the same time learned that his enemies were putting forth every effort to dis- cover the place of his refuge. Fearing this, if he remained on the sea-board, he resolved to find a home in the deep solitude of the American forest. The winter of 1731-32 was spent at Lancaster, Pennsyl- vania, and in the summer of the latter year, after a long journey over mountains and through valleys, amid scenes of awe-inspiring grandeur and sublimity, he halted at " Bellefonte "-the Clear Spring -- beside the little river which has ever since borne his name, and reared his cabin on lands one mile east of where Staunton now stands. This was the first structure erected in the upper half of the Valley of Virginia. Here, surrounded by an unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by wild beasts and wilder men, John Lewis, with the aid of his sons, constructed from native stone the walls of "Fort Lewis," within which the hardy pioneers who came after him found refuge until the barbarian no more visited the banks of the Shenandoah. Here John Lewis continued to reside until, weighed down by the flight of years, he sank to rest and found a grave near where he had found a home. He was long prominent on the Virginia frontier. In 1745, when Augusta was formed, he was made one of the justices for the new county. A pardon came from over-sea, and patents are still extant, by which His Majesty granted him many thousand acres of the fair domain of Western Virginia. He was an excellent surveyor, and in 1749 -- 50 was employed in that capacity by the Greenbrier Land Company, to assist in locating their lands west of the Alleghenies. It was at this time
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that he bestowed the name which it now bears upon one of the most beautiful mountain rivers of America. Becoming entangled in a thicket of greenbriers which grew upon the banks of the Ronceverte-Lady of the Mountain-of the early French explorers, meaning greenbrier, he declared that he would with these hence- forth call the stream Greenbrier river. Such he ' called it in his field notes, and so it has ever since been known. John Lewis by his marriage with Mar- garet Lynn had issue, five sons and two daughters, the former of whom will be noticed as this work pro- gresses.
Other adventurers reached the Upper Valley and, attracted by the great fertility of the soil, hastened to make surveys and applications for patents for their lands. The earliest of these issued was that for what has ever since been known as Beverly Manor. The patent, signed by Governor William Gooch and bear- ing date September 6, 1736, granted to William Bev- erly, of the county of Essex; Sir John Randolph, of the city of Williamsburg; Richard Randolph, of the county of Henrico; and John Robinson, of the county of King and Queen, a tract of land containing 118,- 491 acres. These lands were located within the present limits of Augusta county and included the site of the city of Staunton. The magisterial district in which that city is situated is still known as "Beverly Manor." (See records in Circuit Clerk's office of Augusta.)
The second grant made to lands in the Upper Val- ley was that to Benjamin Burden, or Borden-name spelled both ways in records. He was a merchant settled in New Jersey, but made frequent visits to
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Eastern Virginia, on which occasions an intimacy had been formed between himself and the lieutenant-gov- ernor. Burden was the agent of Lord Fairfax, pro- prietor of the "Northern Neck," and when on a visit to Williamsburg, in 1736, he met John Lewis, whom he accompanied to his mountain home, where he spent some months in hunting. While here he caught and tamed a buffalo calf, which, upon his return to Wil- liamsburg, he presented to Governor Gooch. That official was so much pleased with his mountain pet that he directed a patent to be issued authorizing Burden to locate 500,000 acres of land on the upper waters of the Shenandoah and James rivers. This survey, when completed, embraced the southern part of Augusta and the whole of the county of Rockbridge. The surveyor was Captain John McDowell, who, in 1743, was killed by a band of Shawanee Indians near the Natural Bridge.
Burden at once went to Europe for the purpose of securing emigrants to settle upon his lands, and in 1737 returned, bringing with him more than a hundred families. Among these primitive emigrants we meet with the names of some who have left a numerous posterity, now widely dispersed, not only over the Virginias, but throughout the South and West-such as Ephraim McDowell, Archibald Alexander, John Patton, Andrew Moore, Hugh Telford and John Matthews. The first party was soon joined by others, mostly of their relatives and acquaintances, from the mother country. Among these latter were the Pres- tons, Paxtons, Lyles, Grigsbys, Stewarts, Crawfords, Cumminses, Browns, Wallaces, Wilsons, Caruthers, Campbells, McCampbells, McClungs, McCues, Mc-
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Kees and McCowns. No one acquainted with the race who imbibed the indomitable spirit of John Knox can fail to recognize the relationship. They were Irish Presbyterians, who, being of Scotch extraction, were called Scotch-Irish.
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