Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1896-09-24

lOndCk, we nave leslIlAOHl '"'N - 80
rect and positive. A gentleman, now
residing in Winchester, Va, nearly
ninety years of age, but in full pos
session of his mental faculties, whose
youth was spent near Shepherdstown,
testifes that in his boyhood COM
mon name for that place through the
surrounding country was POtOn'ack.
Nearly all the Negroes, and not a few
of the old people, were accustomed so
to call it.
These considerations and facts would |
seem to be conclusive in determining
the location Of Potomack. And il this
name is another, and the correct one
for "Potomoke in Virginia as We
believe it to be-then it determines the
long moeted question as to the loca-
ton of "the people, - who, in 1920
were put into Church order; and
where the second duly constituted
Presbyterian Church in Virginia was
planted.
But to this conclusion it is objected,
that any testimony that would locate
Potomoke anywhere in the valley OF
Virginia lis inadmissible, because there
were no white inhabitants OF the Valley
anywhere along the Potomac or Shen-
andoah previous to about the year
1888" (FOote, vol. i, p. 357.) Ifthis
statement is correct our conclusion
must, of course, be abandoned. But
the statement not only athrms more
than the facts will Justify, but what
the facts themselves actually contra
dict. The early historians Of the
valley evidently thought that the first
settlements made were on the head
waters Of Opequon. And it Is proba-
bly, true that there were no white IN
habitants there previous to about the
year 1888. But it by no means fol-
lows that there were none nearer the
Potomac. 1t must be remembered
that the immigration to the valley was
not from the East, across the Blue
Ridge; but from the North across the
Potomac. And no sufficient reason
has ever been given why the first set
tiers should pass over the beautiful,
and fertile, and well-watered lands OF
Jefferson and Berkeley counties-"the
finest in the world and select lands
fifty miles, or more, further south, that
offered no superior advantages IN re-
spect either to productiyeness or beau
ty. But evidence is not wanted that
these sharp witted men were not guilty
Of such folly. Reliable tradition tells
of various settlements in the Lower
Valley several years before the immi-
grafton flowed over into Frederick
County.
But there is evidence more substan-
tial than tradition. In the Act of
Assembly of 1888, whereby the county
of Frederick was formed, the reason
expressly given for it, is that
great numbers of people have settled
themselves Of late on the north
west side of the Blue Ridge, whereby
the strength Of the Colony, and its Sc
curity, and its revenues are like to be
much increased"
At that day, five years would hardly
suffice, nor would many times five
years, for such large increase Of pop
ulation as this "Act" acknowledges.
And there was a reason for this in
crease in the Shenandoah Valley, even
while the population in the Cumber-
land Valley was still sparse. The set
tlement of the Scotch-Irish was not
welcomed in Pennsylvania; they We're
regarded as a pugnacious people and
undesirable neighbors. In 1924 James
Logan, Secretary of the Province,
wrote
1T looks to me as if Ireland is to send
all its inhabitants hither. 1t IS
strange that they should thus crowd
vhey Hey are not waHted." "
Accordingly, while others were treated
with kindness these were often driven
from their settlements, their cabins
burned, and they told to move further
on into the wilderness. Thus elected,
not a few of them moved southwark,
and found in Virginia that freedom
from molestation which was denied
them in the province of William Penn.
And there is evidence of an early
settlement still more convincing. In
an old graveyard near Dufields, FIVE
miles south of Shepherdstown, there
is a tombstone, the inscription on
which is still legible, erected to the
memory of a Christian woman, and
bearing date l7O7. This must be taken
as certain proof of white settlement
at that point, at least as early as that
date. The grave Of a acoma'', carefully
marked, can mean no less. And the
fact is interesting, and may not be