Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1849-12-12
oMmUNIcArIoNs.
ron THE srEcrAroa.
"BURGESs WILSON"

.Messrs. Editors ~ lately turned aside from my
road To view the old Glebe Burying Ground, nigh To
the Glebe Parsonage, of Augusta County, now
the property of Mr. Isaac Scott. IL is situated about
3 five miles North Of M,ddlebrouk, near The Middle
River, and occupies a beautiful site hough
no storied urn or animated bust decorates this an
cent repository of the dead, II is not for want OF
merit in one whose dust lies there, but rather ON
ing to the rudeness aud simplicity Of the times IN
which he lived. There repose the ashes Of Angus
ta's first choice after she erected into County,
(l745,) for his ~ years. service must have been
coeval with the existence of the County. give
you the inscription his monument, which is a
slab of smooth, unpublished black sand stone, mas
sive and coffin shaped with head and foot stones OF
the same. The letters about two inch capitals,
rather tall shaped, execution coarse:
"I1ere Iys the inferred body of Col. John Will
son. who departed this life, in the year Of our Lord,
1878, in the I'D year of his age, having served his
country q Yrs Representative in the ho"ourable
house of Burgiesis in Virginia, Sc"
Con the same, below:)
"Likewise the inferred body of Martha. his well
beloved wife, who departed this life July 10, 1855,
in the Tx year other age"
1t will be noted, this last occurred in the same
year and month of Braddock's defeat, (July, l155)
That Col. Wilson was no common man, may
be supposed from the following The writer, near
30 years ago, travelled in the company of the Rev.
James u. Wilson, OF Augusta county, ana al the
house of Mrs. Wnsiey, in Goochand, met her VEN
cradle father, Col. Quarles, a very aged man, who
then resided with her. The Colonel enquired of
Mr.. Wilson, as to his relationship tu Colonel John
Wilson, of the old Assembly, of which he, Col.
Quarles, had been member, (if mistake not }
In the course OF conversation, he narrated, that al
though Col. Wilson was not an eloquent man, yet
few, If any, of the Burgieses, had as much weight
or influence in the house. So much, Messrs. Ed-
tors, for the honor of old Augusta, for "here were
giants in those days" Perhaps no man in Ameri.
ca since his day, has represented large extent
Of terriiory. The bounds of old Augusta then, eX-
tended from the Blue Ridge Of Mountains 10 the
Mississippi River-though it must be confessed
that ENTHUSIASTICALLY the population was "iew and
far between". believe the site of the present city
of Pitsburg, the old Fort du Quesne Of the French
was comprehended in lis limits
Col Quarles' recollection went far back into on.
colonial history. He said he was the shore of
the Potomac, and saw the fleet from Britain with
Braddocks troops on board, starting up the river,
bound for Behaven, the presen, city of Alexandria.
Col John Wilson one ofthe early Scotch Irish
Settlers, resided Of his plantation, on the Middle
river, where lived and died last year, his grandson.
Mr.. Matthew Wilson, SEN, Elder in Bethel Con
gregalion, at the age of upwards of fourscore The
old ancestral mansion, am sorry to say, was re-
moved few months ago.
~ hoover has lived in that settlement. or is ac-
quainted with it, cannot fail to have heard of old
Burgess Wilson, Gas he is quantity Called as a
great man in early times. His descendants are all
highly respectable. p. II.
*rhc Court of Augusta County once sat al Pitsburg
-EDs. OF SPEC.