Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1900-06-14
History of shepherdstown.
Prize Composition by Louise Anna .., snyHer' OF
the Shephsrdstown Graded School


ris in his History of the Lower Sheh'
andoah Valley" makes the date of set
Element 1921 or fps kercheval, In ms
History of the Valley, gives o. 1T
Hale. President of the West Virginia
Historical Society, in recent report
gives a variety Of opinions ranging rom ON
1907 to 1884 The honor OF being tHe
first settler lies between Joist Hlte' MOT
gan Morgan and a party Of German EN-
irrants from Pennsylvania. As the ser
Element grew, many substantial, lHu"s-
trious Germans emigrated from rem
Sylyania and the neighbOrlng states.
The land at the time of the first settlers
vas uncultivated woodland. although
some open spaces were to be found where
il is not improbable that the few grams
and vegetables known TO the Indians
were cultivated. All the land IN TINS
part of the country belonged 10 loru
Fairfax. by whom II was obtained Oy
marriage to the only daughter OF Lora
Culpeper. Lord Fairfax granted small
or tracts to Richard APP Morgan, Thomas
Shepherd and others. The earliest SET
tiers were simply squatterS ana hau no
titles TO the land on which they settled
They subsequently obtained their homes
by purchase from Lord Fairfax ana
Richard APP Morgan. They were attract
ed 10 this valley by its fertile SOIL, the
beauty of the country, its splendid
streams, its many springs of neyer-Iall-
ing water, and they also wished TO make
homes for themselves. The first settlers
probably learned of the country through
Governor Spottswood and John Lederer,
and perhaps the Indians told them ora
beautiful valley to the south. They
came down the Cumberland Valley and
crossed the Potomac at the old Pack
HOyse Ford. " which was well known TO
the Indians as a crossing place. The
Indians who owned the land before the
white men came had not very many per-
manent homes in this part of the coun-
try. but there are signs of many transient
camping places. On the farm OF Mr..
Lucas. two miles south Of town, num-
bers of stone hatChetS and other imple-
ments, and also many arrows are found,
and ii is supposed TO have been the site
of one of their camps. The farm Of Mr..
Jacob ). MOlcr evidently must have been
the site of an old Indian village and the
home of the primitive arroW-maker,
from the arrows of all shapes and sizes
which are found. Bellevue is another
camping ground The hillside was
burial place and large numbers of bones
have been taken up. Fountain Rock
was apparently another extensive camp
ing place.
The main occupations of the Indians
were hunting, fishing and fighting.
There were several tribes in this part of
the country the chief of which were the
Dclawares. CatawbaS and TuScaroraS.
They seem to have been very uniriend-
ly 10 each other and were constantly en-
gaged i'm war. The Dclawarcs and Cataw-
has were most frequently at war. ~
great battle was fOughtat the old Pack
Horse Ford" The Delawares had un-
dertaken an expedition against the
CatawbaS but for some reason turned
back. The CatawbaS pursued and over
took the Dclawarcs at the Ford \
great battle was fought which resulted
in the complete annihilatlon of the Della
wares East Of town there IS cliff
called Lovers Leap" from the tradi-
tion that there was once an Indian girl
who was in love with young warrior
of whom her father did not approve.
One day they were walking along the
cliff when the girls euraged father came
out, declaring that they should never
marry, at which both Of them jumped
over the cliI.
The early settlers were nearly all Luth-
Grams, MenouiStS, Calvinists or Reform
erS. Almost as soon rs the churches
were founded schools were established
in connection with them. The first
school was the Shepherdstown Academy
established i'm 1851, and taught by the
Reverend Robert Stubs. Shepherd
College was established in 1871 and made
a branch of the State Normal Schools
for educating teachers. The Lutheran
church was probably the first TO be cS-
tablished. \ congregation with a reg
ular place TO meet was organized about
1850 or 1860, although there was preach
ing by a Lutheran minister as early as
1875. The first regular pastor was the
Rev. Mr.. Bauer, who was called in 1916.
There are not any records of the Trinity
Episcopal church before li,6 and il IS
very probable that there was no church
of that faith here before 1850 or 1853
\ place of worship was erected in l1Sj
The first rector so far as is known was
the Rev. Mr. Sturges. There was no
regular Methodist congregation here un-
til 1913, but there were many itincraut
preachers who passed through here and
sowed the seeds of MethodiSm. The pull
pit was filed at first by Circuit riders
who came every month and after time
every two weeks. One Of the first min
iSters called was the Rev. Mr. Boylston
The Methodist Church South was not
organized until 1861 The Rev +. l..
kreglO was the first pastor. The Re-
formed church was established here in
1881 or 1882. In 1850 the Rev Michael
Slaughter was the minister The Pres
byterian church was established here in
1850 or 1890. The first preacher called
was the Rev. John Matthews
The town was named New MeCklen-
berg at first and was established by law
as Mecklenberg in 1902 In l19S the Gen
eral Assembly changed the name 20
Shepherdstown in honor Of Thomas
Shepherd who had laid oG the town into
lois and streets. The land was granted
TO Thomas Shepherd by Lord Fairfax.
Every person who purchased lot was
required 10 build house with certain
specifications withina certain time. If
any person failed 20 90 50 he forfeited
his right 10 the lot. Quit rents were
certain sums Of money paid every year
by the owners of houses. The amount
paid differed according to the houses.
They were collected at as late o date as
1916.
At the time Of the Revolution Shep-
herdstcwn was town Of about 200 or
500 inhabitants. The people aere weay-
ers and artisans. and there were wooden
and cotton mills. Wooden hats were also
Manufactured. The unused factories
stood for many years as mournfuI re-
minders Of the industries that had per-
ished. The following are some Of the
orders passed by the council for the GOV
eminent Of the town To regulate the
streets and alleys, 20 keep them In r.
pair, TO lay of, open, pave aud curb
streets, alleys. walks and cutters for pub
Tic use. 10 improve and light them, 10
lay of public grounds .o VlcygH, fast