Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1895-07-03

cOulQ nOG SrdnC Gne request immediate
ly but the next year the Rev. James
Anderson was sent to intercede with
Governor Gooch in behalf of the Pres
byterians in Virginia. The church of
England was established by law
throughout the colony; but the gov
ernor, in his reply, assured the people
of his good WILL and of the ample pro-
lection to which they were entitled I'M
der the English Act of liberation"
All their ministers were required to do,
was to take the oaths prescribed by
law, to register their places of meeting,
and behave themselves peacefully to-
wards the government. During that
year, 1913, Mr.. Anderson visited the
| Valley, and, at the house of John
| Lewis, preached the first sermon ever
delivered in this section of country.
All the time we have passed over,
new settlers were coming in James
Patton was an efficient agent in intro
ducing them, and in the course of his
business crossed the Atlantic ocean
twenty-five times. Unfortunately, he
introduced many '-'indentured ser
wants." white people of both sexes
who had been banished from the old
country for petty offences, and who to
a great extent kept up their evil prac
tices in this new land. But in the lat
ter part of 1879 or early in 1740, there
was a great influx of people of the best
sort, the very people to wrestle with
| the wilderness and found a State
| Then came John Preston and Ibis
wife Elizabeth (Patton's sister,, Alex
ander Breckenridge, David Logan,
Hugh Campbell, Robert Poage, the
Bells, Trimbles, Hayses, Pattersons,
Andersons, SCOTS, Wilson's. Youngs
and that ubiquitous man who is found
wherever the English language is
spoken, John Smith. This John
Smith was no myth, but a sturdy cap
tain of rangers during the Indian wars,
and almost died of chagrin, because
the military authorities would not
give him a command in his old age,
when the Revolutionary war arose.
He was the ancestor of Judge Daniel
Smith of Rock ingham and Colonel
Benjamin H. Smith of Kanawha.
Notwithstanding the Indians who
prowled around the settlements were
professedly peaceful, frequent coils
ions occurred between individuals of
the two races, and a military OrganiZa-
ton of tie white people was perfected
in the fall of 1742 William Beverley,
although a resident of Essex county,
was the county lieutenant or cOmman-
der in-chief. James Patton was the
colonel, or officer Immediately in COM
mand. There were twelve captains
and companies, the first captain in the
list being John Smith, and the next
Andrew Lewis. Among the captains
were John Wilson, who afterwards for
| twenty seven consecutive years, rep
resented Augusta county in the house
of Burgesses; Peter Scholl, who lived
in what is now Rockingham, thirty
miles from a public road, and John
! Mcdowell, who. with eight of mis- men,
was killed by Indians in December,
| 1742. The privates were enrolled with
out respect to age, from boyhood to
the extremity of life. The venerable
Ephriam Mcdowell was a member of
his son Johns company. The number
of men in a company averaged about
| fifty, which indicates a total popula-
ton in the set tied parts of the present
counties of Rockingham, Augusta and
Rockbridge (all then Augusta Of about
twenty five hundred.
| Population having sufficiently in
creased, Governor Gooch. on October
80, 1745. issued "A Commission of the
Peace" naming the first justices of
the county. The county court com
posed of the justices organized and set
to work December 8, 1745
The justices and the inhabitants
generally were law-abiding people.
They entertained the opinion that law
was Of no manner of account unless it
was enforced They accordingly
searched the statute book for all the
| offences of which the court had juris-
diction. FeloiIies were of rare occur
rence-indeed | have found in the
county records nc mention of the trial
of white person for felony for fifty
years after the first settiement-but
other offenders abounded. A Jail was
soon erected, and shackles, hand cuffs,
stocks, a whipping post and ducking
stool for scolding women were provid
ed. Then the new fedged justices
looked out for law breakers. The first
offender caught was one Edward
Boyle, who for damning the court
and swearing four oaths was put in
the stocks for two hours and fined two
dollars. They even fined Lawyer
Jones, the kings attorney, ''for swear.
ing an OATH" They dashed men and
women at the whipping post whenever
justice required it. The grand juries
did their duty. They presented Jacob
! Coger for breach OF the peace by
driving hogs over the Blue Ridge on
| the Sabbath" Owen Crawford was
presented ''for drinking a health to
King James and refusing to drink
| health to King George" Fortunately
| for Owen he effected his escape. But
the ducking stool was never used.
Why not? | can think of no reason ex-
cept that there was no deep water near
the court house. The making of it
was an Irish blunder." l am obliged
to confess that the failure to use the
ducking stool was not because there
were no scolding women IN the coun
try could mention several by name
if 1t were proper to do So. Of course
there are none Of this class amongst us
now.
Successive grand iuries were equally
faithful. James Frame was presented
for breach of the Sabbath in unnec
essarily travelling ten miles; Colonel
Thomas Chew, a lawyer, and John
BRENNAN, deputy sheriff, were pre-
sented as common swearers; another
person was presented las a disturber
of the common peace of the neighbors
by carrying lies, and also as common
lyer;;" Valentine Sewer, father of Gen
eral John Sewer, was presented for
swearing six profane oaths," and
Samuel Hutts was presented "for a
breach of the Sabbath in singing pro-
fame songs" These will suffice to show
the determination of our ancestors to
suppress all wickedness. 1t may be
safely asserted that few, if any, of
these ''profane" people were of the
Scotch-Irish race.
The French and Indian war arose in
1854, by which time the population of
the valley had largely increased by
births and the influx of people of the
same race as the original settlers, with
scarcely any admiXture of others. 1t
is not for me to relate here the horrors
of the period while the war lasted
the assaults by savages on the isolated
cabins of the white people, the slaugh-
ter of many women and children, and
the captivity and sufferings of many
more. Nor can | tell of the pursuit of
the retiring enemy by husbands,
brothers and sons; of the conflicts on
the mountains and in the valleys; nor
of the frequent expeditions into the
Indian country to intimidate or even
extermlnate the savages. After the