Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1898-07-28
EARLY VIRGINIA HISTORY.
COLCHESTER ON THE oCCoQUAN-CON-
TINUED.
NJ 81

|
TINUED.
No. 81.
unk are thy bowers in shspeless ruin all,
And the long grass o'ertops the lnoulderiDg
wall
No busy steps the grass grown foot way tread,
For all the f1owery flush of life has fled. "
The early colonists who were lured to
he province of Virginia by the stories
of its many advantages as 8 place for
European settlement, found no region
OF It's vast and varied territory more in
viting than that which borders the river
Occoquan. Its timber Of every needed
va1iety for the construction of habi,a-
tons, boats and sll other economic az
pliances of civilized life was abundant
aud everywhere its lands, agreeably di
oers. fed by hill and vale. were ma ural-
fertile and easy of tillsge; perennial
springs gushed profusely from every
hillside, and the river was deep and
apaciuus enough for seagoing vessels.
Must prominent OF all the attractions
was that of the transparency OF the
climate 10 the new conner from over the
seos, after his experiences with the
ieuse and gloomier ans of his native
and Almost every object in the new
calm must have been to him source
ii wonder and delight. Such abundant
picturesque and grand scenes as met his
yes must have fully compensated him
or leaving his old English home aud
making the long and perilous ocean
voyage. There was no need to scram- :
Die for anything for comfort. The
woods and the streams and moraest
Welded enough for all. As the red man
gave way TO his smarter brother, the
pale face, and moved TO other hunting
grounds far away to the west, Virginia
became in truth a garden of luxury and
abundance to all who came with earn
est resolves and willing hands to its do
mains.
So early as the year 1850 few pio-
neers from the low lands of the Poto-
mac and James, Drawing the hardships
IF the wilderness territory and risking
be hostility of the many lurking In-
diaus, who still menaced the peace and
ives of the white men, built here and
here on the far frontiers their isolated
cabins and opened the way for future
.omers. On the Maryland side of the
Potomac the tide of civilization had
been steadily advancing with axe and
plow from the st. Mary's settlement
upward. Calvert had commenced there
his proprietary government in 1854 and
although Roman Catholic had invited
settlers of all creeds to make their
homes within his pleasant borders.
Father White and his sacrificing band
of missionaries were extending their
stations and preaching their faith to the
natives who roamed the shores Of the
Ms tawoman and he Plscataway. Mar y
Scotch families, among whom were the
e !mudsons, the McGreggors (Magru-
ders), Bowies, Addisons and others were
occupying the fine situations between
the Piscataway and the Eastern branch.
then included in the county OF St
MAry's which stretched indefinitely to
the valley of the Ohio A few years
later they organized I'D Episcopal con-
gregation and erected at the head OF
Broad creek, in St. Johns parish, the
first building for public worship in that
service in the province of Maryland
They made large clearings of the fertile
land and established busy shipping
port for their tobacco. The surveyor was
busy with compass and chain running
his lines over the densely wooded region
now occupied by the cities of Washing
ton, Georgetown and their far reaching
suburbs.
In 1865 the exclusive right and tide
to all OF that vast region known as the
Northern Neck of Virginia, from which
have been partitioned and established
the counties of Northumberland, Ian
caster, Richmond, Wcslmoreland, King
George, Prince William, Stafford, Fair
fix, Loudoun, Fauquier, Cu!peper,
Madison, Page, Shenandoah, Hardy,
Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefer-
son. Frederick and Clarke descended to
and was vested in Lady Catbarine Cul-
peper, widow OF the colonial governor,
aud Lord Thomas Fairfax, his grand
son, who jointly empowered George
Brent, of Woodstock, Stafford county
aud William FitZhugh, of Eagles Nest
same county, as agents TO issue patents
for all unsettled lands IN the said Neck
living between and bounded by the Po
tomac sud Rappahannock rivers and
their sflluents. The first title to LORD
Culpeper had been derived from letters
patent granted to him by King james
10 1858.
Most of the tel ritory now included
within the bounds OF lower Fairia1
WIS soon covered by patents issued !t
Giles Brent, Charles Broadwster, WI
liam Fitzhugh, Robert Howson, George
Mason, Daniel McCarty, Rice Hooe
William Fairfax, Robert Alexander
Richard Ousley, Nicholas Spencer
Lieut.-Col. John Washington, WIN
Greene, William Dudley and others
The number of acres conveyed to Spsn
Ger and Washington March 1st
1914, by Thomas, Lord Culpeper
was FIVE thousand, which were
i. paid for in white immigrants at tltty
; acres head This Washington wa
grest-grandfatber of the general ant
one OF the prominent actors |" 'h'
10