Annals of Augusta County/Chapter 2

At length the time for the organization of the county had arrived. On October 30, 1745, Governor Gooch issued "a Commission of the Peace," naming the first magistrates for the county, viz: James Patton, John Lewis, John Buchanan, George Robinson, Peter Scholl, James Bell, Robert Campbell, John Brown, Robert Poage, John Pickens, Thomas Lewis, Hugh Thompson, Robert Cunningham, John Tinla (Finley?), Richard Woods, John Christian, Robert Craven, James Kerr, Adam Dickinson, Andrew Pickens, and John Anderson—in all, twenty-one.

At the same time, the Governor issued a commission to James Patton as sheriff of the county. John Madison was appointed clerk of the county court by "commission under the hand and seal of Thomas Nelson, Esq., Secretary of Virginia," and Thomas Lewis was commissioned surveyor of the county by "William Dawson, president, and the masters of the college of William and Mary."

In anticipation of the organization, William Beverley, the patentee, had erected a courthouse, no doubt a rough structure, on his land, and at the southwest corner of the present courthouse lot. On the day the commissions to the county officers were issued at Williamsburg, Beverley wrote from the same place to the justices of Augusta, informing them that he had erected the house referred to at his "mill place," and would before spring make a deed for the "house and two acres of land about the same to the use of the county to build their prison, stocks, etc., on." It will be observed that nothing ​was said about Staunton as the county-seat. There were doubtless some dwellings and other houses here, but the spot was then only known as Beverley's "Mill Place."

The justices appointed by the Governor assembled at the courthouse on December 9, 1745, and took the prescribed oaths of office. Next, the commission of the sheriff was read, and he was duly qualified. Thereupon, "court was proclaimed," the following justices being on the bench: John Lewis, John Brown, Thomas Lewis, Robert Cunningham, Peter Scholl, John Pickens, Hugh Thompson, James Kerr, and Adam Dickinson.

Thus was started the County Court of Augusta, which continued without material change till the year 1852, when justices of the peace became elective by the popular vote. Previously, during a period of one hundred and seven years, the justices assembled in court nominated new members from time to time, as the exigencies of the county required; and the executive of the colony, and afterwards of the State, confirmed the nominations by issuing the necessary commissions.

The justices received no pay, except that after a time the system was introduced of conferring the office of high sheriff of the county, for a term of two years, upon the justices in rotation, according to seniority of commission; the sheriffs "farming out" the office to deputies who discharged all its duties. Upon the expiration of the term of office, the high sheriffs reverted to the position of justice of the peace, and awaited their turn for the lucrative office, which, however, very few obtained a second time.

The first business in order after the justices took their seats on the bench and the court was proclaimed, was to receive and approve the official bond of the sheriff The clerk was also qualified; and William Russell, James Porteus, Gabriel Jones, John Quin, and Thomas Chew qualified to practice as attorneys-at-law.

On the next day, December 10, the commissions of Thomas Lewis, surveyor, and his deputy, James Trimble, were produced in court, and those officers were sworn in. The sheriff on the same day, "moved the court to be informed how he was to secure his prisoners, there being no prison." The provident Col. Beverley had not thought of that. The court, however, ordered ​the sheriff to summon a guard, and "to provide shackles, bolts, handcuffs, etc." A committee was also appointed to "build a prison and erect stocks." Great importance was evidently attached in those days to "stocks." It was thought quite impossible for a well-ordered community to get along without them.

After a short session on the 10th, the court adjourned till the next court in turn. In pursuance of the Act of 1738, the court then met on the second Monday in each month.

The business of the county court, as indicated by the order books, was heavy and diversified. The first session of court was held, as stated, in December, 1745, and by the February term following there was a large docket of causes for trial. Single justices had jurisdiction of causes involving less than twenty-five shillings. In all other causes at law and in equity, civil and criminal, (not involving loss of life or member), the court had jurisdiction, there being, however, a right of appeal to the general court, which was then composed of the Governor and his council. Attendance at the county court every month became burdensome to the people, and in October, 1748, an act of assembly was passed, establishing quarterly courts for the trial of causes. Four or more justices were required to constitute a court.

We may mention that the first clerk of the county court, John Madison, was the father of the Rev. Dr. James Madison, for some time bishop of the Episcopal church in Virginia. John Madison, the clerk, Gabriel Jones, the lawyer, and Thomas Lewis, the surveyor, whose wives were sisters (Misses Strother, from Stafford county), lived in the same neighborhood, near Port Republic.

Among the first justices of the peace we find John and Andrew Pickens. One of these was the father of the distinguished General Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina. General Henry Lee states in his "Memoirs of the War" (page 594), that General Pickens was born in Paxton township, Pennsylvania, September 19, 1739. His parents were from Ireland. When he was a child his father removed to Augusta county, Virginia, and in 1752 to the Waxhaw settlement, in South Carolina. He was actively engaged in the Indian wars and the Revolution. He was conspicuous for his valor at the Cowpens, Haw River, Augusta (Georgia) and Eutaw; and Lee declares ​that he contributed in an equal degree with Sumpter and Marion to the liberation of the Southern States. After the war he served in the Legislature of South Carolina and the United States Congress. "This great and good military chieftain," as General Lee styles him, died August 11, 1817, at his seat in Pendleton District, South Carolina, which had been the scene of one of his earliest Indian battles. "He was," says Lee, "a sincere believer in the Christian religion, and a devout observer of the Presbyterian form of worship."

The first will presented in the County Court of Augusta was that of Robert Wilson. It was executed November 3, 1745, and was proved and admitted to record February 11, 1746, not 1745, as the record is made to say by a blundering copyist.

The first deed recorded, dated December 9, 1745, was from Andrew Pickens to William McPheeters, and conveyed twelve and one-half acres of land in consideration of five shillings. Deed Books, 1, 2 and 3, are occupied almost exclusively by the conveyances of William Beverley to various persons.

Beverley no doubt made many deeds previous to 1745, which were recorded in Orange; and from 1745 to 1755, no less than one hundred and sixty six of his deeds were recorded in Augusta. He never conveyed the two acres promised to the justices in 1745; but in 1749 he donated much more land to the county, as we shall see.

From the papers in an early suit we have ascertained the prices in the county of several articles in the year 1745. Money was then, and for a long time afterward, counted in pounds, shillings, and pence, one pound, Virginia currency, being $3.33⅓.^[1] We state the prices here in the present currency. The price of sugar was 16⅔ cents per pound, two nutmegs 22 cents, half a pound of powder 33⅓ cents, one ​and a-half pounds of lead 19½ cents, and one ounce of indigo 25 cents.

The rates for ordinaries fixed by the court, March 10, 1746, were as follows: For a hot diet, 12½ cents; a cold ditto, 8⅓ cents; lodging, with clean sheets, 4⅙ cents; stabling and fodder a night, 8⅓ cents; rum, the gallon, $1.50; whiskey, the gallon, $1; claret, the quart, 83⅓ cents.

The ordinary proceedings of the County Court, as recorded in the order books, often illustrate the history of the times, and we shall make frequent quotations.

As soon as the court was established, taverns were needed at the county seat. Therefore, we find that on February 12, 1746, license to keep ordinaries at the courthouse was granted to Robert McClanahan and John Hutchinson. And on the same day it was "ordered that any attorney interrupting another at the bar, or speaking when he is not employed, forfeit five, shillings."

On February 19, 1746, a court was held to receive proof of "public claims," and the losses of several persons by the Indians were proved and ordered to be certified to the general assembly for allowance.

While the white settlers and the Indians who often passed through the country were supposed to be at peace, and the more prudent settlers sought by every means to conciliate the savages, instances of robbery and massacre by Indians were not infrequent, as is shown by the records of the County Court and otherwise. Tradition tells of an Indian raid upon a homestead near Buffalo Gap, but at what date is not stated. The ancestor of the Bell family of that neighborhood lived some two miles from the gap, and the females and children who were at home, learned that a party of Indians were in the vicinity. Feeling insecure, they abandoned their house and sought safety elsewhere. The Indians would have passed the dwelling without discovering it, but were attracted to the place by the cackling of a flock of geese. They plundered the house, setting it on fire, by design or accident, and went off. From that day to the present no member or descendant of that family of Bells has kept geese.

A more disastrous raid occurred, however, in December, 1742. A party of Indians from Ohio came into the Valley, ​and John McDowell, who lived on Timber Ridge (now Rockbridge) summoned his neighbors to watch, and, if need be, resist the savages. The whites fell into an ambush, near the junction of the North river and the James, and at the first fire McDowell and eight of his companions were slain. The Indians, alarmed at their own success, fled precipitately, and were not pursued. The people of the neighborhood gathered on the field of slaughter, and, says Foote, "took the nine bloody corpses on horseback and laid them side by side near McDowell's dwelling, while they prepared their graves, in overwhelming distress."

John McDowell's grave may still be found in the family burying ground near Timber Ridge church, marked by a rough stone. He has been mentioned heretofore as one of the first settlers in Borden's grant. His son, Samuel, was Colonel of militia at the battle of Guilford, and the ancestor of the Reids, of Rockbridge; and his son, James, who died in early life, was the grandfather of the late Governor James McDowell. His only daughter, Martha, married Colonel George Moffett, of Augusta, a gallant soldier of the Revolution, whose descendants are numerous in this county and elsewhere.

At the April term, 1746, of the County Court, John Nicholas having declined to act as prosecuting attorney, the court recommended Gabriel Jones "as a fit person to transact his majesty's affairs in this county." Mr. Jones was accordingly appointed, and duly qualified at the next court.

At May term, 1746, John Preston proved his importation from Ireland, with his wife, Elizabeth, William, his son, and Lettice and Ann, his daughters, at his own charge "in order to partake of his majesty's bounty for taking up land."

Foote speaks of John Preston as "a shipmaster in Dublin." Brock says he was a ship carpenter. He came to the county in the year 1740, with his brother-in-law, James Patton, who was a brother of Preston's wife. He resided for a time at Patton's place, Springhill, but about the year 1743 he removed to the tract known as Spring Farm, adjacent to Staunton, and there, in a house near the site of the present city water works, he lived and died. He and other Presbyterian people of Staunton and vicinity, of his day, worshipped at Tinkling Spring church, and ​his body was interred at that place. His eldest daughter married Robert Breckenridge, the ancestor of several distinguished men. The second daughter married the Rev. John Brown, pastor of New Providence church, and from them descended John Brown, of Kentucky, and James Brown, of Louisiana, both of them United States senators, and the latter ministor to France. William Preston was the father of a numerous family, male and female, and many of his descendants have been eminent in various walks of life. John Preston, the ancestor, appears to have been a quiet man, and without the bustling energy which characterized other pioneer settlers; but the traits which he and "his wife Elizabeth" transmitted to their posterity is a noble testimony that the pair possessed more than common merit. He died in 1747, leaving a very small estate, as far as appears. His wife qualified as administratrix, February 6, 1747, and executed a bond, with John Maxwell and Robert McClanahan as her securities, in the penalty of £100, indicating a personal estate of only £50.

On the day that John Preston "proved his importation," the court ordered that "Edward Boyle, for damning the court and swearing four oaths in their presence, be put in the stocks for two hours, and be fined twelve shillings" ($2).

Till the year 1746, no vestrymen had been elected, as provided in the act of 1738. In that year, however, an election was held, and twelve persons were chosen to constitute the vestry of the parish, viz: James Patton, (Col.) John Buchanan, John Madison, Patrick Hays, John Christian, (Mr.) John Buchanan, Robert Alexander, Thomas Gordon, James Lockhart, John Archer, John Matthews, and John Smith.

From the first settlement of Virginia the Church of England had been established in the colony. The inhabited parts were laid off into parishes, in each of which was a minister, who had a fixed salary in tobacco, together with a farm (called glebe) and a parsonage. There was a general assessment on all the inhabitants to meet the expenses.

When a new parish was established, the vestrymen were elected by the qualified voters, but vacancies occurring afterwards were filled by the board. Two members were annually chosen to act as church-wardens, and these were more particu​larly charged with all matters pertaining to religion and public morals. The minister, or rector, was ex officio president of the board.

Vestrymen were not merely ecclesiastical officers, but some of the duties now performed by supervisors were imposed upon them by law. They had the care of the poor, and attended to the important duty, as it was then, of "processioning lands." At a time when the boundaries of contiguous tracts of land were ill defined, to prevent or settle disputes, commissioners were appointed by the vestry to ascertain and fix the lines. This custom had fallen into disuse, and every law on the subject had disappeared from the statute books, till the destruction of many county records during the late war, led to an act of Assembly, in 1865-'6, reviving the practice. In England the vestry has also charge of all highways in the parish; but in Virginia, during colonial times, little or no concern was taken about public roads.

The vestry held meetings statedly, at least once a year, to count up and provide for the expenses of the parish. They laid the parish levy; and it is curious at this day to find that here, as well as elsewhere in the colony, glebe farms were bought, churches and parsonages built, ministers, readers and sextons paid, and even the sacramental wine provided, out of the public treasury.

All members of the vestry were required by law to take the various oaths imposed upon public officers generally, and, in addition, to subscribe a declaration "to be conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England." It is quite certain that most of the vestrymen of Augusta parish in 1746 were Dissenters from the Established Church. How they could, with a clear conscience, subscribe the declaration referred to is a question. They probably pleaded the necessity of the case. Without vestrymen and a rector the local government could not be completed, the poor could not be cared for, lands could not be "processioned," and especially none of the young people in the county could get married without much expense and inconvenience. The Scotch-Irish vestrymen of Augusta parish, with James Patton at their head, very likely agreed "to be conformable," &c., with the understanding that it was only for the time being and in respect to ​the particular public duties they undertook to discharge. They did not relax their interest in the dissenting congregations to which they belonged, and, as far as known, they did not incur censure nor lose respect by their conformity as vestrymen. Some Dissenters of the Covenanter stock no doubt compared the Presbyterian vestrymen and church-wardens to Naaman, the Syrian, bowing himself in the house of Rimmon, because the King leaned upon his hand. As will be seen hereafter, the practice of subscribing the declaration of conformity fell into partial disuse, and some persons elected vestrymen refused to subscribe when required to do so, and retired from the board.

The vestry of Augusta parish met for the first time in the courthouse, April 6, 1747. They elected John Madison clerk, and Robert Alexander and James Lockhart church-wardens. The Rev. John Hindman appeared with letters from the Governor, etc., recommending him for employment as "rector of the parish." The vestry, however, were not in a hurry, and proceeded to drive a bargain with Mr. Hindman. They agreed to accept him, provided he would not insist upon the purchase of glebe lands, etc., for two years, and would hold his services in the meanwhile in the courthouse, "and in people's houses of the same persuasion." Moreover, he was not to complain to the Governor in regard to the tardiness of his vestrymen. A glebe farm, however, was purchased, and a church building was erected in Staunton in the course of time. The farm was at the foot of North Mountain, about five miles south of Swoope's depot, and is now owned by the Thompson family. No church was ever built there, but farm buildings were erected, and an acre or more of land was laid off for a public burying ground. In common with other glebe lands, the farm was disposed of as directed by law, after the disestablishment of the Church of England in the State. The church in Staunton was built on land given by Beverley, April 3, 1750. It was begun in 1760, and finished in 1763.

Mr. Hindman's salary, payable in money, was £50 a year. Commissary Dawson, in a letter of July 11, 1749, to the Bishop of London, states that the parish was then vacant because of the death of Mr. Hindman. At a meeting of the vestry, on the day last named, Mr. Robert Clowseme, recommended by "Peter Hedgman, gentleman," sought the vacant place, but he was ​rejected, the vestry "not being acquainted with him," and resolving to receive no minister "without a trial first had." For more than two years the parish was vacant, and then, in 1752, the Rev. John Jones was inducted on the recommendation of Governor Dinwiddle.

But we have anticipated the course of events. It is probable that on the day, in 1746, that vestrymen were elected, delegates, or "burgesses," to represent Augusta county in the colonial assembly were also elected. We find no trace of such election, however, in our local archives or elsewhere. The county was duly represented in the "House of Burgesses," nevertheless, and from several acts found in Hening's Statutes at Large, it appears that the county was required to pay the "wages" of her representatives. The name and fame of one of our earliest burgesses have been perpetuated by a stone erected in the glebe burying ground. We give a literal copy of the inscription:

Colonel Willson is not to be held responsible for the illiteracy and mistakes of the stone-cutter. We presume there is no mistake as to the date of his death, and the statement that he served twenty-seven years as a member of the House of Burgesses. He must, therefore, have been elected in 1746, and have served, upon repeated elections, continuously till his death.

R. A. Brock, Esq., Secretary of the Virginia Historical Society, has furnished to us the following partial list of delegates from Augusta in the House of Burgesses:

In the interval, from 1761 to 1768, and probably at other times, Thomas Lewis served as one of the delegates from Augusta. James Patton also represented the county, for we find that at November term of the County Court, 1755, an allowance was made to his executor for "burgess wages." It is probable that Patton was Col. Willson's colleague from 1747 to 1751, and that he was a member of the House of Burgesses from 1752 to 1755.

We again revert to an earlier period in the history of the county. On May 21, 1747, George Wythe appeared before the county court and took the oaths required of attorneys. At the same time the grand jury presented five persons as swearers and two for Sabbath breaking.

On the 22d of May, 1747, the Rev. Samuel Black, a dissenting minister, appeared before the court and took the prescribed oaths. We have no further information in regard to Mr. Black.

The number of tithables in the county in 1747 was 1,670, and the tax per head as levied by the vestry, six shillings.

The following extract from the records of the court, of date May 20, 1748, is a part of the history of the times, and possesses some special interest: "On the motion of Matthew Lyle, yts ordered to be certified that they have built a Presbyterian meeting-house at a place known by the name of Timber Ridge, another at New Providence,^[2] and another at a place known by the name of Falling Spring." All these places are in the present county of Rockbridge, then part of Augusta. The record shows, among other things, the rapid settlement of the country.

"West of the Blue Ridge," says Foote [First Series, page 309] "the inhabitants were generally Dissenters, and coming ​into the province such, there was always less difficulty in obtaining license for houses of worship than in those counties east of this Ridge, where no Dissenters, or but few, had settled, and those that appeared were converts from the Established Church." The early meeting-houses in Augusta, erected before the year 1745, were doubtless registered in Orange county.

Early in the century the American Presbyterian Church became divided into what were known as the "Old Side" and the "New Side." There was no question in regard to doctrine, but only as to the proper methods of promoting religion. The New Side Presbyterians, sometimes called "New Lights," were admirers and followers of George Whitefield, who traversed the country, and by his zeal and eloquence caused an extraordinary religious excitement. The Old Side party was composed of the more conservative and less aggressive element of the church, who feared excitement, and perhaps were not specially zealous. The various Presbyterians adhering to the Old Side were associated as the Synod of Philadelphia, and those of the New Side as the Synod of New York. There was no Presbytery in Virginia till the year 1755, when Hanover Presbytery was formed by authority of the Synod of New York, and was composed of New Side ministers and churches. This Presbytery consisted at first of only six ministers, including the celebrated Samuel Davies, of Hanover county; Rev. John Brown, of New Providence, and Rev. Alexander Craighead, of Windy Cove. The Rev. John Craig, of Augusta and Tinkling Spring, was not a member of it till the breach was healed, in 1758, and the two parties came together again. During the alienation most, if not all, the Presbyterian churches in the present county of Augusta adhered to the Old Side, and those in the region now composing Rockbridge county (New Providence, Timber Ridge, Falling Spring, Hall's meeting-house, afterwards Monmouth, or Lexington) to the New Side. While the strife lasted much bitterness of feeling was exhibited, and the cause of the Dissenters, and of religion itself, was no doubt greatly injured thereby. Missionaries were sent to Virginia by both the Northern Synods. A minister named Robinson, sent out by the Synod of New York, was preaching in the Valley, when one of the inhabitants of Augusta, going into the lower country for salt and iron, met some of the attendants upon Morris's meetings in Hanover, and recommended Mr. ​Robinson to them. He was invited to visit them, which he did, and his visit led to the settlement of Samuel Davies in Virginia.

To show further how the Dissenters managed their affairs during colonial times, we mention that, in 1747, James Patton, John Christian, John Finley, James Alexander and William Wright, "chosen commissioners and trustees," received a deed from William and John Thompson for one hundred and ten acres of land for the use of "the Presbyterian congregation of Tinkling Spring." Many years afterwards an act of the Legislature authorized the congregation to sell as much of the tract as they wished, and expend the proceeds in repairing their meeting-house, or in building a new one.

It is stated that, as early as 1748, Colonels Patton and Buchanan and others, with a number of hunters, made an exploring tour to the southwest. They discovered and named the Cumberland mountain and Cumberland river, so called in honor, of the Duke of Cumberland, who had recently gained the battle of Culloden, in Scotland.

And now, in the year 1748, we come to the first mention of the town of Staunton. During that year William Beverley laid off the beginning of the town, within his manor, and at his "Mill Place." The surveying was done by Thomas Lewis, the county surveyor, and the plot is highly creditable to the surveyor's skill. The number of town lots is forty-four, each, with a few exceptions, containing half an acre. The streets laid off and named are Beverley, Frederick and Johnson, running east and west, and Augusta, Water and Lewis, running north and south. A plot of twenty-five acres, east of Augusta street, and extending half a square north of Frederick street, was reserved for the use of the county. The inscription under the plot, signed by the surveyor, is as follows; "A plan of the town of Staunton, in Augusta county, each lot containing half an acre * * * laid out in the year 1748, and since confirmed by an act of the last session of assembly."

The plan was produced in court by William Beverley, February 27, 1749, and ordered to be recorded. It may be found in Deed Book No. 2, page 410.

It appears, however, that several streets and town lots were laid off by Thomas Lewis for Beverley, July 15, 1747, as we learn from the original plot which was not recorded. The ​number of lots was only thirteen, so moderate was the expectation in regard to the town; but by the next year it was thought advisable to extend the dimensions of the embryo city, and thirty-one lots were added in 1748. In the divisions of 1747, each lot contained half an acre, as in the plot of 1748. Lot No. I was between Spring Lane and the creek, west of Augusta street. The two squares north of Spring Lane and west of Augusta street were laid off, and each was divided into four lots. Lots 10, 11, 12, and 13 were west of Water street, and between Spring Lane and Frederick street, the north branch of Lewis's creek running through each of them. Beverley retained (in 1747) lots 2, 10, and 11, and sold off the other lots; Joseph Bell purchased No. 3 (southwest corner of Beverley and Augusta streets, on a part of which the Augusta National Bank now stands) for £5, or $16.66⅔. Robert McClanahan purchased two lots, No. 7 (southeast corner of Beverley and Water streets—Old Central Bank, &c.), for £9, 15s. $32.50,^[3] and No. 12 (northeast corner of Beverley and Water streets—Lutheran Church, &c.), for £5. Other purchasers of lots were Samuel Wilkins, John Brown, William Lyndwell, Andrew Campbell, John Ramsey, David Stuart, and Patrick McDonal. In the plot of 1748, as recorded, the streets designated are named as at present; in the original plot of 1747, Augusta was called Gooch street. Water was called William, and Beverley was called Cross street. Spring Lane was so called from the first, although now generally known as Irish Alley. The name Staunton was originally often written Stanton. It is generally supposed that Augusta and other parallel streets were intended to lie exactly north and south, but in the original plot those streets are represented as slightly departing from the meridian line.

Twenty five acres heretofore referred to, were conveyed by Beverley to the justices of the peace for the use of the court-house, etc., April 21, 1749.

Why Staunton was so called has been a question for many years. We long ago saw a statement in print somewhere, that the new town was named in honor of Lady Gooch, wife of the Governor, who, it was said, was a member of the English family ​of Staunton, but we do not vouch for the truth of the statement. There is a small town of the same name near Kendal, Westmorland county, England.

The inscription by the surveyor alludes to an act of assembly establishing the town. No such act is found in Hening, but it appears from a proclamation issued by Governor Dinwiddle, April 8, 1752, that "An act for establishing a town in Augusta county, and allowing fairs to be kept there," was passed by the assembly in 1748. It was, however, for some unexplained reason, "disallowed" by King George II, and pronounced by the Governor "utterly void and of none effect." Thus the aspirations of Staunton were repressed, and the rising town had to wait for thirteen years for a new king liberal enough to grant her a charter.

Governor Dinwiddle, a native of Scotland, trained to business in a West India custom-house, and recommended for promotion by his detection and exposure of some gigantic frauds practiced by his official superiors there, arrived in Virginia early in 1752, and immediately gave offence by declaring the king's dissent to various acts which his predecessor had approved. The Assembly remonstrated against this exercise of the royal prerogative, but in vain.

The biographers of the celebrated Daniel Boone state that he came from Pennsylvania on an excursion to Augusta, about 1748-'9, with his cousin, Henry Miller. The latter returned to the county, and built on Mossy Creek the first iron furnace in the Valley.

From the proceedings of the vestry, August 22, 1748, it appears that John Lewis had contracted to erect the public buildings of the parish for £148, and it was ordered that he be paid £74 on "raising the said buildings, and the remainder on their completion." From a bond executed by Colonel Lewis, with Robert McClanahan as security, at the date just mentioned, but not recorded till November 28, 1753, it appears that one of the buildings was a dwelling house for the parish minister. According to tradition, this was the old frame house which lately stood on the southwest corner of Augusta street and Irish Alley.

We continue the extracts from the records of the court:

May 19, 1749.—"Ordered that James Montgomery and ​Richard Burton, or any one of them, wait on the court of Lunenburg, and acquaint them that the inhabitants of Augusta have cleared a road to the said county line, and desire that they will clear a road from the courthouse of Lunenburg to meet the road already cleared by the inhabitants of Augusta."

Lunenburg and Augusta were therefore adjoining counties at that time.^[4] It will be observed that here, as well as elsewhere, nothing is said about grading the road—it was only "cleared." Till many years afterward nothing else was attempted, and it was not till the present century that our road surveyors could be persuaded that the distance was as short round a hill as over it.

November 28, 1749.—"A commission to Robert McClanahan, gent., to be sheriff of this county during his majesty's pleasure, was produced in court," etc. Adam Breckenridge qualified as deputy sheriff.

Robert McClanahan was a native of Ireland, and came to Augusta at an early day. A brother of his, Blair McClanahan, was a merchant in Philadelphia, a prominent politician and member of Congress after the Revolution. The wife of Robert McClanahan was Sarah Breckenridge, and his children were four sons and two daughters. Three of the sons, Alexander, Robert and John, were prominent in the Indian wars, and Alexander was a lieutenant-colonel during the Revolution. One of his daughters married Alexander St. Clair, who came from Belfast, Ireland, and was long a prosperous merchant at Staunton, and an active member of the County Court. Mr. St. Clair also represented Augusta in the State Senate in the years 1791-'3.^[5]

​The grand juries of the county were apparently determined to enforce the observance of the Sabbath day. In 1749, Andrew McNabb was presented for a breach of the Sabbath—in what way is not stated; in 1750, Jacob Coger was presented "for a breach of the peace by driving hogs over the Blue Ridge on the Sabbath;" and in 1751, James Frame was presented "for a breach of the Sabbath in unnecessarily traveling ten miles."

At laying the county levy in 1750, allowance was made for two hundred and fifty-six wolf heads—the entire head had to be produced. In 1751 allowance was made for two hundred and twenty-four heads. In 1754 William Preston obtained an allowance for one hundred and three heads. They were hardly all trophies of his own skill, but most, if not all of them, were probably purchased by him. Indeed, wolf heads constituted a kind of currency.

The court and grand juries were extremely loyal. In 1749, Jacob Castle was arrested "for threatening to goe over to and be aiding and assisting of the French ag'st his Majesty's forces." In 1751, Owen Crawford was presented "for drinking a health to King James, and refusing to drink a health to King George." The accused made his escape, and the presentment was dismissed.

Constables were appointed at various times on the Roanoke and New rivers.

The first classical school west of the Blue Ridge was opened zin 1749, by Robert Alexander, two miles southwest of the present village of Greenville. The teacher was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1736, and to the Valley in 1743. How long Mr. Alexander conducted the school we do not know. He was succeeded by the Rev. John Brown, and the school was removed first to Old Providence, then to New Providence, and shortly before the Revolutionary war to Mount Pleasant, near Fairfield. It was latterly under the care of Hanover Presbytery.

​The next extract from the records of the court is of peculiar interest. Under date of August 29, 1751, we find the following:

"Ordered that the sheriff employ a workman to make a ducking stool for the use of the county according to law, and bring in his charge at laying the next county levy."

An act of assembly, passed in 1705, in accordance with the old English law, prescribed ducking as the punishment for women convicted as "common scolds." The ducking stool was no doubt made as ordered, but we have searched in vain for an instance of its use. "according to law." The failure to use it was certainly not because there were no scolding women in the county at that time; for soon after the machine was constructed, or ordered, one Anne Brown went into court and "abused William Wilson, gentleman, one of the justices for this county, by calling him a rogue, and that on his coming off the bench she would give it to him with the devil." Mrs. Brown was taken into custody, but not ducked, as far as we can ascertain. Nor was the failure to use the stool due to timidity or tender heartedness on the part of members of the court. They lashed women as well as men at the public whipping-post, and were brave enough to take Lawyer Jones in hand on one occasion for "swearing an oath." After thorough investigation and mature reflection, we have come to the conclusion that the making of the ducking stool was an "Irish blunder" on the part of our revered ancestors. Having provided a jail, stocks, whipping-post, shackles, etc.—all the means and appliances necessary in a well-ordered community—they ordered a ducking stool without reflecting that there was no water deep enough for its use within reach of the court-house.

Let us now refer again to the Rev. John Craig and his narrative. The territory occupied by his congregation was "about thirty miles in length and nearly twenty in breadth." The people agreed to have two meeting-houses, expecting to have two congregations, as afterwards came to pass. The people of the Augusta, or stone church neighborhood, amongst whom Mr. Craig lived, "were fewer in numbers, and much lower as to their worldly circumstances, but a good-natured, prudent, governable people, and liberally bestowed a part of what God gave them for religious and pious uses; always unanimous among themselves." "I had no trouble with them," says Mr. ​Craig, "about their meeting house. * * * They readily fixed on the place, and agreed on the plan for building it, and contributed cheerfully, money and labor to accomplish the work, all in the voluntary way, what every man pleased." But the people of the other section were, according to Mr. Craig's way of thinking, a stiff-necked and perverse generation. He says: "That part now called Tinkling Spring was most in numbers, and richer than the other, and forward, and had the public management of the affairs of the whole settlement; their leaders close-handed about providing necessary, things for pious and religious uses, and could not agree for several years upon a plan or manner, where or how to build their meeting-house, which gave me very great trouble to hold them together, their disputes ran so high. A difference happened between Colonel John Lewis and Colonel James Patton, both living in that congregation, which was hurtful to the settlement but especially to me. I could neither bring them to friendship with each other, or obtain both their friendships at once, ever after. This continued for thirteen or fourteen years, till Colonel Patton was murdered by the Indians. At that time he was friendly with me. After his death, Colonel Lewis was friendly with me till he died."

The feud between Colonel Lewis and Colonel Patton must have begun in 1741 or 1742. What it was all about, we do not know, but it probably related, in part, to the location of Tinkling Spring church. Mr. Craig himself was not a neutral nor lamb-like in that strife. He, and doubtless Colonel Lewis also, wanted the church built north of the site finally selected; while Colonel Patton and most of the people insisted upon Tinkling Spring as the place. Mr. Craig at last appealed to James Pilson, an aged man, to settle the controversy, and when the latter cast his vote for Tinkling Spring, the irate pastor is said to have exclaimed: "Are you too against me, Jimmy! Well, I am resolved that none of that water shall ever tinkle down my throat." And he kept his word.

It is said that Mr. Craig generally walked the five miles from his residence to the stone church. His morning service continued from 10 o'clock till after 12. The afternoon service lasted from 1 o'clock till sunset, and it was sometimes so late that the clerk found it difficult to read the last psalm. His only printed sermon is from 2 Samuel, xxiii, 5, and being on the ​old-fashioned, "exhaustive method," contains fifty-five divisions and sub-divisions. He was once sent by Hanover Presbytery to organize churches among the settlements on New River and Holston, and on his return reported a surprising number of elders whom he had ordained. Being questioned how he found suitable materials for so many, he replied in his rich idiom: "Where I cudna get hewn stanes, I tuk dornacks." He was regarded as very orthodox, but somewhat lax as to church discipline.—[Davidson's History of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky, page 24.]

Withers, in "Border Warfare" [page 48], gives the following account of the discovery and first occupancy of the Greenbrier country:

About the year 1749 there was in Frederick county a man subject to lunacy, who was in the habit of rambling into the wilderness. In one of his wanderings he came to some of the waters of Greenbrier river. Surprised to see them flowing westwardly, he made report of it on his return to Winchester, and also the fact that the country abounded in game. Thereupon, two men, named Sewel and Martin, recently arrived from New England, visited the Greenbrier country, and took up their abode there. They erected a cabin and made other improvements, but an altercation arising Sewel went off a short distance and lived for some time in a hollow tree. Thus they were found in 1751—Martin in the cabin and Sewel in the tree—by John Lewis and his son, Andrew, who were exploring the country. They were, however, by that time on friendly terms. Sewel soon afterwards moved forty miles west, and fell a prey to the Indians, and Martin returned to the settlement.

After this brief excursion beyond the frontier, let us return to the county seat. We have several times alluded to the twenty-five acres of land conveyed by Beverley to the county, April 24, 1746. In 1750, the County Court employed Andrew Lewis as surveyor, to lay off the tract in town lots, extending several existing streets, and opening new ones. The first street opened by Lewis, east of and parallel with Augusta, was called New street. The four main squares, constituting the heart of Staunton, were fixed by this survey, each square containing two acres, and being divided into four lots of half an acre each. Three lots, of forty-eight poles each, were laid off between ​Courthouse street and the creek. The court retained for the use of the county only two of the lots—the half acre on which the courthouse stood, designated on the plat as No. 2, and the lot of forty-eight poles, immediately opposite, across Court-house street where the county jail now stands, designated as No. 1. The courthouse was at. the southwest corner of the lot on which it stood, and the jail on the southeast corner of the same lot.

The court appointed Andrew Lewis, Robert McClanahan and Robert Breckenridge, commissioners, to convey the lots to purchasers. Thomas Paxton purchased three lots for £8, ($26.66⅔) viz: the half acre at southwest corner of Beverley and New streets, the corresponding lot diagonally opposite, and the lot of forty-eight poles, southeast corner of New and Court-house streets. Alexander McNutt purchased for £3, the lot of forty-eight poles adjoining and east of the present jail lot, where the Bell Tavern afterwards stood. The half acre lot, southeast corner of Augusta and Frederick streets, was purchased by Joseph Kennedy for £3. Robert McClanahan purchased two half acre lots—northwest corner of Beverley and New Streets, (where the Wayne Tavern afterwards stood,) and the northwest corner of Courthouse and New streets—for £2, 10s.

In giving possession of these lots, the old English custom of "livery of seizin" was practiced, the commissioners and purchasers going on the premises, and the former delivering to the latter a handful of earth in token of the delivery of the whole.

It is a question as to how the town was entered from the east in the early days of the settlement. The plots alluded to give no indication of a road or street leading, as at present, from the Virginia Hotel to the creek near the Valley railroad depot; and it is probable that the land between the points named was swampy and ordinarily impassable. If so, the road must have passed over Abney's or Garber's hill.

It appears that, in 1750, a man called Ute Perkins and others were perpetrating robberies in the county; but we have no information in regard to the matter, except several hints in the proceedings of the court. The following order was entered November 28, 1750: "On the motion of Peter SchoU, gent., it's ordered that the sheriff demand of Joseph Powell a saddle supposed to belong to Ute Perkins and his followers, and that John Harrison ​deliver the several goods in his possession (supposed to belong to the said Perkins or some of his followers) to the said Scholl, he being one of the coroners, till further order" And again, February 19, 1751: "The petition of John and Reuben Harrison, praying a reward for killing two persons under the command of Ute Perkins, who were endeavoring to rob them, was read and ordered to be certified." The Harrisons lived in the northern part of the county, now Rockingham.

On the 29th of November, 1750, the Rev. John Todd, a Dissenting minister, appeared in court and took the prescribed oaths. Mr. Todd was a Presbyterian minister and lived in Louisa county. He never resided in Augusta, but his object was to qualify himself, according to law, for officiating here occasionally.

In the early winter of 1750, the country was visited by a storm of unusual violence, as we learn from a paper found in the clerk's office of the circuit court, having been filed in the old cause of Stuart vs. Laird, &c. There is no signature to the paper, but it is endorsed, "Hart's Field-Notes." In the answer the notes are called "Trimble's," and it is probable that the writing was scribbled on the back of his field notes by the assistant county surveyor, who was caught out in the storm while on a professional excursion. He thus relates his dismal experience, and gives expression to his alarm, but, at the same time, deep piety:

"December 21, 1750, being fryday, and being the most dismal Judgment-like day that I have seen, the day before having been excessive great rain, &c., frost freezing on tbe trees and branches, as also 2 nights, and the snow beginning before day this morning, so overloaded the trees and branches, that their falling is as constant as clock-work, so that there seems to be scarce a whole tree left in the woods. Doubtless whoso lives to hear of the end of this storm thence will account of many men and cattle lost and killed; and this day was 8 years, was the Day that 8 corps killed by the Indians, was bury'd at Mr. Bordin's, where I am now storm-stead or weather bound, being 22 years since I was cast away, but through God's Great Mercy preserved on the windy Saturday in harvest, being the 24th of August, 1728. Blessed be Almighty God who has saved me hitherto from many Eminent Dangers. O Lord, Grant it may be taken as special warnings to me and others."

The following order of the County Court of Augusta was ​entered February 19, 1751: "Catherine Cole being presented by the grand jury for having a bastard child and refusing to pay her fine or give security for the same according to law, it is ordered that she receive on her bare back at the public whipping post of this county twenty lashes well laid on, in lieu of said fine, and it is said to the sheriff that execution thereof be done immediately." Another woman was ordered at the same time to be punished in like manner for the same offence.

On May 30, 1751, John David Wilpert (the only man with three names, locally recorded to such date,) petitioned the court, setting forth that he had been "at considerable expense in coming from the northward and settling in these parts," and had rented three lots in the new-erected town of Staunton, through which runs a good and convenient stream of water, and praying leave to build a grist and fulling mill. The petition was resisted by John Lewis, who had a mill within a mile of town, and the case was taken by appeal to the General Court. How it was ultimately decided we are not advised, but the petition no doubt indicates the origin of "Fackler's mill," which stood on the creek south of Beverley street and between Water and Lewis streets. Wilpert was afterwards prominent in the Indian wars, and received from the government six hundred acres of bounty land. He went to Kentucky and gave his name to a creek in that State, which has been changed, however, into Wolfert's creek.

In the year 1751, Governor Dinwiddle appointed James Patton, Joshua Fry, and Lunsford Lomax, commissioners, to meet the Indians at Logstown, on the Ohio river, sixteen miles below Pittsburg, and conclude a treaty with them. Under date of December 13, 1751, the Governor instructed Patton to proceed immediately to Fredericksburg, "and there receive from Mr. Strother the goods sent as a present by His Majesty to the Indians, and provide everything necessary for the gentlemen appointed commissioners on behalf of this government, to meet and treat with the Indians, and to order all to be laid down at Mr. George Parish's near Frederick Town." The treaty was concluded June 13, 1752, but was observed for a short time only.—[Dinwiddie Papers, Vol. I, page 9.]

Several acts were passed by the Assembly of Virginia, in the year 1752, "for encouraging persons to settle on the waters of the Mississippi river, in the county of Augusta."

​The vestry of the parish held no meeting during the year 1749. At their meeting on May 21, 1750, it was ordered that £64, 17s. 1d. be paid to Colonel John Lewis, the balance due to him on the glebe buildings.

On the 16th of October, 1752, Governor Dinwiddie wrote to the vestry introducing the Rev. John Jones "as a worthy and learned divine," and recommending him to them as their pastor, "not doubting but his conduct will be such as will entitle him to your favour by promoting peace and cultivating morality in the parish." Mr. Jones was accordingly inducted, November 15th, with a salary of £50 a year. The glebe buildings not being finished, Colonel Lewis, the contractor, agreed to allow Mr. Jones £20 a year in the meanwhile. A "Reader to this parish, to be chosen by Mr. Jones," was allowed pay at the rate of £6, 5s. a year. A cellar under the minister's house was ordered to be dug. Many poor children, male and female, were bound out by the church-wardens from time to time.

Of the Rev. John Jones we can obtain no information whatever, except from the records of the vestry. Bishop Meade, in his voluminous work called "Old Churches and Old Families in Virginia," gives sketches of many ministers, relating with perfect candor the bad as well as the good, but he could find little to say about Mr. Jones. Although the latter lived here and held a prominent position for more than twenty years, no anecdote or tradition in regard to him has come down to us. He was probably a bachelor, and a man of mature age when he settled at Staunton. We should judge that he was a kindly, good man, generally respected, though possibly, from physical infirmity, not very energetic. There is no record of the date of his death, and at the close of the old vestry book he disappears from view as mysteriously as he came, leaving no representative, successor, nor estate behind him.

Up to the year 1760, and indeed for long afterwards, there was no meeting-house for religious worship in the county, except those of the Presbyterian denomination. The Church of England, established by law, had a rector and vestry, as we have seen, but the building of a church was not begun till 1760, and the rector officiated in the courthouse and such dwellings as he had access to. The first meeting-houses of Tinkling Spring and Augusta were probably built before the year 1740. ​At what date the present "Augusta stone church" was built is not known. It was some time between 1740 and 1755, and according to tradition, men, women and children labored at the erection, transporting sand from Middle river on horseback, and timber and stone in like manner. The current belief is, that the building was completed in 1748. The original log meeting-house stood in the old burying ground.

In the year 1746, the Rev. John Blair,^[6] a New Side minister from the north, visited the county and organized four Presbyterian congregations—Forks of James, Timber Ridge, New Providence, and North Mountain. The first named afterwards became Hall's meeting-house, then New Monmouth, and finally Lexington. North Mountain meeting-house was a little to the right of the road leading from Staunton to Middlebrook, about nine miles from the former, and on land now [1886] owned by Charles T. Palmer. No trace of the former use of the spot remains at this day, except the old burying ground, "where the forefathers of the hamlet sleep." There repose many Moffetts, Tates, Trimbles and others. North Mountain congregation never had a separate pastor, but depended during most of its existence on "supplies," and the labors of neighboring ministers. The Rev. Charles Cummings was pastor at Brown's meeting-house [Hebron] from 1767 till 1773; and the Rev. Archibald Scott, a native of Scotland, was pastor of Brown's meeting-house and North Mountain congregations from 1778 to about 1798. After the organization of Bethel congregation, through the influence of Colonel Doak, North Mountain was abandoned, the worshippers dividing between Bethel and Hebron.

Mr. Blair also visited the Big Calf Pasture in 1746. This beautiful Valley was occupied by emigrants, and the congregation of Rocky Spring was organized, in a short time after the first settlement of the county.

​The vestry of the parish met August 21, 1753, and ordered the church-wardens "to pale in a church yard one hundred feet square," and also "to pale and clear out a garden of half an acre at the glebe." At the meeting on November 28th, Robert Campbell, of whom the glebe land was purchased, acknowledged payment of £6o in full. Colonel John Lewis acknowledged payment to him of £148, the "full sum agreed on for building the glebe work according to bargain," and renewed his obligation to pay Mr. Jones £20 a year till the buildings should be finished, Mr. Jones consenting thereto.

The Colonial Assembly passed an act at their session which began in November, 1753, reciting that part of the county and parish of Augusta was within the bounds of the Northern Neck belonging to Lord Fairfax, and setting off this portion of Augusta and a part of Frederick to form the county of Hampshire.

The "returns" of the early sheriffs give us an idea of the state of the country and the times in which these officers lived. In the year 1751 the sheriff, on an execution issued in the cause of Johnson vs. Brown, made return: "Not executed by reason, there is no road to the place where he lives." Other executions were returned as follows: "Not executed by reason of excess of weather;" "Not executed by reason of an axx;" "Not executed by reason of a gun." In Emlen vs. Miller, 1753: "Kept off from Miller with a club, and Miller not found by Humphrey Marshal." In Bell vs. Warwick, 1754: "Executed on the within John Warwick, and he is not the man." In August, 1755, forty-nine executions were returned: "Not executed by reason of the disturbance of the Indians."