Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-08-21

on the corner lot, across Augusta Street In
| the next house below the stables, Mrs. sMaiga-
retAW oods lived She andher brother, Joseph
Gamble bought the Ordinary property from
Robert McClanahan. in 1850, and sold it to
| Archer. Mathews in l764. Archer sold it in
and George Mathews. Mrs Cowden, one of
| the first settlers, lived next to Mrs. Wood S,
near where the pump is now. At the corner
| where Tremper and young Brooks kept the
Post Office for SO long, Sampson Mathews had
his store. My father dealt at this store, after
he set up housekeeping, and have found
among his papers q bill of goods he bought
there. Among. the items were sugar at one
shilling pound, two nutmegs at one and four
pence, half a pound of gun powder at two shil
| lings, &c. Below the store, down Beverly
street, the widow Hughes lived, and James
Hargrove lived on New Street, where Puifen-
barger lived In my day, just behind the Ordi-
nary lot. Some how or other [ keep coming
back to the Ordinary Maybe shall have
something more to say about it. Just here
must mention that the Indian wars made q
great many widows in Staunton in those days.
III don t think my father ever spoke of any
preachers and doctors and lawyers as living in
Staunton when he came here. The Rev. John
Craig, who preached at the Stone Church, was
often In town. Speaking Of him reminds me
| day, by Capt John Dickerson of Windy Cove.
Samuel Giyens found the man in the woods,
and took him to Capt. Dickersons. 1t was
soon after Draddook' war. The man was not
white, nor black, nor red like the Indians, and
he could not speak English, nor French, nor
the Indian language. When he came to town
the people assembled at Court were very much
excited about him. He took a great fancy to
Mr.. Craig, and went home with him. Ibelieve
he turned out to be a native of Algiers, in Af-
rica, but will not stop to say more in refer
ence to him. Africans are not interesting SUBJ
jects to speak off, 4 H4
i am almost sure there were no regular doc
tors here till near the time when Dr. Mcintosh
arrived. But there was no lack of lawyers
when Couft-day came round Sometimes Mr.
George Wythe was here from williamsburg -
Young Dir. Jefferson, as my father called him,
often came over from Albemare. There was a
host OF others. Lawyer Gabriel Jones lived in
the country, some twenty miles from town.
lie was the King Attorney, and hard to beat
as pleader. So many lawyers crowded in, and
they were so clamorous for business, that the
Court had to make an order that "any attorney
speaking at the bar when he is not employed
shall forfeit five shillings." Lawyer Jones must
have been high-tempered and right wicked, for
the Grand Jury once presented him for profane
swearing. The Court and turies did their du-
ty II those days, let who might suffer. In the
year l762, Alexander McClanahan, Joseph Bell
and several other youths were fined ten shillings
each for disturbing the Court by playing at ball.
AT one Court, man was sentenced to receive
thlrty-nlne lashes for stealing shirt. -
from all accounts, Court days in Staunton at
that time were high-days and holidays Such
crowds of people, from the mountains and hol-
lows, from Roanoke New River and the Ohio
boUQ = 4o,.o Ii,
Every man brought his rifle along, and more or
less wolf scaips, for which the law allowed a
bounty out OF the county levy
1t was unsafe then to travel far from home
without your gun. The year after my father
settled here, the Indians under Cornstalk came
into the settlements as far as Cars Creek and
the neighborhood Of Staunton, killing and burn
ing. There was great alarm in .town-nore
than when Sheridan came up the Valley not
long ago. Many OF the women and children
were sent off to safe places. Mrs Margaret
Reid, then a young woman, mounted a horse
and fed across the Blue Ridge Some of the
young people Of town must remember her.-
She lived in the low frame house which stood
where the Central Bank is now, and has been
dead only about forty years. The redskins got
paid for their sport q few, years afterwards, at
Point Pleasant and Cornstalk and his son Eli
nlpsico were killed by some of the Cars Greek
men, in 1777. - s, ..r.
There were a few rebels in Augusta coun-
ty at an early day. My father used to laugh
about the Grand Jury presenting Owen Craw-
ford for drinking health to King James,
and refusing to drink health to King George"
Squire McClanahan had Francis Ferguson up
for abusing Governor DinWiddie as "a Scotch
peddling son Of a - = but Francis apologized,
and the Court let him off. X ,tsr ~,s.
| wanted to tell about the public improve
ments Of Staunton in 1862, butmust leave them
and many other things for another time. Like
an old man, as | am, my mind has been con-
fused again while / have been writing, and I
have talked about things my father told me of as
if ] remembered them myself And here am
at the end OF the paper without having. yet
come to my own recollections, which | set out
to tell. sl, e..at OLDEST lNRABIFANT.
For the Spectator.
Mr.. EDrroR "A communication appeared
in your paper of the Sth inst, over the sigma
ture of 'Gulliver, - in which mention is made
Of several persons and places, that very few Of
our citizens know anything about Upon en-
quiry of my particular friend s'Gulliyer" | have
obtained the following items, which InoW give
you: He says, old Jacob Peck, = for SO he
was called, when G. was a small boy, lived
in the white house just West of the Gas W Works.
He was the grandfather of Capt. Fl. II. Peck,
and said to be-when in his prime--the strong
est man in the county. His lanyard was 10
Gated on the lot where the Gas Works are now.
'sOld August, and 'tOld Tommy Thompson"
were old men that worked for Mr.. Peck the
former he thinks was Mr. P's. gardener, and the
latter, he believes was a shoemaker, both said
to be old revolutionary soldiers, with this diff
ference: Tommy fought on our side, and Au-
gust, being assHessian, fought against u.s. Tom
my, received pension from the United States,
and August could not understand why he did
not receive one too, as he fought in the same
war. "Old Enoch Fenton," was blacksmith,
and lived in the next house West Of Peck 's.-
He was said to be Quaker; a sect always
very scarce in this community, yet many years
ago there were two, preachers here of that per
s1asion,; but the whole Church, preachers and
all, probably did not number more than half a
dozen persons the leading man among them
was "Old Philip Hopkins hatter-some-
times called, BY the mischieyous boys about the
town, "Old Shellbark. y C. says he sup
poses, that everybody has heard the ridiculous
story about the ''hauntnd room - in the t(eld