The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-05-23
FLOR the Dispatch.l
ancient Records of EssHx Conntys

suc,eus Records of EsSex County,
TArpAnANSocK, May Is, 1877.
wc take il for granted. Messrs. Editors,
that Won are not so welded to the de'ng
,,resent MS to have no relish for the oeaa
a,nst Don't be alarmed. gentlemen, by this
introduction. We don't mean anything po-
litical-not even the unfortunate feSo'u-
tions os .9S or '99, or anything as NuiSary
modern as the stamp-act, or the Dec'aration
of Independence. or the Frenea aIu
Indian wars, Braddock,s defeal, Oh , ZOO
rs recent 4 period as the !eaa 100 ;,..o
that ushered George Washington u NV
this eventual world. No; we peg en'
Measure OF Your company on an eAcui s.V ~,
while we reverse our sails ana turn VIZ th p
the stream Of Time, and passing oy an .uo
events of tho present and past centuries,
o,,r wars and political struggles, recent anu
mast The deeds and misdeeds OF al. 'ne
GEORGES, Queen Ann, and Niitian VI
Orange. or any other " stranger VINO n'leu
the :. stewards throne" down to the Gays
OF the cav monarch himself, "our sofe-
reisn lord Charles the Second, by the grace
~ Cod King OF England, Scotland,
France. and Ireland" We will carry
Won even beyond this period to the
wear 1886, and as there must DC
some stoppiuc-place we will cast anchor
there: about, il our memory serves us,
four wears before "the restoration but
please bear in mind the saving clause, III
our snemorp serves us .: Tor, not oelhS
travelling historical dictionary, your core
spondent may be SerUed scurvy trick by
this treachcrous faculty. While so1ournlns
in this ancient burg OF Tarpahannock 1or
few DAYS access has been gwen US ny INC
courtesy OF the venerable clerk OF Essen,
10 the mouldy records OF the OLD county
Of Rannahaunock and its successor, thc
comfy az Essex. With the kind assistance
of the editor OF the Iideacater Mdec we
have been luxuriating, after 1ashlon,
among Iusty old ledgers and dced-books, the
like Of which we hardly supposed couiu
now be found in Virginia. Here we are,
surrounded by deeds and other curious re-
cords from the days OF Cromwell, the
Lord Protector of the liberties OF Eng
land 10 those OF Ulysses the First, the
,,uos; Lord Protector" oil the United
States. and even unto the first days
OF "Rutheriord b.. One feels in porting
over the olden records, where the worms
have so long their revels Kept, ana snulnhS
up a. every turn OF page the dust OF more
than two hundred and twenty years, as II
he were down among the dead men ana
holding familiar buSineSS-converse win the
spirits of an age long past. Sureiyh there
are "sermons in stones" and ''books IN
running brooks you may find some books
OF choice sermons here, where every page
is q memento mort, and every volume an
abridgment of the lives OF hundreds VINO
had pasSed into eternity and been forgotten
before the order OF "tic knights OF the
Golden Horseshoe" had been formed in
Virginia. The date OF the formation OF the
old county OF Rappahannock can't be eStaD-
liShed with accuracy, as the first part OF the
most ancien, OF the ledgers has been so mll-
tilated as not to he leglble earlier than an
entry made in September, 1866.
In this month Colonel Moore Fauntleroy
and seven other white justices constituted
court OF .'ye county of Rappahannock,"
together with "the King OF the RaDpahan-
mock nation and three Of his "great
men, The present county OF Essex was
but fractional part of the old county, from
which it was separated about the year 1890,
and these old records were retained at the
county-Seat, located by tradition at point
six miles from this place. Rappahannock
county was 4 domain in itself, extending to
the bay on both sides OF the river, and up
us far as the limits Of the white settlements.
We have before us deed for the land upon
which this present village stands, dated in
1860. and given by Colonel Goodrich for
town site, and with it q plat OF the town, to
be called New Plymouth, and very admi-
rably-drawn diagram OF the adjoining To-
cality. This name was retained for forty
or fifty years. till the year 1907, when an
order is entered for laying it Oft anew and
changing the name to Tappahannock, but
this order OF the court seems not
to have been carried out till 1927.
About 1850 Francis Hobbies established a
.:bole" or "harbor" on an inlet from the
river Just above Tappahannock, and this
place, called on the old map Hobbes's
Hole,'' was near gaining the preeminencein
a struggle with the more classical Indian
name OF Tappahannock. BY the way, the
town.ot Tappahannock was laid Oft (as the
folks about here say the same year with
Philadelphia. and on the same model. Ger
tain it is, the streets intersect each other
with the same mathematical eNactness, but
here the resemblance unfortunately ends
1t is evident to one that reads these queer
old records carefully that as late as 1890 the
Indians were still Il power in the land, to
be dealt with gingerly and propitiatcd. We
have before us several old treaties made be-
tween the "Worshipful Court" and "the
King of the Rappahannocks" and bis
" great men," most Of them barely legible,
but intensely interesting. Aany Of these
were noticed by the Iide,cater Index OF the
30th OF March.
These treaties for the most part were re-
corded between the years OF 1856 and 1000,
but the ,r0rmy SapperS and miners have
made so many mines and countermines,
and dug out so many grottoeS and natural
bridges, and done other fantastic engineer
ing tricks in the fat old book, that it is fairly
riddled, and can be only partially deci-
phered. Still their preservation for SO many
years seems almost miracle, as the original
clerks Office was destroyed, and this village
las been visited by the enemy during three
successive wars; the last visitors hay
ing out-vandalled the other yandals! But
enough can be deciphered to show that in
these curious treaties the principles Of {" the
fugitive law" the "civil-rights BILL" and
the "extradition treaty '-about which
there has lately been such a pother-are dis
tinctly enunciated. Verify ''tbere Is no.
thing new under the sum-! To begin, here
is treaty between "the Hing OF the Rap
pahansocks" and his three "great men"
Tor Privy Councillors and eye Worshipful
Court OF We county OF Rappahannock," in
which the said court, for the maintenance
of lasting peace" solemnly binds itself that
in all cases, civil and criminal, sin which
the rights of Indians are involved" that
the aforesaid King and his great men are
TO preside on the bench with the white
members OF the court, and have equal 3u-
risdiction with them. They might as well
have inserted the famous "without-dis-
tinction-oi-color clause! Here is, again,
a treaty in which the aforesaid liking" and