COMPILED RECORDS OF
HALL FAMILIES IN EARLY (WEST) VIRGINIA
WITH FOCUS ON THE FAMILY OF
WILLIAM HALL AND HANNAH RICHARDSON
by
SHERLENE HALL BARTHOLOMEW M. A.
© Sherlene Hall Bartholomew, 2004
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,
INCLUDING CONTACT AND USAGE INFORMATION
I. NOTES FOR DOING RESEARCH ON EARLY VIRGINIA HALLS, INCLUDING RESEARCH “TO DOS”
II. BACKGROUND ON THE HALL NAME AND EARLY VIRGINIA NAMING PATTERNS
III. ENGLISH ORIGINS
IV. OTHER AREA WILLIAM HALLS
V. EARLY SETTLEMENT AND HALL LAND COUNTY BACKGROUND
VI. THE NORTHERN NECK VIRGINIA LAND GRANTS
VII. EARLY VIRGINIA CULTURE, ECONOMY, EDUCATION, RELIGION
VIII. EARLY HALL FAMILY/VIRGINA HISTORY 1624-1728
IX. HALL FAMILY 1754-1764 – INDIAN CONFLICTS, THEIR LAND, MILLS AND CROPS
X. 1764 – WILLIAM’S LIFE ENDS – CONSOLIDATES LAND, MAKES WILL; HIS BURIAL/ESTATE
XI. THE YEARS 1765-1790 (with an addendum treating land tenure of a William Hall in Prince William County, Virginia, starting in 1731, and other historical information)
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INTRODUCTION
RELATIONSHIP: William Hall I is a sixth great-grandfather, paternal side, of Sherlene Hall Bartholomew (“shb,” hereafter). My descendancy from William is as follows: William Hall I m. Hannah Richardson. Their son, Anthony Hall, m. Rachel Simmons. Their son, William Hall, m. Sarah Francis. Their son, William Hall, m. Clarinda Fisher-Evick (perhaps an adoptive daughter of Christian Evick, who married Sarah Fisher, thought to be her mother). Their son, Henry Charles Hall, Sr., m. Elizabeth Staley, dau. of Peter Staley Jr. and Hannah Hall (who we now believe was a daughter of James A. Hall (son of Anthony and Rachel Simmons), and his first wife, Keziah Kain. Their son, Henry Charles Hall, Jr., m. Mary Ann Woodcox (dau. of Alfred Jr.). And their son, Howard Hall, m. Florence Almina Tracy (my grandparents).
YOUR PART: As you can see, after all these years there are still numerous holes in my Hall lineage, in that I could not name the parents of most of the spouses named above. I hope some of you Hall cousins/readers can help me discover them. It is my plan to post all the research compiled on my ancestry on different surname blogs (checking the box with access to Google), starting with William I’s family group, with its extensive notes, and working my way down to my grandparents.
I am making this study available on the Internet, in the hope that it will honor the names of our ancestors and facilitate additional research by us, their descendants. In return, I ask those who find this helpful to share new information obtained, as a result, or to submit material that might make this publication more complete, so it can then be made available to major libraries.
CONTACT/CREDIT/USAGE: Correspondence, including comments, corrections, additions, amplifications, copies of documents, photographs of William Hall I descendants, old historical data or stories/legends/diaries/recipes & etc. that apply to the lives of William and Hannah and their children are invited and most welcome. If you have such, please contact Sherlene Hall Bartholomew, by leaving a comment on this blog. Family researchers are encouraged to build on this compilation (you will, of course, be fully credited for your contributions, which will be entered chronologically into the notes of each individual on this lineage).
Information posted on this site is for your personal or family use, to be copied and shared within the family, so long as it is not used for purposes of personal profit or promotions of any kind. If you wish to use any material from this site for publication, whether on another web site or in printed form, permission must be obtained, and sources from the notes or any qualifications listed in them must be included. Please, remember to cite sources used in your records.
Please stay in touch with this blog page, because this information will be updated from time to time. The compiler will also be posting additional reports on this site, as they are completed and formatted. My Legacy notes for William’s children and their spouses also contain information that augments these for their father. I plan to post all my Legacy organization of Hall information on the new LDS program that should come out, within the year (I am told it will have facility to “dispute” information listed, should someone with contrary documentation access the site–a facility I welcome). I have arranged events in chronological order and have also provided full caps tabbing to facilitate access. I more recently began adding dates to my initials, as I included new information, so I could easily insert and identify input from others, as well as trace my own journey, searching for my Hall ancestors. I have included information about this family in context with some other religious, social, political and other events in the lives of our Halls and also invite your participation, augmenting this. [Note: I was able to make my former PAF RIN Nos. match Legacy’s ID Nos., so please read “ID” for “RIN” reference numbers listed, below.]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank all those whose research is included and credited in this report and any others who will yet make the present more meaningful because they have cared about documenting our ancestors’ legacy. My mother, Ida-Rose Langford Hall, sparked my interest in this search, as I watched her avid investigation of my father’s Hall line. Everything here is built on the foundation of her intensive search. Heartfelt thanks goes to Jesse F. Hall, [now deceased–we have since determined that he is not] a descendant of William II, who reviewed/edited an early version of this report only a year before his eyesight failed (abt. 2001), and who was generous, answering questions and sharing his own research results. Margaret B. Adams, also a descendant of Anthony Hall, son of Wm. I, at nearly age 90, in Feb. 2000, sent me a report on her Hall research that included the long-sought marriage date for my ancestors Anthony Hall and Rachel Simmons and other valuable material. Don C. Wood traced William Hall I land divisions and the history of his mills in a delightful record about the Halltown Paperboard Mills, as detailed here. Jane Hall, whose husband Garth O., has my descendancy from Wm. and Hannah, down to William who married Clarinda “Evick” Fisher, has done much research and has also been gracious, sharing her valuable information.
I met many internet cousins, while involved in “The Search” after William Hall I’s ancestors and descendants. Kathryn Lones Pyles, a descendant of Wm. and Clarinda through their daughter Jemima, has copied out hundreds of vital statistics at archives where our Halls lived and has regularly shared that and other family information she has gathered, ever since we found each other on the ‘net and later met (along with another cousin, Delight Heckelman), at a Hall family reunion, we held in Salt Lake City. So many other internet Hall cousin-relatives have helped along the way, including Roscoe J. Dearth, Joanne Handorff, Trini Tracy, and a first cousin, Roger Hall. So many have contributed, I fear I may miss crediting all here, but their research is credited in the individual notes of descendants of William and Hannah.
My sister and brother-in-law Virginia and Barry Wood’s hospitality has made research in the National Archives and other repositories, as well as visits to William I’s plantation, a pleasure. Barry’s skills as both a genealogist and attorney have often been tapped, as I discussed research problems with him. To him I owe special thanks for reviewing this copy, as I first posted it to this blog, and making suggestions for improvement–all good. One idea was to postpone background and cultural history sections, in order to bring information about William’s actual life to the fore, lest I lose some readers. Sensible as this might be, I could not bring myself to rearrange notes so closely linked to chronological sequence, nor overcome my preference to read the facts, after better understanding the times. I did, however, add more titles and place a more detailed Table of Contents at the beginning, so readers can select those areas of interest. Double lines added between sections will facilitate finding numbered topics. Further, I have used bold type for every entry that names a member or members of the William and Hannah (Richardson) Hall family or their descendants (or that quotes commentary specifically about them), so those so bold can scan only those.
To my brother David R. Hall goes thanks for his encouragement to format my research for distribution on the internet and for organizing our Hall family reunion. Dr. Kathryn M. Daynes’ historical background for Virginia research, as presented at the BYU 2001 Genealogy/Family History Conference, provides some of my date/titles, inserted in the text, below.
It was my blessing to be part of Brigham Young University’s graduate program in International Area Studies (my emphasis American/British Studies and genealogy research), as sponsored by the David M. Kennedy Center. I thank professors there for rigorous training in British and American history/genealogical research and also thank administrators of the Kennedy Center for the flexibility granted me to pursue this training, while achieving a 1997 MA.
I thank my now-grown children Daniel H. and Laura for their childhood endurance of my quests, bringing them along for research at archives or searches through various family cemeteries, while they were growing up. Best of all, I acknowledge the gracious financial/emotional support and oft-needed computer expertise of my husband Daniel Ray Bartholomew, without whom I could not have so immersed myself in what George Durrant, a memorable professor at BYU, dubbed our world-family’s increasingly “magnificent obsession.”
Finally, I thank William I and my other ancestors for being such interesting characters. My search after them has been an exciting, if sometimes excruciating adventure. I feel deep gratitude for their pioneering that left us, their descendants, a comparatively free and prosperous legacy. While emphasizing the virtues of my ancestors, I have not erased their recorded foibles–after all, in acknowledging their humanity, we can better understand our own inherited emotional, physical, and spiritual strengths or weakness and gain understanding and motivation to overcome or magnify these traits. When all is said and done, I just hope my ancestors are as willing to claim me as I, them.
Last, but not least, I thank you, my readers, for joining this quest to search after William and his wife, Hannah Richardson, and to learn more about the lives of their children and our family pioneers. I hope to hear from you and glean your contributions, as well. –shb, 26 Apr 2004
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I. NOTES FOR DOING RESEARCH ON OUR EARLY VIRGINIA HALLS:My thanks to Miles Erdman Staley (connection to our Staleys unfortunately not yet found), for this information, as posted on website http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/t/a/Miles-E-Staley/GENE1-0001.html –
“NOTES ON RESEARCHING IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA.
1. Churches and Church Records.
Many small churches sprang into existence in Bedford, Franklin and Botetourt Counties before 1800 but they disappeared by 1850. Though many of their records were transferred to another church, these churches in time disappeared and so also disappeared all records for all time.
“These counties bordered the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road or were located very near the beginning of the Wilderness Road which ran westward from its junction with the Great Wagon Road at Big Lick, south of Roanoke. It was easy for 2nd and 3rd generation children to reach these roads and migrate westward seeking new land to farm. Perhaps, along with these children, ministers followed the migration, carrying their own church records, and when the ministers died so disappeared many of the records.
“The author’s experience has found early church records pitifully few in southwestern Virginia, in comparison to the plenitude of records in western Maryland and Pennsylvania. This may be the reason why no records of Staleys (or Stilleys) can be found in the area other than in County Property and Deed Records and in County Personal Property Tax Records.
“2. Church Cemeteries.
Cemeteries in all of the southwest Virginia counties, including Botetourt, Bedford and Franklin Counties, featured wooden tombstones because shale– from which tombstones were usually carved– was scant or non-existent. Joe Cameron, [e-address is given to which there is no longer a response–he had been suffering very ill health–shb] is long-experienced in surveying old cemeteries, especially in Wythe Co. VA, and has much information concerning this and other reasons why whole cemeteries, as well as grave sites, have disappeared due to the rotting away of these wooden tombstones. The author has talked to others, native to the region, who have said the same thing.
“Joe mentions that many cemeteries disappeared under water when dams were created and–even recently–some are disappearing under new road construction. I praise Joe Cameron in his efforts to successfully save early cemeteries and his work of many years of surveying grave sites in them to that end. He is among the quiet, unknown heroes of genealogical preservation.” –shb 2 Mar 2002
PLACES TO VISIT, WHILE DOING RESEARCH ON SITE: See 1743 notes of son William II, RIN 681. –shb 18 May 2002
WILLIAM HALL RESEARCH “TO DOs”:
Search for Halls/Richardsons should be done in all counties where the Hall land was located, with changing boundaries through the years, and also all neighboring counties. I have notes to also look for them in York County, VA, Berks Co., PA (Chester Co. became Berks).
Also search area Quaker and non-conformist church records, including the Quaker Fairfax Monthly Meeting). –shb 4 Nov 1999
Look for Hall graves on land adjoining the Alstadt Inn (see father William’s notes for location detail).
Post photos of the Hall-Rion estate (on land where Wm. Hall I once lived, as shown to us by Ora Cooper, current owner/inhabitant), of the Hall family cemetery plot, and other area attractions.
Go through all Northern Neck land grant abstracts and plot all Halls found on maps–try to sort out the different (and same) William Halls [much of this is now accomplished–shb, 3 Apr 2002].
Note: Other “To dos” are entered in the text, below: –shb 28 Feb 2002
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II. BACKGROUND ON THE HALL NAME AND EARLY VIRGINIA NAMING PATTERNS
NAME: HALL is the 18th most common English surname, according to Anthony J. Camp, “The Frequency of Common Surnames,” Genealogists’ Magazine, Vol. 25, No. 11, September 1997 (London: Society of Genealogists), p. 452. –shb 7/98
Hall Record, Genealogical and Biographical, by Richard S. Miller (Newburgh, West Virginia: Printed by the author, 1886), as posted on http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvharris/hall1.html – “ORIGIN OF THE NAME HALL. – The surname Hall is derived from at least three sources.
1. The Norwegian word for flint is hallr, its final letter is silent, and only indicates the nominative ease. The word also signified a hero, and on this account the Norwegians often gave it as a name to their children, and it finally became a surname. The old Norse hallr, hals and the Anglo-Saxon haele, haletta, signify the same, a hero. The surname Hawes has the same derivation as hall. Hallett and Henry are diminutives of the same. Hallse means; the son Henry. The Norwegians settled quite extensively in Scotland, and hence. the Scotch Halls.
“2. The English Manor House is another source of the name of Hall. In Medieval documents the Manor House is called “Alle, “Halle, “De Aula and “Del Hall.” The principal apartment was the hall, which was used as a petty court of justice, as well as the scene of entertainment, hence the tenant or chief servitor acquired the surname De Aula or Del Hall which was retained by his eldest son.
“3. The word in Welsh for salt is hall, and a worker in salt is haller, and a dwelling near salt works or on low marshy ground near the sea is halham, halla or halle, hence the origin of the
name of the ancient Castle Halla, now City Halle, in Saxony, as extensive salt works are known to have been located there. Or the castle may have taken its name from its chief, who of course was haele, hero.
“The great mass of English Halls undoubtedly are the posterity of the men of Halle who came in the successive Saxon invasions of England. They were called De La Halle, which became a surname, and is now simply Hall.
“William of Normandy, who conquered England, and his followers, “insulted dreadfully over the ancient Baron nobility and spoiled their estates,” whose descendants four hundred years later, still groaning under oppression, glad to embrace so good an opportunity for enjoying their ancient rights and love of liberty, emigrated in great numbers to America. It is said that the Halls of Great Britain exceed in number any other name except those of Smith, Jones, Brown and Robinson.
NAME SPELLINGS–1652, 1653/4–EARLY “HAUGHLE,” “HAUGHLY” SPELLING/ORIGINS BARBADOS, LOWER NORFOLK , VIRGINIA (1653/54)? WILLIAM HALL A MARRINER, 1652? THOMAS HALL, POSSIBLE FATHER/HOLMES, WARD CONNECTIONS? See notes of Thomas Hall, RIN 20517. [Note: It is possible that William named a son “Thomas” in honor of a surname, not after his father’s Christian name. I find association of Richard Richardsons in Fairfax, Virginia and Maryland with a Thomas family. Since William’s will mentions his wife Hannah Richardson’s “brother” Richard, it is possible that she is connected to this family–shb.] Beverley Fleet, Virginia Colonial Abstracts, mentions a William Hall who is transported by Elizabeth Sibsey, widow, in Lower Norfolk County, in about 1653; 1653/4; also in Lower Norfolk, a Matthew Fassett, master and half-owner of a ship [who, p. 467, 20 Oct 1652, buys all interest in the ‘Barque commonly called the Hopewell,’ 26 tons, ‘now in Newe Ansterdam (sic) in New Netherlands’]; also, same page, p. 83, acknowledges that Fassett also owns “the Barque called the Seahorse . . . fitted for Barbadoes” –shb] has power ‘in Shipping of William Hall for a marriner’; 1653/4, Lower Norfolk, “Wm Hall to John Holmes for a heifer. ‘Due from said Holmes unto an Orphan of John Sutton deceased named Francis and now under the tui’con of William Haughle [sic],’ which heifer was given to said Francis Sutton by Mr. Richard Conquest. Signed Will x Hall. Wit: Thomas Warde. [Note: This method of spelling our good old name of Hall is right much for my digestion. B. F.]”; p. 82, Lower Norfolk, “In dif betw Richd Conquest, gent, vs. William Haughly [sic], Haughly to pay Conquest, as assignee of Tho Hewes, 247 lb tobo with 5 yrs forbearance.” Finally, some descendants in the 1860 Census of Jackson, Allen, Ohio, are listed as “Haul.” –shb
NAMING PATTERNS IN THE SOUTH: Question/Answer illustration, as forwarded to shb, 10 Jan 2006, by Kathryn Lones Pyles:
“Does anyone have any thoughts on naming children after paternal parents or maternal grandparents (English descent)?
“For example my great grandfather and great grandmother were James Elwood Foster and Jane Black, married in 1871, Willistown, Chester Co., Pa. They had 6 children: Benjamin, James, Wilhelmina, Mazie, Annie and Josephine.
“I do not know the names of the parents of James or Jane. As a practice, could any of these children be named after the grandparents. A possible lead to my brick walls?
“Also, the middle name of John is Elwood. Could Elwood be a connection to the past?
“Thanks,
“Jim Foster” [response from unnamed person to above questions–in brackets, I have applied what is known about the children and their order of birth, in the family of William Hall and Hannah Richardson–shb]:
“* The first son was named after the father’s father. [Thomas]
* The second son was named after the mother’s father. [James]
* The third son was named after the father. [William Hall III–that certainly fits–shb]
* The fourth son was named after the father’s eldest brother. [Richard]
* The first daughter was named after the mother’s mother. [Elizabeth]
* The second daughter was named after the father’s mother. [Ruth]
* The third daughter was named after the mother. [Hannah–that fits!]
* The fourth daughter was named after the mother’s eldest sister, always. [Sarah]
The fifth daughter was named after the mother’s oldest sister or the father’ s oldest sister. [We know of no fifth daughter in this family.]
“* 2nd wife’s oldest daughter named after the first wife, using her full name.
* Children after those were usually named after a favorite relative
with some possible exceptions: If a child died in infancy, a later
child might be given that name.
“* When a newly ordained minister baptized his first child:
If a boy, he would be named for the minister;
If a girl, she would receive his surname as her middle name;
“* If a child were fostered, usually because of being orphaned, he may be named for the foster parent
“It was also common to use the mother’s maiden name as a child’s middle name. In the South this was almost ‘gospel.’
“I hope it helps.
“Dee” –shb 11 Jan 2006
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III. ENGLISH ORIGINS
According to a biographical sketch about William’s descendant James F. Hall, of Liberty, Hardin, Ohio (see RIN 7314), the Halls were “of English” descent. –shb 25 Jun 2001
Letter from Shirley Hampton of 28 Feb 2002, regarding my response to her query about our joint ancestor Anthony Hall, son of William, in which I asked her how she was so sure he was English: “So happy to finally hear from someone about Anthony Hall . . . My source for this is in a letter dated 8 May 1897 from Permelia’s cousin Kate Keyes in Colombus, OH [Permelia Ann Cochran, m. Wm. B. Cook, and is Shirley’s grandmother–shb]. Kate had received a letter from the Rev. W. N. Hall, pastor of the M. E. church in Winfield, Iowa. He stated in his letter that William Hall came from England with a colony and settled in VA. He gave William’s children as 1. William, JR 2. Richard 3. James 4. John 5. Joseph 6. Anthony 7. Thomas 8. Sarah. (did not mention Elizabeth [m. Isaiah Pemberton–whom I had told Shirley about–shb], doesn’t mean he was correct). Rev. Hall further states that Kate’s mother & Permelia’s grandmother were sisters & daughters of Anthony [I have no record of this Kate as a child of Anthony–does anyone else?–shb]. I do not know the name of Permelia’s mother, only that she married a Cochran, as that was Permelia’s maiden name. Nor do I know Permelia’s grandmother. Kate (probably Katherine) married James Keyes. The letterhead on this letter is “Keyes & Thomas Real Estate Brokers” South West (or State & High Sts.Columbus, Ohio . . The above mentioned Rev. Hall was writing a book on Halls, needed info. Have you ever seen any info on him? [No, would like to learn more–shb] He gave his line as: William, William, Jr., Jonathan, John (his father).” –shb 1 Mar 2002
FROM YORKSHIRE? E-letter from Jane Hall to shb, 23 May 2002: “. . . I ran across a [1971]letter from Floyd Hall Oles, grandson of William Newton Hall (brother of Henry C. & Isaac), which he wrote in 1971. He said the following: ‘In many long talks with my grandfather, William N. Hall [my RIN 448–shb], . . . he used to tell me that he understood that the family, a long way back, originated in Yorkshire and from there emigrated to the New World. . . .'” –shb 23 May 2002
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IV. OTHER AREA WILLIAM HALLS (NAMES ASSOCIATED, HOWEVER DIMLY, WITH OUR ANCESTOR)
1) WILLIAM HALL I AND HIS WIFE, HANNAH RICHARDSON: Bowsher (RIN 717), Carlyle (neighbor–could this be Collier, Colville, or Colvin?–see RIN 27180), Crow (see RIN 694), Davis (RIN 712), Francis (RIN 415), Glaze (RIN 714), Harris (RIN 698), Harper (neighbor), Havins (or Heavins), RIN 697, Kain, Keys (RIN 699), Lucas (RIN 692), George Mason (see RIN 27180), McCames (neighbor), Mountson (Munson?–purchased land from), Pemberton (RIN 696, a name also associated with the names Thomas, Coate, Jones, Elleman, Johnson, Jones, and Tucker), Rice (neighbor), Richardson (wife), Rion (later intermarried, occupied Hall estate), Robinson (If Sarah, wife of Thomas, was William’s mother, she married 2) George Robinson–a John Robinson was granted land in 1736 by Governor William Gooch, land that is now in Augusta County), Rutherford (surveyed Hannah’s dower land), Sewell (neighbor) Simmons (dau. in law, RIN 695), Sleigh/Sly (RIN 7583), Strupe (neighbor) Thompson (RIN 716, 718), Tullis (RIN 6684), Vestal (RIN 7285), Ward, West (RIN 7281), Wood (RIN 715). –shb 4 Nov 1999
OTHER LOCAL/AREA WILLIAM HALLS:
2) 1731– A WILLIAM HALL’S LANDS, SALEM, NJ, VESTED IN WIFE SARAH CLEMENT– WILLIAM HALL I LEARNED MILLING OCCUPATION FROM FATHER WILLIAM? MOTHER SARAH? ORIGINS SALEM, SALEM, NEW JERSEY? Abstracts From Ben Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728-1748, by Kenneth Scott (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1975), p. 60: 1731 listings [This is the year our ancestor William, RIN 677, married Hannah Richardson in Pennsylvania–so he had perhaps just inherited land that made this possible?–shb] “Hall, William, Esq. [RIN 16588–shb], late of Salem, Salem Co., N.J., dec’d–by act of Assembly lands, etc., of estate in West New Jersey (except grist and fulling mills) became vested in Sarah [Clement–shb] Hall (widow of William Hall), Clement Plumstead, of Phila., merchant, John Kay [Key?–a daughter of ancestor William, RIN 677, married Humphrey Keys, RIN 699–shb], of Gloucester Co., gent., and Israel Pemberton [our ancestor William Hall’s daughter Elizabeth married a Pemberton–see RIN 696–shb], of Phila., merchant; on 7 Aug. some of estate of William Hall will be sold at house of George Satterthwaite in Town of Burlington, N.J. (10 July).” William and Hannah named first son William and first daughter, Sarah (at least by records we have so far been able to assemble and approximately order). Sarah, daughter of William and Hannah, who settled in Halltown, Berkeley/Frederick, Virginia (now Jefferson, West Virginia), married a man surnamed Keyes (See RIN 677). –shb June, 1997. [P.S. The theory that this William and Sarah were our William’s parents had a lot going for it, but in tracing the information I have about William, son of the Salem William, I cannot glean a connection–shb 5 Nov 1999]
3) 1741/42–AN AUGUSTA COUNTY WILLIAM HALL PURCHASED BORDEN LAND; HAD WIFE JEAN IN 1758: See MRIN 8681–in 1758 a William Hall and wife Jean convey land purchased “in 1741 or 1742” from Borden (353 acres in 92,100) to Andrew, oldest son and heir. Since Hannah Richardson, wife of our ancestor William Hall, did not die until after 1765, we might know that this Borden land was being purchased by a different William Hall. I am therefore conveying information formerly stored here concerning the William who bought Borden Land on the North Branch of the James River and married Jean to the notes of RIN 21019. [Note: I have since learned that this William Hall, RIN 10870, married Jean Mitchell. He helped settle Catawba Valley, was b. abt 1706, and d. abt 1773 in Botetourt County, Virginia. Children I have for them were named Andrew, Isabell, William, Nathaniel, James, Agnes, and John–shb.] For sorting purposes I have compiled the following names associated with this William and Jean (Mitchell) Hall: Allison, Berry, Buchanan, Baxter, Campbell, Evans, Fearnley, Galloway, Gold, Hamilton, Hill, Hunter, Kirpatrick, Lyle, MacKinley, McClure, McNabb, Mills, Ramsey, Robinson, Stevensen, Story, Thompson, Walker, Wallace, and Young. –shb 20 Feb 2002
4) BEF 1756–Another WILLIAM HALL, RIN 20615, MARRIED MARGARET COLLIER before May, 1756, later moved to North Carolina, bought Augusta County land on “Buffalo Creek.” Names associated with this William and Margaret (I have capitalized names that represent other of my family lines): Alexander, (also Allison), Armstrong, Bailey, Bats/Bates, Barton, Brown, Burton, (also) Campbell, Carr, Collier, Crawford, Christian, Davis/Deavis, Douglas, Fleming, Foot, Frazor, Gambel, Gibson, Hall (Edward, Richard), HANNA, Harper, Holeman, HUSTON, Hutchison, Hutton, KINKEAD, Long, Low, Lusk, Marshall, McAllroy (probably McELROY), (also) McClure, McCullom, McFarren, McKnight, McLang, MILLER, Montgomery, Moore, Paxton, Poage, Preston, Reedy, Richman, Ritchie, Rowland, Ruckman, SAWYERS, Smith, Talford, Taylor, (also) Thompson, Todd, Trimble, Underwood, Wadington, Whitley, Woods, and Young.1763.
5) 1763–OTHER FAMILY MARRIAGE: HALL/ HARPER CONNECTION? MRIN 7456 treats the marriage of a William Hall to Margaret Harper in New York, 3 Feb 1763 (almost two years before William I died). Since our ancestor William Hall lived next to the Harpers of Harper’s Ferry (now West Virginia), perhaps this was a neighborhood association, resulting in marriage of one of the Williams. –shb 6/98, 3/98, 4 Nov 1999
6) 1825–NAMES ASSOCIATED WITH ANOTHER WILLIAM HALL WILL: Genealogical Abstracts Duplin County (North Carolina) Wills 1730-1860, by William L. Murphy (Duplin County Historical Society, Rose Hill, North Carolina, 1982), p. 67: “221. HALL, WILLIAM (CR.035.801.5/A-192), 20 Aug 1825 – Jan Term 1826 – wife ELIZABETH negro Bess or Betsey for her natural life, her legal dower of my plantation, 2 Beds & furniture; residue to my Grandchildren the children of JAMES HALL, WM HALL decd., LEWIS HALL, NICHOLAS HALL, EDWARD P. HALL, THOMAS P. HALL, & ISAAC N. HALL; Negro Bess sold at wife’s death & money divided out in manner as aforesaid – extrs: sons JAMES & NICHOLAS – wit. HENRY BAKER, J. C. MILLS, THOS. P. HALL – signed William Hall.” The previous entry, 220, abstracts the will of a THOMAS HALL, CR.035.801.5/A-193. –shb 5 Mar 2000 (transferred here from notes of Wm. II)
7) HALLS OF HOGUE CREEK, FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA: See “WILLIAM HALL LOCATION ACCORDING TO CARTWELL” title, below, in Section II (as disputed by Richard A Hayden in a 1993 “Virginia Genealogist” article). Hayden demonstrates that this James Hall, of Frederick County, Virginia (also son of a William Hall), whose will of 1798 was made in Frederick County, lived longer than did James, son of William, my ancestor, “the old pioneer,” who, as local court cases prove, died before 1 April 1791, after having removed to Newberry County, South Carolina. Names associated with this James Hall of Frederick County (who are not known to be connected to our Halls) are Addudel, Bean, Bennett, Bonsall, Cleaver, Clowser, Denny, Grant, Hallowell, Hammond, Hiblin, Hill, Hinde, Lakeman, Longacre, Rosenburger, Speer, Wotring, and Hibbard (Hannah Hibbard of Darby Monthly Meeting, dau. of Daniel and Rachel (Bonsall), m. Thomas Hall, a Quaker of Darby Monthly Meeting in Chester (now Delaware) Co., Pa., which according to Hayden is “just across Cobb’s Creek from his residence in Blockley Township, Philadelphia.” Hayden demonstrates that the James Hall mentioned in Thomas the Quaker’s will, could be the James Hall of Hoague Creek, in Frederick County, which would eliminate him as a son of our “old pioneer” William. The lineage in this family is thought to be as follows: Thomas Hall, the Quaker, and Hannah Hibbard’s son James Hall, b. 1729, d. before 1798, married Elizabeth Bennett. Their son Bennett Hall, b. 1765, married Nancy Hammond, and bought up more land on Hogue Creek, which was inherited by their son Col. James B[ennett] Hall, b. 1797 (my RIN 19062), m. Margaret Rosenburger. James B. Hall was the only one of his siblings known to have remained in Frederick County, Virginia. shb 13 Feb 2002
8) HALLS WHO MARRIED MILLERS: Website http://genelea.hypermart.net/gerhist/1hh.htm, Note 1224, mentions an immigrant, John Frederick Miller, who came from Freundenberg Germany in 1738, on the ship Oliver that did not quite make it to shore. John Frederick was among the l/3 who survived, and at least one child, Harman, was born in Virginia, married Mary Hutcherson, and in 1806 moved to Williamson Co., Tennessee, ending up in Maury, Co. Tennessee. One of Harman’s children, Ann Miller, married a William Hall (this site provides no other information about this couple). Ann’s brother John, b. abt 1777, married a Catherine Hall (connection, if any, to William not stated). I do not know which county in Virginia was home to this family, but for a reason I cannot now recall (I think this came while studying land records), I had previous to finding this family felt that there might be a Miller connection to our Halls. Note 1223 on this site mentions German families who settled in Culpeper County and adds this observation: “Not all of our Germanna families lived in the community for extended periods of time. Many of them treated Culpeper County as a way point where they stopped for a short while. It would appear that they had no fixed objective in mind when they left their original home. George Layman seems to have purchased several pieces of land seeing if he could find one that appealed to him. In the end he moved on. One of the questions that we always have is whether they took any brides (or grooms) with them.” –shb 26 Feb 2002
9) THOMAS HALL, b. 1724: I only include this Thomas who married Rebecca Story because one history incorrectly connected him as father of our William Hall who married Hannah Richardson. According to Richard S. Miller, Hall Records, Genealogical and Biographical (see above), pp. 21-22, as posted on http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvharris/hall1.html, the Thomas Hall/Rebecca Story family was of Delaware, where Thomas died in 1772, leaving his widow with seven children named Parthena, Asa, Jordan, Rynear, Nathan, Allen, and Rebecca. Thomas’ widow, Rebecca, remained in Delaware until the Revolutionary War ended. In 1782 she came west with her children, making the entire trip, at age 52, on horseback, in company with Mrs. Margaret White, her son Asa’s mother-in-law. They settled near the Cheat River, a few miles below Morgantown, West Virginia. Remaining there two years, they then moved further up the Monongahela River. Other families who settled in their vicinity were Morgans, Ices, Pricketts, Straits, Flemings, and Hartleys. Rebecca died in 1812.
10) HENRY HALL OF LOUDOUN COUNTY: Information about this later Hall family was contributed by Bill Hall to http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilsangam/twp-loahis3.htm and involves a Henry Hall, b. abt 1774 near Hagerstown, MD, who went to Loudon County, Virginia and there married [see RIN 26479–shb] Sally Harper, b. abt. 1783, and “probably one of the descendants of the people for whom Harper’s Ferry was named” (Lucy M. Dodd, 1926, who wrote this Hall record). Five children born in Virginia, all in Pittsylvania County, were Nancy, 1801; Aaron, 1802; Thomas; Washington, 1809; and Thompson, 1811. –shb 1 Mar 2002
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V. EARLY SETTLEMENT AND HALL LAND COUNTY BOUNDARIES
WILLIAM ARRIVES IN VIRGINIA IN 1720? See 1720 notes, below. –shb 19 Feb 2004
1605–VIRGINIA BOUNDARIES: This item was sent me in an e-letter of 31 Oct 2000 by Joe Cameron, who has a Staley line that settled in Wythe County, Virginia (no known connection to our Staleys): “Actually, VA, in 1605, was: 50 miles N & S of old Port Comfort, and the southern line went W 250 miles, while the northern line went NW 250. The 2nd Royal land charter in 1609 changed those lines to 200 miles N & S of old Port Comfort, with the southern line running from sea to sea, and the northern line running NW from sea to sea. I always thought of that as funny as hell. No way they knew for sure where and IF there was another sea out there in the west somewhere!” –shb 31 Oct 2000
COUNTY HISTORY, HALL LANDS/SETTLEMENT: AniPam Plus [CD] County Boundary Historical Atlas (Alamo, California: The Gold Bug, P.O. Box 588, 94507), helped me plot the county history of Halltown, where William Hall settled, as follows: 1731 – Halltown was in an unorganized county just outside Prince William County; 1734 [Margaret Hall calls it “King William County–check out–shb]. – Halltown was in Orange County; 1738 – Frederick County was organized from Orange; 1742 – Halltown was part of Frederick County, which bordered on Fairfax, Prince William, Orange, and Augusta counties [8 Apr 1743, Augusta County, Virginia District Court listed a deed recorded in Orange County, executed by Benjamin Borden 1734-1745 for a William Hall–have since concluded that this is the William, RIN 10870, who married Jean–see Wm. I’s son Richard’s end notes]; 1749 – Frederick County was bordered by Culpepper, Prince William, Fairfax, and Augusta counties; 1754 – New west border to Frederick was Hampshire County (formed from Frederick), but Halltown was then closer to Fairfax County; 1757 – Halltown, in Frederick County, was then closest to Loudon (formed from Fairfax County); other borders were Prince William, Culpepper, Augusta, and Hampshire; 1772 – Halltown was in Berkeley County (formed from Frederick); borders were Hampshire, Frederick, and Loudon, with Dunmore one county over from Frederick; 1776 – Halltown was still in Berkeley County, close to Loudon and Fauquier (one corner of Loudon over). 1778 – Dunmore County name was changed to Shenandoah, which was one county over from Berkeley, which still housed Halltown); borders were Loudon, Frederick, and Hampshire. 1785 – Hardy (from Hampshire) was a county over from Berkeley (and Halltown); Fairfax was just over (Loudon) county away. 1801 – Jefferson was formed from Berkeley and included Halltown; Jefferson was now bordered by Berkeley, Frederick, and Loudon counties, but was also only one county away from Hampshire, Shenandoah, Fairfax, and Shenandoah counties. 1820 – Morgan County was formed from Berkeley; Hampshire was a county away from Jefferson (and Halltown); 1833 – Rappahannock (from Culpepper) was over (Frederick) county from Jefferson. 1836 – Clarke County (from Frederick) now bordered Jefferson (as did Frederick, Berkeley, and Loudon). 1863 [23 Ju] – 50 counties, barely including Jefferson (and Halltown), separated as the state of West Virginia. 1900 – some area cities were incorporated and recognized as separate from counties, including nearby Frederick, Virginia. It is important to remember in tracking migration patterns of this family that in 1762 (only two years before William I died), the state of Virginia covered all the territory that now includes the state of Ohio–it is no wonder some of their descendants, our ancestors, ended up there. –shb 8 August 1998
COUNTIES TO SEARCH FOR HALL RECORDS: Based on somewhat conflicting county information (see above), I would include, in my search for information about the original William Hall Fairfax land grants and those who lived on those 2,000+ acres, the following: Prince William County (Bef. 1731-1734), Orange (1734-1742), Augusta (1738-1770), Frederick (1742-1772), Berkeley (1772-1801), and Jefferson (now West Virginia–1801-present). It might also prove fruitful to search records of neighboring counties. –shb 7 Aug 2000 [To this I add earliest Westmoreland County and Stafford County, Virginia which came from it, since I found a reference to “William Hall, of Stafford”.] –shb 9 Sep 2000
IMMIGRATION TO VIRGINIA: According to James W. Petty, A.G. (lecture at the Aug. 2000 BYU Family History/Genealogy Conference, attended by shb, Conf. Syllabus p. 98), the majority of immigrants to Virginia came as free citizens, “meaning that they paid for their own transportation.” Petty describes others coming as indentured or apprenticed servants, and refugees from war in England, as well as transported Scottish rebels from the two Jacobite rebellions. At this point I lean toward a belief that our William I’s father came as a free citizen, though members of their family may have intermarried with immigrants who came in more difficult circumstance. –shb 8 Aug 2000
1607, 24 MAY: 105 MEN ESTABLISH JAMESTOWN–EARLY VIRGINIA HISTORY (see notes of RIN 861). BY 1610 ONLY THERE ARE ONLY 60 SURVIVORS. According to website http://www.jamestowne.org/adv.htm, titled “ADVENTURERS,” three Halls–two Richards and a William Hall are among persons “listed on the Charters of 1606, 1609, 1612 and a list of stockholders in 1620. These names have been checked against names found in Alexander Brown’s “Genesis of the United States”. An attempt has been made to eliminate duplicates. Persons proving descent from any one of these individuals would be eligible to join the Jamestowne Society. Most of the following persons made contributions to the Virginia Company of London and held shares accordingly. Some shares were passed to heirs or sold after purchasing them. This list should be treated as a preliminary effort and not complete, although it is not likely to change significantly.” [Note: There were no Richardsons on this list–there was an Edward Denny, an Edward Lukin (probably Lucas–shb), John and Richard Harper, and several by the name of Benett, Harris, Russell, Smith, and West, as might be expected–none other of the more unusual surnames that married William and Hannah’s children. I have not proven descent from any of these adventurers, including the Halls listed, though I have spent hours searching through the Virginia Company records, looking for more information on William Tracy, first governor.] –shb 25 Feb 2002
VIRGINIANS MORAL IN INTENT? Lies my Teacher Told Me, by James W. Loewen (New York: The New Press, 1995), p. 81: “For that matter, our culture and our textbooks underplay or omit Jamestown and the sixteenth-century Spanish settlements in favor of Plymouth Rock as the archetypal birthplace of the United States. Virginia, according to T. H. Breen, ‘ill-served later historians in search of the mythic originsof American culture.’ [footnote 54] Historians could hardly tout Virginia as moral in intent; in the words of the first history of Virginia written by a Virginian: ‘The chief Design of all Parties concern’d was to fetch away the Treasure from thence, aiming more at sudden Gain, than to form any regular Colony.’ [55] The Virginians’ relations with the Indians was particularly unsavory: in contrast to Squanto, a volunteer, the British in Virginia took Indian prisoners and forced them to teach colonists how to farm. [56] In 1623 the British indulged in the first chemical warfare in the colonies when negotiating a treaty with tribes near the Potomac River, headed by Chiskiack. The British offered a toast ‘symbolizing eternal friendship,’ whereupon the chief, his family, advisors, and two hundred followers dropped dead of poison. [57] Besides, the early Virginians engaged in bickering, sloth, even cannibalism. They spent their early days digging random holes in the ground, haplessly looking for gold instead of planting crops. Soon they were starving and digging up putrid Indian corpses to eat or renting themselves out to Indian families as servants–hardly the heroic founders that a great nation requires. [58]” –shb 17 Sep 2002
1607–THE GREAT PHILADELPHIA WAGON ROAD: From Philadelphia to the South – The Great Wagon Road, by Parke Rouse, Jr. (Richmond, Virginia: The Dietz Press, 1955), p. VIII: “The chronicle of the wagon Road is the chronicle of infant America, from 1607 until the age of the railway. It is the story of achievement against great odds. Breaking with the European tradition which they brought to America with them, the diverse settlers aong the Wagon Road began to create the new American society which changed the nineteenth-century history of the world”; pp. 4-6: “Slowly, through countless disappointing probes, the coastal settlers learned the immensity of the mountain range which paralleled the Atlantic Coast, several hundred miles inland, which the Indians called the Appalachians. Extending southwesterly from Canada to the Gulf Coast Plain in the South in a succession of rocky ranges, they impeded the large-scale westward movement of the English colonists until after the American Revolution.
“Few passes cut through the Appalachians, and these were obsured by the dense growth of pines and hardwoods which covered the face of colonial America. And though they were known to the Indians, who found them by observing the course which eagles followed across the mountains, the white men were slow to find these gaps. [Paragraph] Just beyond the coastal plain, which Chesapeake settlers called ‘Tidewater’ and Carolinians called ‘the low country,’ a hilly midland called ‘piedmont’ (foot of the mountains) led upward to the [p. 5] Appalachians. This was the fertile area which was destined to become the American frontier in the crucial years from 1761 to 1783 [our William I died in 1764–shb], when the Appalachian settlers first fought the French and then the English. It was the piedmont which became the main artery of eighteenth-century settlement. To coastal settlers, this ‘upcountry’ or ‘back country’ had developed by the eighteenth century into a convenient buffer against threat of Indians and French invaders from the west.
“The story of the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road is the story of the rise of this region, which became the first western frontier of the American nation created in 1789.
“Like the Wagon Road itself, the eastern foothills of the Appalachians became a bridge by which poor but hopeful immigrants from Europe reached the Appalachians and the Deep South. In this picturesque region, which reminded some Germanic pioneers of the snowcapped terrain of Switzerland, are the mountain-stream headwaters of the rivers which flow eastward–Susquehanna, Potomac, James–foaming over rocks to the fall line to form estuaries of the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike the gentler undulations of the coastal plain, the land has a vigor which from its beginning encouraged individualism. [Paragraph] Of all the mountain ranges of Appalachia, the Blue Ridge is the oldest and most serene. Formed 200 million years ago, it has been weathered and softened by time. So gently does the piedmont ascend to it that it hardly seems to justify the heroic name ‘mountain.’ Beyond, in the blue haze to the west, lie newer and more rugged chains like the Alleghanies and the Cumberlands. Between these ranges–called ‘Old Appalachia’ and ‘New Appalachia’–lies the great Appalachian Valley, whose northern end is called the Shenandoah and whose southwestern end becomes the Tennessee. The green Eden thus encompassed is called the Valley of Virginia.
“Not only did this upcountry of early America differ in its shape but in its climate and its plant and animal life. Longleaf pines dominate the low-country landscape, but as the land rises toward the Appalachians, these are intermixed with and finally replaced by hardwoods, spruce, and white pine. The flowing hillsides and mountains of the Appalachians produce a verdant growth of oak, maple, chestnut, and hickory, whose bright red leafage in fall have dazzled settlers from the time of Abraham Wood.
“It was the chestnut which proved the upcountry’s best wood. [p. 6] Easily split into logs for cabins and rails for fences, it was sought for every settler’s clearing along the western frontier. From its split timbers, shingles were rived with mallet and froe to cover houses and barns. From its bark, pioneers extracted tannic acid for tanning, dyeing, and for medicine. And from the chestnuts it produced in fall, the lean razorback hogs of the pioneers derived a fattening diet. [Paragraph] Almost equally valued was the hemlock, which grew in the damp glens of the mountains, surrounded by great mazes of pink rhododendron.”
“The shrubs and flowers of the Appalachians also differed from those of the lowlands further east. The forest cover of the rocky mountaintops resembled the colder regions to the north, where spruce and white pine overlay a smaller growth of hardwoods. Many years later, the Appalachians were to be called ‘The Trail of the Lonesome Pine,’ for the slim, brave trees which thrust their trunks a hundred feet above the rocky heights of the mountain peaks. [Paragraph] The wilderness of the Appalachians abounded in animals and birds, whose night cries were as frightening as the Indians’ and sometimes were imitated by them. Wolves rent the darkness with howls, and screech owls and hoot owls curdled it with terror. Panthers and wildcats preyed on poultry and small livestock, while rattlesnakes and copperheads offered a menace to both man and beast.
“The most impressive of the Appalachians’ animals was the woods buffalo, which had no counterpart in Europe. A peaceful ‘mammoth’ which browsed among canebrakes and nibbled spruce and balsam buds, it was hunted to extinction in Virginia after 1794 and in Kentucky by 1810. Smaller than the plains buffalo of the western barrens, this shaggy mammoth roamed in groups of two or three–usually a cow and her calves. White settlers came to value its meat and hide as highly as the Indians did. Buffalo skins covered the roof beams of pioneer settlers’ lean-tos and cabins.
“Though primitive man had lived in eastern America for more than 10,000 years before Europeans settled in the Appalachians, evidences of Indian life were few there. The mountainous terrain which surrounded the Great Warrior’s Path was a common hunting range for Siouan- and Algonquian-speaking tribes living in the east and Iroquois to the west.
“The tribes which bounded the Great Warriors’ Path were almost [p. 7] as diverse as the English farmers, French tradesmen, German protestants, and Scottish lowlanders who were to settle this portion of the New World. Each of the tribes belonged to one of four major language groups or ‘nations’ which Europeans found living in the woodlands of eastern America in the early years of American colonization: [I’m skipping this discussion of the various tribes–there is more very interesting reading, but this gives the flavor–shb 7 Aug 2000.]
MORE ON THE “GREAT ROAD”: The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution 1763-1789, by Freeman Hansford Hart (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), p. 21: “The ‘Great Road,’ as it was termed by some of the pioneers, crossed the Potomac at Mecklenburg, or Shepherdstown, then passed through Martinsburg, Winchester, Strasburg, New Market, and Staunton, to Fincastle at the lower end of the Valley. There it had three forks: the south to the Carolinas, the center to the Southwest, which meant also Tennessee and Kentucky, and the west to the Trans-Alleghany region by way of the Greenbrier Valley (footnote 62: ‘Jefferson and Fry May. One of the best authorities on early Valley roads is Charles E. Kemper of Staunton, Virginia. See map, p. 153, below’). This road has been termed the great highway of commerce for the Valley in the colonial period as well as later.
“The interest in road building in 1763-76, however, was not in the highway north and south but in the new routes east and west. The petitions ot the Assembly in those years asked that a road be cleared through the Blue Ridge Mountains at Rockfish Gap; that another be opened through the same mountains at Swift Run Gap; and that a road be made from Payne’s Run in Augusta to Thurman’s run in Albemarle, in order considerably to ‘shorten the distance’ over which the petitioners were ‘obliged to carry their commodities to market’ (footnote 63: ‘Hening, “Statues,” VIII, 549 ff).” –shb 13 Aug 2001 [Note: See more about the “GREAT ROAD” or “WARRIOR’S PATH,” as described by Margaret Adams, in William’s 1743 notes, below–shb.] –shb 3 Apr 2002
1612–JOHN ROLFE BEGINS EXPERIMENTS, GROWING TOBACCO.
1618–VAGRANT TRANSPORTATION: In the year 1618 transportation of criminals, vagrants, and children also began. Before making any assumptions about headright listings such as that for 1638, as listed here, it is essential to understand new insights about how the system worked (see below):
1618/19–HEADRIGHT SYSTEM OF LAND MANGEMENT STARTED/FORMER BELIEF ABOUT GENEALOGICAL APPLICATION OF HEADRIGHT LISTS CHALLENGED: Lecture by James W. Petty, A.G., at Brigham Young University Family History Conference, August 2000, as contained in the syllabus he provided, pp. 99-100: “III – Headrights, Patents, and Practices – ‘Headright’ is a term identifying an individual person, or head, and his ‘right’ to property. By colonial law in Virginia, each person whose transportation was paid to Virginia was a ‘headright’ and qualified the person who paid their transport to fifty acres of land. If a person paid his own way and that of his wife and two children, he was eligible for 200 acres of land. If he paid the way for other people he could receive fifty acres for each of those people and also require those people to serve as servants for a designated period of time, usually about four years.
“This system of providing land to people for coming to Virginia was a popular and effective incentive for many of the early immigrants. When a person arrived in America he received a note or certificate for himself and each person for whom he paid. He could then take that record to the county court to receive a county headright certificate, which was a land warrant certifying the bearer was eligible to receive up to the amount of land designated by the bond. He then identified a tract of land that he wished to settle on, obtained a survey of the property, and submitted the certificate and the survey to the Virginia Land Office in Jamestown (or in Williamsburg after 1699). There he received a patent (or grant) for the amount of land as shown in the survey, as long as it was covered by the certificate.
“The genealogical value of these records is enormous because the county certificates and the land patents both listed the names of the headrights relating to these records, thereby providing us with some of the earliest records of the names of immigrants to Colonial Virginia. One of the most important records of these early headright immigrants is the series of volumes known as Cavaliers and Pioneers, by Nell Marion Nugent, former director of the Virginia Land Office. Volumes 1-3, authored by Marion Nugent, former director of the Virginia Land Office. Volumes 1-3, authored by Nugent, cover the period of 1607 to 1732, and volumes 4-7, prepared by the Virginia Genealogical Society, cover the period of 1732 to 1776, completing the colonial time period. This series provides abstracts of each land grant, including the lists of headright names attached to the grants, with complete name indexes on a volume by volume basis. During the past century or longer, but especially since 1934, when Cavalier and Pioneers was published, a false perception of the land grant records has prevailed. It was thought that the lists of headright names in each land grant represented a list of immigrants transported by the person receiving the land grant. It was also often thought that each list represented a group of immigrants transported on a single ship, possibly identifying the person receiving the grant as the captain or master of the ship. This was incorrect.
“When people arrived in Virginia, designated as headrights, the holder of their certificates held cash, negotiable bonds. That person could trade his headright to anyone else for money, food, commodities, land, or whatever. When an individual took a list of names into the county court, it represented the earliest record, generally, of that particular group of immigrants. Except in rare cases, such as with family members, we do not know if that list of names actually represented people transported by the person claiming the certificate. When a person took a list of head right names to the Land Office to apply for a land grant, he usually took a number of certificates that he obtained from other people. Current research shows that over ninety percent of headright names listed in land grants were not issued to the Grantee when the county certificates were issued. Tens of thousands of names of headrights that appear in county court certificates were never submitted for land grants and do not appear in Cavaliers and Pioneers. In order to get back to the earliest records of headright names one must locate their ancestors in the original county court records where the certificates were recorded.” –shb 7 Aug 2000
1619–HOUSE OF BURGESSES MEETS FOR THE FIRST TIME.
ABOUT ONE THIRD CAME TO VIRGINIA AS INDENTURED SERVANTS: [Next item, mes W. Petty syllabus, p. 100]: “IV – Indentures and Slaves. Most of the immigrants to Virginia came as free citizens. Only a small percentage of people arrived as indentured servants. A misconception from the land patent records was that all people on the lists were transported by the person receiving the grant, but we now know that many of the names on those lists were headrights purchased or traded by others before they appeared on the grants. Perhaps thirty percent of the people who came to Virginia came as indentured servants. Many of these people obtained indentures prior to coming to Virginia, but some obtained their indentures after arriving in the Colony.
“An indenture was an agreement in which the servant was promised room and board, along with tools, clothing, and sometimes land, in return for working as servants on their owners’ property for a designatred number of years, generally about four years [3-7 years–shb]. This record provided the name of both the servant and the master, the occupation of the servant, the residence of the servant, the length and place of service, and what the servant would receive at the end of his indenture.
“An example of these records is found in Bristol and America, a Record of the First Settlers in the Colonies of North America 1654-1685 (Genealogical Publishing Co., 1970. FHL # 973, W2h). This contains an abstract of a list of the indentures of more than 10,000 names of ‘Servants to Foreign Plantations’ recorded at the Port of Bristol. These indentures pertained to servants traveling to Virginia, Maryland, and the various islands of the Caribbean. It appears from these records that individuals came to the port city to obtain their indentures. This represents only one of many port cities where indentures might have been issued, and records for other ports may also exist. A List of Emigrants from England to America 1718-1759, by Jack and Marion Kaminkow (1981, reprint, Genealogical Pub. Co., 1989), and Emigrants to America: Indentured Servants Recruited in London 1718-1733, by John Wareing (Gem. Pub. Co., 1985) detail many names that were assigned or recruited to go to Virginia during the 1700s.”
INDENTURED SERVANTS BID FOR LIKE SLAVES: [Next James W. Petty paragraph, p. 101]: “Many servants, upon their arrival in Virginia, were actually bid for, like slaves. In 1738, a letter from Governor Berkeley estimated that a cooper or other such tradesman might go for ‘six or seven pounds at the dock.’ Many children arrived in Virginia orphaned, or without support, and were indentured in the county courts, similar to an apprenticeship, except that they had to serve until age 24, regardless of the length of time involved.
“The first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619. In the beginning, blacks that were imported to Virginia were regarded the same as white indentured servants and upon completing their indentured time were granted freedom and allowed to start their own lives and property. However, lacking a free culture base to build upon and lacking the tradition and education to fit into the English society of colonial Virginia, the black population became dependento nt he English society for their care. This, together with the intolerance of the English-American culture of the time, led to the development of a permanent slave and owner relationship for most of the black population.” (See notes of John Mercer, RIN 31984, for more on black slave, versus indentured servant labor in early Virginia.) –shb 28 Sep 2001
VIRGINIA A PENAL COLONY: [Next James W. Petty syllabus paragraph, p. 101]: “Virginia and much of southern America was regarded as a penal colony by British Society throughout the Colonial period. From the outset of settlement it was recommended that prisoners and vagrants be transported to Virginia to clear British jailes of an unwanted segment of society. Legislation was passed, and in 1618 the first official transport of prisoners began. Initial efforts focused on capital criminals, but the types and numbers of prisoners became larger andmore diverse over the years. Vagrant children were sent over on a regular basis, giving them opportunity to a more meaningful life of public service, but in reality they were needed for the demands of the colonial workforce. Kidnapping became a real problem, and laws were passed for searching ships and requiring registration to stop unlawful taking of children. In addition to transporting serious criminals, laws were passed in 1657 setting up the practice of transporting other prisoners on condition of pardoning of their jail sentences. In 1718 legislation was broadened to allow transportation of all manner of crime from the smallest offense to bigamy.
Several important volumes have been published pertaining to the transportation of the criminal and vagrant element. Peter Wilson Coldham’s The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage, 1614 to 1775, is the foremost source. Coldham provides lists from Courts of Quarter Sessions and Assize Courts, hospitals, providing names of man of the 50,000 people who were transported to America for their crimes.” –shb 7 Aug 2000
They Called Stafford Home – The Development of Stafford County, Virginia from 1600 until 1865, by Jerrilynn Eby (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 1997), pp. 20-22: “Indentured servants, both men and women, agreed to work for a period of years after which time they would be set free. They could be sold while their indenture was still in effect. When their indenture expired, the employer was required to provide them with certain necessities. The ‘Act concerning servants and slaves’ of 1705 regulated the responsibilities of masters and slaves and servants. Masters were to provide wholesome diet, clothing and lodging, and were prohibited from administering ‘immoderate correction’ and, specifically, from whipping a Christian servant naked without an order from a justice of the peace. At the end of a servant’s indenture, his employer was required to set up the now-free person as a potential planter, giving him ‘freedom dues’ consisting of ’10 bushels of Indian corn, 30 shillings in money or the value thereof in goods and 1 well-fixed musket or fuzee of the value of 20 shillings at least.’
“England sent many indentured servants to the colonies, solving much of the unemployment problem in her parishes. She had found a convenient dumping ground for her less desirables, and she next turned to relieving the overcrowding in her prisons.
“In 1718 an Act of Parliament was issued which provided for the transportation of convicts to the colonies. By 1722 convicts were arriving and being bought as indentured servants; they would work on a plantation for seven years and then be given their freedom. The slave trade was still in its infancy and planters of Stafford, poorer than the lower Virginia planters, found it chaper to use the convicts as a labor source than to purchase slaves. [Paragraph] Virginia repeatedly protested the sending of convicts from England. Having the opportunity for a new life had no effect upon the anti-social behavior of these individuals and they quickly began causing problems in Virginia. After serving their indentures, many began stealing and murdering to support themselves. Crime was rampant in the colony and the Assembly sought to do something about it.
“In 1722 the Assembly recorded that ‘Whereas of late years persons convicted of felonies and other notorious crimes in Great Britain, have, according to Act of Parliament made in the fourth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King George, been transported into this Colony, and not only great frauds ahve been committed here by such Convicted persons, whereby the lives and estates of his Magesties subjects are in great danger.’ . . . [2 Paragraphs] An act passed by the Assembly in 1722 required planters to register any convicts they bought and record their names and the offenses for which the servants had been transported. The Privy Council of the King, however, disallowed the act on the grounds that it imposed such difficulties on the importers as to put them out of business. Of course, this was exactly the result the Virginians had had in mind. [Paragraph] Convicts continued to pour into the colony. Crime, especially arson, bcame so rampant in the Northern Neck area that in 1730 the Assembly increased the punishment for arson, declaring that severe penalties were necessary ‘in a country which is so much crowded with convicts, who after they have committed a crime may easily be concealed by their abettors until they find means to escape into another government.’
“The arson continued, with losses including Mount Pleasant Plantation and tobacco warehouses in Northumberland, Lancaster, and Falmouth, all burned in March 1732. The following June, Spotsylvania lost the nw parish church of St. Mark. The climax came in 1746 with the burning of the colony’s Capitol at Williamsburg. [Paragraph] Finally, in May of 1740 the Assembly recorded that the King had ordered the lieutenant governor of each colony to raise soldiers to fight against the Spaniards in America. ‘there are in every county within this colony able bodied persons fit to serve his magesty who follow no lawful calling of employment.’ The county courts were ordered to impress any person except those ‘who hath any vote in the election of a burgess or burgesses to serve in the general assembly of this colony or who is or shall be an indented or bought servant.’ Through the process of elimination, this left only the convicts And so the Northern Neck area was temporarily purged of many of its less desirable citizens. [The text goes on to explain that this did not eliminate importation of convicts by planters anxious for cheap labor. It, in fact, continued even after the Revolution, until Congress finally ended it in 1788–shb]. –shb 28 Sep 2001
1619–FIRST AFRICANS (TWENTY) ARRIVE IN VIRGINIA–SLAVE HOLDING AMONG HALLS: See notes of William’s sons Thomas, RIN 23799, William, RIN 681, James, RIN 683, Joseph, RIN 685, and Elizabeth’s husband Isaiah (or Elijah) Pemberton, RIN 24024, for evidence that at least five of William’s children had slaves. Margaret Adams reports in her William Hall I research notes, p. 5, that “On the tax list for Berkeley County in 1782 we find that four Hall brothers, John, William and Joseph had no slaves but Thomas had two.” However, later tax lists showed that as some of Thomas’ brothers got older and more prosperous, they followed Thomas’ example. I have found no evidence that William I, the “old pioneer” had slaves, though with a plantation of over 2,000 acres, one wonders how he ran it without them. (It is possible, as Margaret Adams has pointed out, that William purchased that much land because it was cheap, and in the hope that his sons could inherit it, without intent to farm or harvest lumber on all of it.) I also have no evidence, so far, that our ancestor Anthony, son of Wm. I, held slaves. Richardson was a prominent name among area Quakers–perhaps Hannah Richardson was a Quaker (if not in good favor for marrying William at St. Paul’s Church), so perhaps frowned on slavery. A William Hall was robbed by runaway slaves (see notes of William and Margaret Hall of Augusta County, RIN 20615). –shb 4 Nov 1999
THE ATLANTIC SLAVE SYSTEM: As published in “USA Weekend,” August 16-18, 2002, carried in our local “Provo Daily Herald,” Sunday, 18 Aug., David Brion Davis, director of Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, and author of Pulitzer Prize winning “The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture,” writes: “A Brief Account of the Atlantic Slave System – Today, virtually all people look upon chattel slavery as wrong, an evil–although millions of slaves still can be found in the world. But the institution of slavery was perfectly legal and taken for granted for millennia around the globe. Only a tiny minority spoke out against it, beginning in the 1700s.
“As far back as the Middle Ages, the Arabs discovered sub-Saharan Africa was an ideal source for slave labor and began taking millions of slaves to their empires. Numerous small ethnic groups in Africa already owned slaves and had few scruples about selling one another, precisely because tribes such as the Igbo and Mende didn’t see themselves as ‘fellow’ Africans.
“The Atlantic slave system, as we know it, began in the 1440s, when Portugal started to buy and ship African slaves to Europe, and it ended more than 400 years later, in 1888, with emancipation in Brazil. Slavery was a matter of demand and supply. There was a drastic and continuing shortage of labor throughout the Americas, and Africa provided an almost limitless supply. The resulting trans-Atlantic flow of more than 11 million Africans was invaluable for the rapid development of the New World.
“From the 1520s to the 1820s, at least five slaves were absorbed for every white European immigrant. The slaves worked on extremely profitable plantations from Brazil to Maryland, growing sugar, coffee, rice and tobacco for expanding international markets, a precursor to the efficient industrial factory assembly lines. By the early 1800s, there was hardly a business without ties to slavery, even in the North. Slave-produced exports, especially cotton, helped to build New York City and also nourished the Northeastern textile industry, creating a consumer society. [Paragraph] The uncompensated labor of millions of slaves played a central role in building the economic and cultural foundations of our country. The debate over reparations may now give us an opportunity to learn how much African Americans contributed to making a nation that continues to attract untold millions of immigrants.” –shb 18 Aug 2002
1622, 22 MARCH–ABOUT ONE-THIRD OF SETTLERS MASSACRED BY NATIVE INHABITANTS; A “PLAGUE” FOLLOWS, 1623, ONLY 300 SETTLERS REMAIN.
LABOR PROBLEM IN EARLY VIRGINIA VALLEY “COMPLICATED”: The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution 1763-1789, by Freeman Hansford Hart (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), pp. 15- : “The labor problem was a complicated one. There were at least four kinds of laborers: slaves, indentured survants, apprentices, and free laborers. There were two kinds of indentured servants: convicts and those who were working out passage money. The Valley pioneer also relied largely on the assistance of his wife and children.
“The census of 1790 shows that the slave population of the Valley south from Shenandoah County was less than 10 per cent; in the more populous northern counties it was but 18 per cent, as compared with more than 50 percent in he Piedmont and Tidewater. The proportion of slaves in the Valley before the Revolution was probably smaller than in 1790 (footnote 42: ‘Census, 1790, pp. 48-49. The northern counties had been settled longer and also had a larger percentage of eastern Virginians. According to the Blair Report to the lords of Trade in 1756, less than five per cent of the Valley population was slave. Chalmers Papers, Virginia,I, 1756 report’). Isaac Zane, in 1771, had but one slave among his score of servants (footnote 43: ‘Zane Papers, Inventory dated 1771’). On the other hand, John Craig, the pioneer Presbyterian minister of the Valley, when he died in 1774 left behind five slaves [as did William’s son Joseph Hall, RIN 685, who in 1764 devised five slaves to his wife Mary (Crow)–shb]. In 1767 echoes of a slave insurrection in Frederick county reached as far as Williamsburg. But the facts were that Colonel Adam Stephen, the county lieutenant, heard rumors of an uprising and ordered out a detachment of the militia, an ‘army’ composed of thirteen men commanded by an ensign. They arrested a few slaves on suspicion and carried them before a justice, who finding no evidence of insurrection, discharged them. On two occasions Augusta County hanged slaves accused of murder and displayed their heads on poles by the roads leading into Staunton (footnote 44: ‘Augusta Will Book, VI, settlement recorded Dec. 20, 1785, “Journal, Burgesses,” Mar. 23, 1767; Nov. 14, 23, 1769; Augusta Order Book, VIII, 324; XIV, 362’). [Paragraph][ Except for a few incidents of misbehavior, there is little evidence that the slaves were troublesome or that the treatment of them was cruel. . . [Next paragraph, p. 16]: Indentured servants played an important part in the labor problems of the time. Augusta County had not less than a hundred and twenty-five cases of servant delinquency during a ten-year period. In the same period Frederick had nearly a hundred such cases, and the new county of Botetourt about fifty in three or four years (footnote 47: ‘Augusta Order Book, VII-XVI, passim; Frederick Order Book, XIV-XVI; Botetourt Minute Book, 1770-1775, passim.” P. 19: “The apprentice problem rivaled that of indentured servants, and was in some respects one with it. In accordance with the poor laws, children who had no support were bound out on somewhat the same terms as indentured servants. In the late colonial period Indian wars and depredation took a heavy toll of heads of families, and the county courts were kept busy providing apprenticeships for orphans. Not less than 150 were bound out by Augusta Court in a period of ten years, and other counties had to provide for similarly large numbers. Frederick County Records show 220 orphans provided for in about the same ten-year period, while the Botetourt Court dealt with 55 apprentices and 32 orphans within six years from its establishment in 1770 (footnote 58). Few sections of colonial America felt this particular effect of Indian warfare as much as did the Valley. [Paragraph] The orphan was to be taught a trade, such as that of shoemaker, carpenter, wheelwright, wagonmaker, joiner, currier, or weaver, or, if a girl, spinning and weaving. Frequently he was to be taught to ‘read, write and cypher as far as the rule of three’ (footnote 59). Now and then, in addition to freedom dues, he was to have specific crafts at the end of his apprenticeship. For a boy, the gift was usually a horse or saddle or wagon; for a girl, a cow or spinning wheel. The courts frequently called masters to account for failure to keep their agreements.” –shb 13 Aug 2001
AFT 1649 ROYALISTS FLEE TO VIRGINIA–HISTORY BEHIND NORTHERN NECK AND LORD FAIRFAX LAND THAT WILLIAM OBTAINED: Sam Lehman, Chapter 3, The Story of Frederick County (available at the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah): “Old Frederick is now twelve counties and the cities therein, but once it was the part of Lord Fairfax’ ‘northern neck’ landgrant which lay west of the Blue Ridge. That story begins with the end of England’s rule by the Stuart monarchs, James I and Charles I. The Royalist army was defeated, and Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell’s military dictatorship beheaded Charles I for treason-for ‘usurping tyrannical authority.’ English ships deserted, Welch and Irish Royalists revolted, and Scotch and Irish armies menaced England from the north and west. [Paragraph] Charles II at age nineteen returned from exile to fight Cromwell for his throne. The Scotch and the Irish crowned him king, and on September 18, 1649 he granted seven staunch supporters (including Thomas First Lord Culpeper and Edward Culpeper) the land ‘bounded by and within the heads’ of our Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. However, Cromwell crushed the revolts, Charles II barely escaped to France, and the landgrants seemed worthless. Royalists fled to Virginia to escape this Puritan revolution, as Puritans had earlier fled to New England to escape persecution by the Anglican (Episcopal) church. [Could this have been when William’s father came to Virginia?–shb] [Paragraph] Cromwell’s leadership expanded the empire, but did not provide for succession, and after his death Parliament in 1660 proclaimed Charles II king, subject to restrictions. Incredibly the Stuart monarchy had been restored, and with it the value of that landgrant of the ‘northern neck’ in Virginia – value perpetuated by the succession to the throne of James II (Charles II’s brother), then William and Mary (Charles II’s daughter). [Paragraph] By 1681 Thomas Second Lord Culpeper owned 5/6 of the landgrant (he bought out four of the other proprietors and one ‘lapsed’). He died in 1689, and a year or so later his daughter (and heir) married Thomas the Fifth Lord Fairfax. Their son, Thomas the Sixth Lord Fairfax, inherited the whole landgrant. In 1730 [one year before our ancestors Hannah Richardson and William Hall married–shb] he began a 15-year surveying and court battle against the Crown Colony of Virginia, which had taken over the Virginia Company. [Paragraph] Virginia held that the landgrant ended at the north branch of the Rappahannock River and the Blue Ridge – that the head of the Potomac River was at Harpers Ferry, fed by the Shenandoah and ‘Cohongoruton’ Rivers. In 1743 George Hume surveyed the boundary line for Frederick and Augusta counties from Chester Gap (where Route 522 now crosses the Blue Ridge) 76 miles to the real headspring of the Potomac River. In 1745 [by 1750 William Hall I obtained his first Lord Fairfax land grant–shb] the Privy Council of King George II ruled that Lord Fairfax’ boundary went up the south fork of the Rappahannock (the Rapid Anne and Conway Rivers) to the Blue Ridge, then 74 miles straight ot the real headspring of the Potomac. Thomas the Sixth Lord Fairfax, proprietor, owned 8,253 square miles of Virginia instead of 3,225. [Paragraph] The proprietorship lasted only forty years longer.” [History of land continued in 1785 notes.] –shb 8 May2000
CAVALIERS AND PURITANS: The Story of Stafford: A Narrative History of Stafford County, Virginia, by John T. Goolrick (Stafford, Virginia: Stafford County Board of Supervisors, 1976), pp. 16-17: “It may seem a far cry from the turmoil of Europe and England to the uninhabited shores of Stafford. But no part of the New World was so greatly to be affected by conditions overseas as was The Northern Neck of Virginia. ‘During the three centuries which followed the discovery of America, the history of America was but a phase of European history,’ says Ashly in his ‘America,’ and adds: ‘The Colonies–can only be understood when we know the situation in Europe during those years.’ [Paragraph] For a time the history of the Northern Neck and of Stafford are the same, and, after Stafford became a county, similar. In this Northern Neck a new kind of civilization in America was to be born, a new kind of men than any that had come to America in a group to be settled, and these men were to make so vast an impress upon the history of America that without them the entire course of events would have been changed. These immigrants, ‘The Cavaliers,’ were driven from England and were closely followed by others driven thence, and of another type and viewpoint, who became a part of the development of the country. [Paragraph] “The earlier immigrants were mainly of Puritan stock, Covenanters of Scotland, Non-conformists of England. These settled in the south of Virginia and were the backbone of the Jamestown colonization, although with them were some larger men, mainly sent over as officials of the King, the Cavalier type. But when Cromwell’s party of Parliamentarians came into power, these – the ‘Roundheads’ – displaced in England the loyalists – ‘The Cavaliers’ – who were adherents of Charles I. Of these it has been written: [title CAVALIERS AND PURITANS] ‘As for the Royalists, they were of course, the nobility of England, of ancient Monarchial England, the conservative upholders of the existing and ancient order, the lords by birth. In close union with these were the Episcopalians, or High Churchmen. At the head of these stood the King.’ Among these a leader was Lord Culpepper, although his views were broader than those of the main body of the party, and he was destined to own the Northern Neck. Each party applied to the other a nickname. The Parliamentarians were dubbed ‘Roundheads,’ because they had their hair closely cropped after middle-class fashion; the Royalists were ‘Cavaliers.’ [Paragraph] When the Civil War in England ended (1643-1646), the Puritan party were victors and the ’roundheads’ took full power. King Charles I retreated to a body of loyal Scots, under Earl Montrose, for whom a town in the Northern Neck is named. But the Scots sold him to the Parliamentarians in 1647 and on January 30, 1649 the King was beheaded. Cromwell came to power. The Kingdom of England became the Commonwealth, but Ireland and Scotland, in 1650, proclaimed the son, Charles II, King. Aided by these, Charles II invaded England, with his Scot and Irish followers, and the flower of the English Cavaliers, and met fearful defeat at Worcester. The King fled, and in Staffordshire (which gave Stafford its name) found refuge with many of his Cavalier followers. Among them were Captain George Mason and Captain Gerard Fowks, later to settle in Stafford), with some Woodchippers in the forest of Boscobel, (for which a Stafford home is named).” [New title, EVENTS IN ENGLAND] – The Cavaliers were prostrated. England was in the hands of the fanatic Cromwell and the new House of Commons (the House of Lords having been abolished), was led by Praise God Barebones, whose eldest son was named “Christ-Came-Into-The-World-To-Save-Barebones.” Cromwell could not placate the Cavaliers, and when they conspired against him in 1655 captured many of them, executing some, selling the remainder as slaves in the Barbadoes. The property of the Cavaliers was confiscated. In a world so mad, the Cavaliers could not live, and those who could escaped to America, some secretly, some openly, many in poverty and none with much worldly goods. But, their world shattered, these Cavalier aristocrats, were glad to find any refuge where freedom was offered. Many Stafford names came down from these refugees.
“They began to come in 1649, and the influx increased yearly. Naturaly these men sought Virginia, a colony of the late King, and now still claiming loyalty to Charles II. Virginia had, in 1648, driven many Puritans from its border into tolerant Maryland. As Cromwell rose, the Dominion refused to recognize his government and took for the ruler ‘Our King Charles II.’ There were then not more than 20,000 people in the Colony, mostly about Jamestown, a few hundred on the lower Northern Neck shores, none higher than what is now Westmoreland, none in Spotsylvania across the river, none up the rivers, and Giles Brent’s outpost at Aquia was the only settlement in Stafford. This was in 1649.
“[Title STAFFORD CAVALIER’S REFUGE] – But about that time the Cavaliers began to reach the shores of Virginia. The tide flowed more freely each year. In 1649 the first record of the immigration was written, that ‘three hundred and thirty gentlemen’ sailed from England. They were Cavaliers, leaving their homes for habitations in the Wilderness, bringing with them sometimes a few friends, some old retainers, and nothing else but their hopes. Jamestown and vicinity were a bit more Puritan than they liked, and they heard of a fair, rich land on the northern ‘great Rivers,’ where white men had not settled, of Giles Brent, the lone head man of a lone village. Seeking land and sustenance many of them went to him at Aquia.
“And Brent, though a Catholic, welcomed them. His former State of Maryland was largely Catholic, but had passed an Act of Toleration, for all religions. Brent had left England before the Civil War, but he was of the aristocratic class, a cousin of Lord Baltimore, and his sympathy was with the King. And thus it fell out that the romance which aided to bring about his difficulties with Lord Baltimore’s factors, and which had given him as his wife the Indian princess Kittamaquad, became of the greatest importance in the settlement of The Northern Neck and of Stafford. For when Captain George Mason and Gerard Fowke reached the Northern Neck after fleeing England, and when the other Cavaliers came, they found Brent a friend willing to show them what was best to be done by newcomers, and that his wife, the Princess Kittamquad, was powerful enough with the Indians to assure them safety and aid.
“[Title INDIANS AIDED SETTLERS] Most of these newcomers were impoverished by want and ill fitted for pioneering. They were men of spirit, too strong to submit to Cromwell, fearless enough to leave all behind and try to make homes in the New World, but they were aristocrats, unused to work. They had to build cabins and seek sustenance.
“How much the white settlers owed to the Indians has never been fully told. Here they had lands of them, and learned from them. ‘Time after time,’ says Ashley, ‘the settlers would have died of hunger but for the food furnished by the natives. The first successful efforts of the Colonists to raise a supply for themselves were but imitations of the crude methods of the Indians. The Indians showed them how to plant maize, clear forests, trap game, catch fish through the ice. They taught them to navigate the streams in birch-bark canoes. Clothing was made from skins after the Indian fashion.’ Thus aided they established themselves and when Cromwell died in September 1656 the settlers had become quite numerous throughout the Northern Neck. His son Richard was inadequate, General Monkmarched into power, Parliament was called again and in May 1660 Charles II was proclaimed King.
“This was a momentous event for the Northern Neck, and for Stafford, for Charles II had the quality of gratitude. He remembered the Cavaliers who had sacrificed for his father, and aided them with money, land grants, and laws favorable to their interests. He granted to Lord Thomas Culpepper, son of Lord John Culpepper who had been a loyalist, the whole of the Northern Neck, from the Chesapeake Bay along the Potomac and Rappahamnock Rivers, to the headwaters, or the summit of the Blue Ridge, or perhaps even beyond, some 5,000,000 or 10,000,000 acres. Culpepper made Robert Carter, who became known as ‘King Carter’ his factor and when the Northern Neck by inheritance came to Lord Fairfax, Carter continued to reign.” –shb 14 Aug 2001
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VI. THE NORTHERN NECK VIRGINIA LAND GRANTS
NORTHERN NECK DIVISION INTO COUNTIES–STAFFORD TO SPOTSYLVANIA TO FREDERICK: The Fairfax Proprietary, by Josiah Look Dickinson (Front Royal, Virginia: Warren Press, 1959), p. 12: “We have already had some account of the formation of Spotsylvania County, in 1720. Later it was divided into the parishes of St. George’s and St. Mark’s. At the August, 1734, session of the Assembly Orange County was established, to become effective January 1, 1735, as follows: ‘ . . . and that that part of the said county which is now the parish of St. George remain and be called and known by the name of Spotsylvania County; and all that territory of land adjoining to and above the said line, bounded southerly by the line of Hanover County, northerly by the grant of the Lord Fairfax, and westerly by the utmost limits of Virginia, be thenceforth erected into one distinct county, to be called and known by the name of Orange County.’ [footnote 1. Hening, Vol. 4, p. 450].
“The following quotation from the Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia, April 23, 1734, seems to show that part of Stafford County had already fallen into Spotsylvania County, and the names of the ‘adventurers’ given plainly shows that the territory concerned was afterward Frederick County: ‘On reading of a Petition from the Inhabitants on the North west side of the Blew Ridge of Mountains, praying that some persons may be appointed as Magistrates to determine differences and punish Offenders in regard the Petitioners live far remote from any of the established Counties within the Colony. It is the opinion of the Council that Joost Hyte [see RIN 28847–shb], Morgan Morgan, John Smith, Benjamin Bourden [see RIN 28283–shb] and George Hobson be appointed Justices within the Limits aforesaid, and that they be added to the Comn of the Peace for the County of Spotsylvania, until there be a suficient Number of Inhabitants on the Nothwest side of the said Mountains to make a County of itself, But that the Persons above named be not Obliged to give their Attendance as Justices of the Court of the County of Spotsylvania’ [footnote 2. Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia, Vol. IV, p. 318].” –shb 3 Mar 2001
CARTMELL’S FLAWED HISTORY MENTIONS WILLIAM I: Photocopy sent shb by Jane Hall, May 2002 – Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants – A History of Frederick County, Virginia, by T. K. Cartmell, Clerk of the Old County Court, (Winchester, Virginia, 1919), p. 440: “There are so many descendants of the pioneers who settled along the southern drains of Hogue Creek, so well known to the author, that he finds it difficult to pass them by. The old families left interesting traditionary history that may be used in independent sketches. [Paragraph] With English and Scotch-Irish emigrants who settled on the upper drains of Hogue Creek [this location is disputed by Hayden, below–shb], was William Hall, who secured a grant for 2,236 acres: and proceeded to locate several families; but was hindered by Lord Fairfax, who finally compromised and executed release deed, 1764. The old pioneer died in 1768 [no, 1764–shb] and was succeeded by his son William. He and his brothers James, Thomas and Bennett [William II had no brother named Bennett–shb] established homes at various points in the great survey. With Hall was a Scotch-Irishman who wrote his name as David Mulelcuro; by others written Mucklewee. This was the pioneer of the McIlwee family, which has held sway in that section for about one hundred years. For it was in 1808 the name of this family was first written McIlwee. David, the pioneer, and his two sons, William and Daniel, were with Capt. William Hall in his raid of a band of marauding Indians, 1788.” [I think this Capt. William Hall was Wm. Hall III (RIN 6683, m. Mirriam/Mary Tullis), son of Wm. II and Elizabeth Lucas, Wm. II, the son of Wm. I and Hannah Richardson–shb]. [Paragraph] Col. James B. Hall owned the property where the Wotring families now live [Col. James’ dau. Nancy V. m. pioneer Daniel E. Wotring–shb.] The Halls have all disappeared save Jno. W. a grandson of Col. Hall.” [This Col. James B. Hall is my RIN 19062 who m. Margaret Rosenberger in 1822. Col. James B. Hall was son of Bennett Hall and Nancy Hammond, Bennett the son of James Hall and Elizabeth Bennett, James the son of the Quaker, Thomas Hall, and his wife, Hannah Hibberd–shb.] –shb 24 May 2002
HAYDEN RESPECTFULLY CORRECTS CARTMELL: Richard A. Hayden, Pittsburgh, Pa., “Early Hall Family Pioneers of Frederick County, Virginia” (The Virginia Genealogist,Vol. 37, No. 3, Whole Number 147, July-September, 1993,” ed. and publ. by John Frederick Dorman [Falmouth, Virginia 22403-5860, Box 5860, 1993]), as referred to me by William’s descendant Patti Sue McCrary, disputes Cartmell’s description of an “old pioneer” who “settled along the drains of Hogue Creek” and who “secured a grant for 2,236 acres and proceeded to locate several families but was hindered by Lord Fairfax, who finally compromised and executed release deed, 1764” (Thomas K. Cartmell, Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and Their Descendants: A History of Frederick County, Virginia (Winchester, Virginia, 1919). My research confirms Hayden’s conclusion that Cartmell, appreciated as he is for his contributions, erred, in that Hall’s patent was located in Halltown, near Harper’s Ferry, in what is now Jefferson County, West Virginia, not on the drains of Hogue Creek in Frederick County, which, as Hayden indicates, is some 30 miles to the southwest. Hayden goes on to prove that the James Hall, with a son named Bennet, “who appeared along the upper drains of Hogue Creek at least as early as 1785, at which time he was deeded 398 acres of land from Henry Bowman,” was not, as some have thought, the son of William Hall I and Hannah Richardson–in fact, according to Hayden, “early church and court records of Philadelphia and Chester Co., Pa., prove conclusively that the Hall family of Hogue Creek, Frederick County, bears no identifiable relationship to the family of William Hall, ‘the old pioneer.'” [Note: See notes of James, son of William Hall I, for documentation regarding him–shb]. –shb 13 Feb 2002
LOCATION STUDY, NORTHERN NECK GRANTS: I have gone through all five volumes of Peggy Shomo Joyner’s Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys (Portsmouth, Virginia: 5008 Dogwood Trail, 23703, 1985), trying to locate our William and Hannah (Richardson) Hall and their relatives. Because county boundaries changed so much, I hoped that placing names by location might be fruitful. In some cases it was not clear which “Broad Run” was referred to, so I tried to apply the reference most used in the deed entries of that county. This is a lot of material–I don’t claim this as a definitive study, but offer what I have collected, as follows: BROAD RUN BRANCH OF THE POTOMAC: 1726 Anthony Russell, 1727 James Thomas, Col. Henry Ashton, Francis Russell, Foser, Norman, Cock(e), Diggs, (CC [abbreviation for “chain carriers”] Wm. & Thos. Hall), Henry Holtzclaugh, Mr. Thornton, Capt. Tebs, Col. Cock, Col. Carter, Capt. Middleton, Wm. Hall, Edw. Graham, Col. Richard Blackburn, Matthew Moss, 1740–John Sturman, Capt. Catesby Cocke, Jas. Murray, Geo. Foster, Jno. Owens, Wm. West, Wm. Hall, Geo. Mason, Fr. Awbrey, 1742–John Diskins, John Savage, Hart, Thos. Harper, Leechman, Peyton, Dalles; 1762 Anthony Russell, adj. Col. Catesby Cocke, John Turley, Alexr Nelson (now James Spencer’s), Capt. Anthony Russell; Settlers on GOOSE CREEK, 1730-1741: Francis Awbrey (formerly John Tuton’s), Widow Hawlin (Indian Cabin Br. of Pot.), David Richardson (Marker), Richard Wood, Thos. Ashby, 1754 Majr John Carlyle; BRANCH OF GOOSE CREEK 1741 William Hatcher of PA on br of Goose Crk adj Hereh Fairhurst, Abel Janney, Thos Janney, Jacob Janney, blacksmith; 1741, in Fairfax Co., Edmund Sands of Pr. Wm. on br of Goose Crk adj his own, Amos Janney, Thos Janney, CC Henry Baker; BEAVERDAM BRANCH OF GOOSE CREEK: 1739 Wm. Hall, 1740 George Gregg of PA land in Pr. Wm. on Beaverdam Br of Goose Crk adj Majr Thos Wearing/Waring, 1740s Jer. Bronaugh, Majr Rich. Blackburn, Wm. Cox of PA (Chain Carriers Saml. Harrisses), Diskins, Middleton, Elzey, Col. Carter, James Wood, Conyers, Green, Joyner, Samuel Harris (at fork), Thos. Gregg of PA, some Janneys, 1741, Fairfax Co., William Harris of Pr. Wm. on N fk of Beaverdam adj Saml Harris, John Hanby, 1741 in Fairfax Co., George Gregg survd for Eliz. Hanby [whom he married–shb] on fk of Beaverdam br of Goose Crk adj Lovill Jackson, 1741 Harman Cox of Pr. Wm adj. Geo Carter, 1742 in Fairfax Co., George Robinson, assignee of Edmund Connerly from PA, land on Beaverdam Br of Goose Crk adj Jacob Lasswell, Jacob Janney, blacksmith, George Gregg; 1742 John Cox of PA in Pr. Wm. on Goose Crk adj. Thomas Gregg, Joyner and also another tract adj. Saml Harris, Joseph Dixson, 1741 John Dixson of Pr. Wm. adj Gidney Clarke, Thomas Gregg, in Fairfax Co., 1746 John Hall, Harrison, Botts [Potts?–shb], Breedwell, Newton, Maddin, Floyd, Helms, Overalls, Tedwell, Robt. Ashby, John Miles, James Thomas of Westmoreland (adj. Col. Henry Ashton, John Diskins) 1751 Jonas Potts, assignee of John Hartley of Fairfax Co., land adj. Isaac Nichols, Harman Cox, John Bishop, Thomas Gregg; 1763 John Piles, adj. Landon Carter, Wm Elzey, Jacob Morris, Wm Steerman; also on Beaverdam of Goose Crk as assignee of Charles Lewis, land adj. John Piles, Lewis Elzey, Charles Green, Capt. Thomas Pearson; 1763 William Robinson, land adj. Benja Greyson, Amos Janney, Col. Richard Blackburn, Danl French (formerly Amos Janney’s), Thos Dodd; SOUTH FORK BEAVERDAM ON GOOSE CREEK – 1741 Michael Pedrick of PA adj Elizabeth Hanby, now wife of George Gregg, in Fairfax Co.; NORTH BRANCH OF GOOSE CREEK (SECOLINS BR.): John Savage, Thos. Owen, Lasswell, Matthews; NORTHWEST FORK, GOOSE CREEK: Wm. Cox, Gregg, Tayloe, Johnson, Wm. Fairfax, Janneys of PA (Thos. Abel, Joseph, Jacob, Amos), Wm. Brown, CC Thos. Kees, Lasswell, Beason, Toward, Matthews, Holyfield, Jos. Dixson; 1742 Thomas Norton, assignee of Thomas Matthews adj Richard Beeson, Joseph Janney, Richard Brown, 1754-55 Joseph West, assignee of Jacob Lasswell, on NW fk of Goose Crk in Fairfax County has land adj. Joseph Dixson of PA, Wm. Dodd, Richard Brown, Thomas Matthews, Thomas John, Thomas Janney. BRANCH OF LITTLE RIVER, GOOSE CREEK: Wm. Hall of Stafford, Thos. Owsley, Edw. Hews (CC Thos. Hall, John Watson), Col. Carter, Capt. Middleton, Wm. Hall Sr., Messer/Mercer, Wm. West (& Piney Branch); HUNGAR/HUNGER RUN, GOOSE CREEK: Fishback, Holzclaw, Powell, Miller; BULL RUN; John Mercer, Robt. Carter, Wm. Hall, Wm. West, Thos. Owsley; 1765 Capt. Wm. West land in Loudoun County “about the Bull Run Mt adj. his own, John Young, John Mercer (formerly Owsley’s), corner ‘to William Hall alias Owsley, now John ___?.’ Surv. Jno Hough; NEAR ROCK CABIN: Richard Brown, John Lasswell, CC Sam. Harris; KITTOKTAN CRK. ABOVE GOOSE CREEK, LIMESTONE RUN, TUSKORORA & A BR. OF COOL SPRING: Mead, Averill, Miner, Norton, Colvill, John Richardson, Richard Wood, Benj. Grayson, Francis Awbrey (Mason), Dixon (CC Benj. Hawlin), Cocke, Jn. Mercer, Harrison, Jn. Fitzhugh; SOUTH BRANCH, ELK LICKING RUN/KITTOKTAN CRK: Benj. Grayson, Middleton Shaw, Joseph Henson, John Warner; CLARK’S RUN OFF KITTOKTAN: 1741 David Richardson, Fairfax Co., land in Pr. Wm. on brs of Clarks Run adj his own, Margret Halling (now Sinclairs), Capt Cock, John Gording; Patrick Lynch, Capt. Cock(e), David Richardson, Richard Brown, Fr. Awbrey; UPPER FORK OF TUSCARORA: John Richardson, Sr., John Savage of Stafford, Lasswell, Mr. Awbrey, Wm. Chandler (Middleton Shaw); GREAT FORK, RAPPA. R, DEVIL’S RUN: 1747 William Lucas, Mrs. Hanna Fairfax, Francis Thornton (CC John More, Francis Lucas); FORK OF GOARD VINE R, HANNENS MT.: Jos. Thomas, Francis Slaughter, Wm Duncan, David Kinkade, Jonathan Ward; NORTH RUN OF POHICK, Capt. Benjamin Grayson of Prince Wm. 1740, land in Fairfax Co. adj Col. Henry Fitzhugh; SOUTH RUN OF POHICK, Fairfax Co., 1742 James Hally of Pr. Wm, adj Wm. Hall, Capt. Cock, Shepherd, Wm Godfrey; BRANCHES OF POHICK, Fairfax Co., Alexander Gowin adj. Lewis Elzey, Colo Carter, Surv. Wm. West. –shb Apr 2001
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VII. EARLY VIRGINIA CULTURE, ECONOMY, EDUCATION, RELIGION
BACKGROUND NOTES ON EARLY VIRGINIA PIONEER LIFE/EDUCATION/RELIGION: See notes of son William’s wife, Elizabeth Lucas, RIN 692; son James Hall, RIN 683; son Thomas Hall, RIN 23799, and wife Hannah Richardson, RIN 678. –shb
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS: The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution 1763-1789, by Freeman Hansford Hart (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), p. 24: “The conditions under which pre-Revolutionary Valley settlers made their living were generally favorable to a rapid economic expansion. Except for the great patents, such as those of Borden and Fairfax, there were few estates that equaled in acreage the large Tidewater plantations. Nevertheless a number of landowners in the Valley during this period had tracts with acreages running into the thousands [including William, who accumulated over 2,000 acres–shb], and after the manner of the tidewater and Piedmont sections, the large planter in the Valley felt that he must have a name for his estate. Hence we find Zane’s ‘Marlboro,’ Fleming’s ‘Belmont,’ Adam Stephen’s ‘Bower,’ Jacob Hite’s ‘Hopewell,’ John Hite’s ‘Springdale,’ . . . . In personal property there were a few who nearly rivaled the Tidewater planters and who were on a par with those of the Piedmont . . . [p. 26 talks about Mrs. Roger North’s mahogany furniture–see her notes, RIN 29109–Ann (Rambo) m. Roger North, and their son, Capt. George North, m. Elizabeth or Eliza Keys, William’s granddaughter by his daughter Sarah, who m. Humphrey Keyes–shb]. . . There is, however, another side of the picture, and one that is not so cheerful. Not half the homes had kitchen utensils, only about a third had beds, and only one family in six had chairs or tables (footnote 79). This, to be sure, did not signify destitution in the present-day sense but merely that most families prepared meals Indian fashion, slept on the floor or in bunks nailed up in corners of their log cabins, sat oriental fashion or on stools sawed from logs, and used, for tables, logs hewn on one side to make a level surface. . . . [p. 27] In spite of the attractive names used for the homes in many cases, the landed gentry of the Valley were not yet erecting dwellings in keeping either with their acres or with their personal property. even Isaac Zane’s ‘Mansion House’ at ‘Marlboro’ was only twenty by forty feet (footnote 84). Several of the colonial houses are still standing (footnote 85).” –shb 13 Aug 2001
TOBACCO, CHIEF CROP: The Story of Stafford: A Narrative History of Stafford County, Virginia, by John T. Goolrick (Stafford, Virginia: Stafford County Board of Supervisors, 1976), p 17: “During the heyday of the Virginia plantations, then, tobacco was the chief crop. Every inch of available cultivable soil was planted in tobacco; the planting of wheat, corn, barley, and vegetables was restricted to only what was absolutely necessary for survival. Tobacco was grown for domestic use and for exportation to europe, where it was in great demand. . . Tobacco was extremely hard on the soil. After two or three seasons of planting in the same location, there would be a noticeable reduction in quantity and quality of the tobacco. The planter might then plant the field in wheat or corn, but, in all likelihood, the field would be abandoned and a new one cleared. The seemingly endless supply of land discouraged planters from careful soil management.” –shb 30 Sep 2001
EDUCATION IN EARLY VIRGINIA: Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia, by Bishop William Meade–reprinted as compiled by Jennings Cropper Wise, in two volumes (Berryville, VA: Virginia Book Company, 1978), pp. 190-92: “In the year 1723, the Bishop of London addressed a circular to the clergy of Virginia, then somewhat over forty in number, making various inquiries as to the condition of things in the parishes. One of the questions was, ‘Are there any schools in your parish?’ The answer, with two or three exceptions, (and those in favour of charity-schools) was, none. Private schools at rich gentlemen’s houses, kept perhaps by an unmarried clergyman or candidate for Orders, were all the means of education in the Colony, and to such the poor had no access. Another question was, ‘Is there any parish library?’ The answer invariably was, none; except in one case, where the minister replied, ‘We have the Book of Homilies, the Whole Duty of Man, and the Singing Psalms.’ Such were the answers from thirty clergymen whose responses I have before me [a footnote marked here reads: ‘Even the little establishment of Huguenots at Manakintown, whose compact settlement so favoured education, and whose parentage made its members to desire it, was so destitute, that about this time one of their leading men, a Mr. Sallie, on hearing that the King was about to establish a colony in Ireland for the Huguenots, addressed him a letter begging permission to be united to it, saying that there was no school among them where their children could be educated’]. If ‘knowledge be power,’ Virginia was, up to that time, so far as the poor were concerned, but a barren nursery of mighty men. Would that it had been otherwise, both for Church and State! Education was confined to the sons of those who, being educated themselves, and appreciating the value of it, and having the means, employed private teachers in their families, or sent their sons to the schools in England and paid for them with their tobacco. Even up to the time of the Revolution was this the case with some . . . . I hope I shall not be misunderstood. It is no dishonour to be born of the poorest parents in the land. It is a much greater honour to be descended from a poor and ignorant good man, than from a rich or learned bad man. I am only speaking of historical fact. It was the shame of our forefathers, both here and in England, that they did not, by promoting education, furnish more opportunities to the poor to become in a greater degree the very bone and sinew of the State. It is our sin now that more and better attention is not paid to the common schools of Virginia, in order to make them nurseries of good and great men.” [On p. 192, the author mentions names of some early Virginia clergymen and includes the names Key, Berkeley, Richardson, Gordon, Smith, Collier, Hall, Rose, Jones, and Preston. On p. 287 is mentioned the “distinguished course” of clergyman Clement Hall in North Carolina–shb.]
SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY HOMES: The Story of Stafford: A Narrative History of Stafford County, Virginia, by John T. Goolrick (Stafford, Virginia: Stafford County Board of Supervisors, 1976), pp. 13-14: “When the phrase ‘colonial Virginia’ is mentioned, most people think of the lifestyle represented by the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg. Quaint villages, great plantations, and cozy cottages create a fantasy image of life in the New World. Unlike their lower Virginia counterparts, the seventeenth-century Northern Neck planters lived in the utmost simplicity. Typically, a new settler in Stafford cut down trees with an ax, thereby opening land for cultivation and providing building materials for a very simple log house. If the man survived such difficulties as starvation, disease, fires, accidents, hungry animals, and disputes with local Indians, and manged to establish himself, he would make improvements to his little house. These improvements included adding clapboard to the outside and, perhaps, an addition on one end. Sometimes it took several generations to accomplish this.
“In 1691 an ‘established’ planter, Edward Mason, left the following to his widow: ‘one bed and Covering, one small Chest and Box, one small Case, one old brass Candlestick, one old Warming Pan, one Pestle, one old iron box, one pair of Bellows, one old Frying pan, Two dishes, Two plates, one old bason, one old Pewter Pott, and three Trayes.’ Clearly, life was not as idyllic as might be imagined.
“A Huguenot gentleman traveling through the area in 1686 described the early plantations: ‘People are well lodged in this country. The houses are all of wood. The roofs are made of oak shingles, and the walls of clapboard. Those who are even tolerably well off ceil them on the inside with mortar made of oyster shell lime, which leaves the walls as white as snow. However mean these houses may appear on the outside, for one sees nothing but wood, within they are most agreeable, well glazed and well ventilated. They make plenty of bricks and I have seen several houses of which the walls were entirely of brick. Whatever their condition may be, for what reason I do not know, they build their houses of two rooms only and several closets, all on the ground floor, with but one or two prophets chambers above; but if they need they, they build several such houses. They have also a separate kitchen, a separate house for the Christian servants and a separate house for the negro slaves, and several houses in which to cure tobacco. So it is that arriving at the residence of a person of some consideration, you would think that you were entering a village. Few ever lock the doors of their houses, because stealing is almost unknown . . . There are no stables for they never house their cattle, but let them run in the woods. The only risk is of wolves.” –shb 30 Sep 2001
1698–RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE IN EARLY VIRGINIA BEGAN TO DECLINE: (See notes of William’s wife Hannah Richardson for more Quaker/Episcopal history; also notes of Rev. James Anderson, RIN 26750–shb). See also, William Hall I’s notes that give an account of two Moravian ministers who in 1743 stopped at an inn near Harper’s Ferry (was William there?) and heard much dissatisfaction from the people about the “disorderly life” of their minister. History of Augusta County, Virginia, by J. Lewis Peyton (Stanton, Virginia: Samuel M. Yost & Son, MDCCCLXXXII), pp. 91-92: “Chapter VII. With the first colonist to Virginia came a clergyman of the Established Church, and from that time onward the Church was protected and fostered in Virginia. Non-conformists were expelled from the colony, and a fine of 5,000 pounds of tobacco was exacted from participants in the meetings of Dissenters, Papists, Presbyterians, and Quakers, were alike persecuted, and those who even entertained a Quaker were liable to a heavy fine. The first sect to make head against this intolerance was the Presbyterian, under Rev. Francis Makemie, and the Scotch-Irish settlers of our Valley. About the year 1698, this intolerant spirit began to decline, and by the year 1776, more than half the people of Virginia were Dissenters, and during the war, the Church went down, apparently unregretted. The course and reason of the change can be readily followed. The reaction which ensued after the intense spiritual excitement of the seventeenth century produced a species of religious lethargy in the eighteenth. Frigid morality, a well-bred abhorrence of anything like zeal, and a worldly indifference characterized the English clergyman of the latter period and their Virginia brethren. The colonial ministers, as a class, were ruder and narrower than those of the mother country, and their coldness and indifference to great religious principles showed themselves more plainly and coarsely. Religion declined, and ‘paganisem, atheism and sectaries’ began to prevail. ‘Quakers,’ says Byrd, ‘prevail in Nansemond county, for the want of ministers to pilot the people a better way to heaven.’ Advantage was taken of this relaxation by the Presbyterians, who exacted, as we have seen, from Gov. Gooch, promises of toleration to those of their faith. Their eloquent and earnest men, however, soon aroused the latent hostility of the ruling Church, and Gooch himself joined in the resistance to the new doctrine. But the Dissenting sects were full of vitality, and grew apace, while the Established church, maintained simply as a part of the social system, declined with proportionate rapidity. The success of the Revolution, and the withdrawal of support, caused the Church to fall into ruins.
“The Church of England, was, as we have said, established by law in Virginia, to the exclusion, and without toleration of any other denomination. The Act of Conformity, passed by the British Parliament, was acknowledged as law, and carried into execution by the magistrates. It must be remembered, however, that while the Church of England was thus recognized, from the settlement of Jamestown down to the Revolution, it was, during this long period of 170 years, kept in a state of bondage to the Government, which never allowed it to organize. For political reasons it was not permitted to have a bishop, and there were no ordinances or confirmations in Virginia during the whole colonial period. Candidates for orders had to make the voyage to England. The church was not only denied an executive head, but it had no legislature. It had no authority to pass a law, enact a canon, or inflict a penalty, not even for the discipline of its own ministers and members, and it never performed one of these functions. And this enslavement, no doubt, impaired its spirit, and rendered it less active in the cause of religion than would otherwise have been the case.
“In the previous chapter, we have referred to some of the minor reasons which begot a spirit of liberality early in the eighteenth century with the colonial authorities in their policy towards Dissenters west of the Blue Ridge, namely: A desire to erect a barrier against the encroachments of the Indians. Such motives doubtless had their weight with men like Gooch, but there was a deeper and broader motive beginning to influence the people of Virginia and which showed itself conspicuously at a later period. This was their hostility to the establishment of any religion in America by the British Parliament. This feeling, which existed long before the Revoution, led the sages of 1776 to unite afterwards in destroying all ecclesiastical establishments by the bill for religious freedom, which was passed by the General Assembly of Virginia December 16, 1785.
“Though the Episcopal [Church of England–shb] was the established religion, no church existed in Augusta previous to 1746 [our ancestor William died in 1764 and was married in 1731 in Chester, Pennsylvania–shb], and Rev. Joseph Doddridge, DD., the first minister of hte Episcopal Church who visited the regions of Western Virginia and Eastern Ohio, in his ‘Notes on the Settlement and Indian wars of Western Virginia and Pennsylvania from 1763 to 1783,’ thus speaks upon the subject of this apathy and neglect.” –shb
HALL’S PRESBYTERIAN MEETINGHOUSE IN NEW MONMOUTH: The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution 1763-1789, by Freeman Hansford Hart (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), p. 36: “By 1776 the Presbyterians had at least thirty churches or congregations in the Valley. Ten of these churches were in the northern end of the valley, most of them in Berkeley County. The other twenty were in the south Valley, chiefly in Augusta and Botetourt counties, that is, that portion of Betetourt which later became a part of Rockbridge. The north Valley churches were Opequon or Opeckon, Tuscarora, Potomack or Shepherdstown, . . . . Hall’s Meeting House (New Monmouth) . . . .”
ANGLICAN STRONGHOLDS: Hart (see above), p. 36: “The Anglican stronghold was in the north Valley, chiefly around Winchester, where Bishop Meade lists eight colonial churches. Meade’s list includes Winchester, Shepherdstown, Charlestown, McCoy’s, Morgan’s, Cunningham’s, North Branch of Shenandoah, and South Branch of Shenandoah. A petition from Frederick County in 1770, asking for a reorganization, stated that the parish had not less than seven churches and chapels, and argued that this made it impossible for the minister to perform the duties of his office in a proper manner and that the people could not ‘attend divine service so conveniently and frequently as they ought.’ There were two Anglican churches in the south Valley, one at Augusta courthouse or Staunton, and the other at Botetourt Courthouse or Fincastle (footnote 6: ‘In addition to Meade, “Old Churches and Families,” II, 71, references to the Anglican churches in the Valley may be found in Perry, “American Colonial Church Documents,” I, “Virginia,” 365, 413, 429, 432, 459; Gates “Papers,” 1763-1776, passim; Hening, “Statutes,” VIII, 425-428, 623-624; “Journal, Burgesses,’ May 31, 1770.” –shb 13 Aug 2001
IF IN EARLY STAFFORD COUNTY, WHERE, IF AT ALL, DID HALLS ATTEND CHURCH? They Called Stafford Home – The Development of Stafford County, Virginia, from 1600 until 1865, by Jerrilynn Eby (Bowe, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 1997), pp. 100-102: “Overwharton Parish was created out of giant Potomac Parish sometime before 1680 and was known as the Upper Parish for a while, then called Stafford Parish and finally, by about 1700, Overwharton Parish. . . The first major church in Stafford was Potomac Church, located just southeast of the present court house. Potomac Church was built in the mid-1600s nd was apparently still in good condition when it was decided to build a second major parish church (the reason for this remains unclear). . . Records indicate that in 1667 there were two places of worship and by 1724 there were two chapels and one church. What few county records exist are extremely vague. In fact, the first deed to Aquia [Church, a second chapel that was built–shb] does not appear until 1850. . . Few of the politicians in Williamsburg (home of the House of Burtgesses) had ever set foot in Stafford, and they did not realize that Potomac Church was so near the proposed building site for the new church. Also, residents in the extreme northern end of the county did not have to travel the extra few miles to Potomac if they found the way difficult, as there was Dettinge church close by on Quantico Creek. Despite these things, the House approved the vestry’s plans [to build Aquia Church–shb], causing a furor amongst the Stafford residents who found it ludicrous to pay for two major parish churches. The building of Aquia was delayed for several years as the residents repeatedly petitioned the Burgesses to dissolve the vestry of Overwharton. Each petition was reviewed by committees in the House and each was denied In the end, the residents were taxed and Aquia Church was built.” [P. 103]: “Virginia was an English colony and her residents, therefore, were expected to attend and support the Church of England. At the time Aquia was built, the records indicate that there were about one thousand communicants. After the Revolution, however, people were free to choose and they began breaking off and joining other denominations. This, of course reduced both membership and money available to Aquia as churches could no longer tax their parishioners to obtainfunds. Aquia survived quite well, though, despite the losses, until the Civil War.” –shb 3 Oct 2001
CHARACTER OF THE ENGLISH CLERGY: History of Augusta County, Virginia, by J. Lewis Peyton (Staunton, Virginia: Samuel M. Yost & Son, 1882), p. 94: “Of the clergy, more particularly the English, as contradistinguished from the Scotch and Irish representatives of the Church in the pulpit, the following is a picture–graphic, and, no doubt, perfectly true: [New paragraph] With some exceptions, the Virginia clergy aped the manners and habits of the laity. Most of them were men who cultivated their glebes like other planters, preaching once a week, and performing the other services of the Church for the sake of an addition to their income. Their morals were loose, and the general tone of the profession was low. Here and there might be found a man of exemplary life and high character; but the average parson was coarse and rough,and his parishioners might be thankful, if he was not also a drunkard and gambler. They hunted the fox and raced horses; they played cards; turned marriages, christenings and funerals alike into revels, and sat out the stoutest planter after dinner to finally accompany him under the table. One reverend gentleman bawled to his church warden during communion, ‘Here, George, this bread is not fit for a dog.’ Another commemorated his Church and office by fighting a duel in the grave-yard. Another received a regular stipend for preaching four sermons annually against atheism, gambling, racing, and swearing, although he was notorious as a gambler, swearer, and horse-racer. Still another, of great physical strength, thrashed his vestry soundly, and then added insult to infury by preaching to them next Sunday from the text, ‘And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair.’ –[Meade, vol. I, pp. 18, 162, 231, 250, 275, 361, 387, 470: Vol. II, 179.] One married a wealthy widow, although he had a wife living in England. Another was brought before a magistrate for drinking and carousing on Christmas Eve, and another, who dined every Sunday with a great planter, was sent home tied in his chaise, under care of a servant. At every race-course and cock-pit might be seen reverend divines betting on the cntending birds and horses.–[Foote, II: 371.] The petty tradesmen would not trust them beyond their salary, and extorted 150 per cent interest.
“Among the colonial clergy there was another class, quite the reverse of the rollicking blades described, and less to be admired. These were the self-seeking and ambitious, who, in order to impose upon the world, and to secure professional success, kept up a constant appearance of sanctity. There was no defective preaching or evil living on the part of these models of decorum. The sanctity of such, as may be readily imagined, did not proceed from spiritual motives and the sentiments of the heart; it was a certain exterior, which they found themselves compelled to preserve. Their devotion did not spring from devout feelings; it was affected, whether experienced or not. This gave something formal and uncouth to their manners. And it could scarcely have been otherwise. A continual attention to a pious exterior necessarily gives a constrained and artificial bearing to the carriage. The characters of all uministers, under a religion established by law and supported by taxation, are liable to be disadvantageously affected by their situation as legalized guides and teachers of others. They address their audiences at stated periods, and no one is allowed to contradict them. They pronounce the prayers of the congregation, visit the sick, and officiate as oracles to such as are in distress. They seek to govern the thoughts of their parishioners, and to restrain the irregular sallies of their understandings. They warn their flocks against innovation and the intrepidity of thinking. The adversary is silent before . . . .” –shb
LDS TODAY IN WINCHESTER AREA: As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was interested to see this article about area Church growth, in the “Winchester Star,” published 30 Jul 2003, as posted on the Internet, excerpt included here: “Mormon Leaders Watch Number of Faithful Grow,” by Kendra L. Williams, Edition Editor – “Maybe it’s the growing number of houses under construction in and around Frederick County, or maybe it’s the bright-eyed young missionaries in crisp, white, button-down shirts and dark ties sharing the church with the curious. [Paragraph] Gail Mayer and her son, Joey, 4, play the piano Monday in their Winchester home. Mayer joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after she met her husband, Larry. The number of Mormons in this area has jumped 50 percent in three years. (Photo by Rick Foster) [Paragraph] Regardless of who gets the credit, at least one thing is true: the number of Mormons in this area is growing. [Paragraph] In the past 31/2 years, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has seen its membership in the Winchester stake jump from 3,300 to about 5,000, a 51 percent increase. [Paragraph] In February, the growth spurred the addition of a new Berryville group, though the three Winchester-area congregations meet at the Winchester Stake Center chapel at 399 Apple Pie Ridge Road. [Paragraph] The boom here reflects a national trend. Today, 5.4 million Americans are Mormons, compared to 2.3 million Episcopalians [wonder what 6th ggf William Hall would have thought of that?–shb] or to 8.3 million United Methodists. [Paragraph] ‘There are two primary reasons. We are seeing an influx of people that are moving out of the city who are already members. And we do have a lot of people that convert to our religion,’ said Andrew Gasser, president of the Winchester stake of the LDS church, which includes the Shenandoah Valley to Luray; Cumberland and Hancock, Md.; and Martinsburg, W.Va. ‘People say, “I see your family. You’ve got something that I want.”‘ –shb 1 Aug 2003 [Note: Anthony Hall, son of Anthony and grandson of William, who married Mary Ward, was born (according to Earsel Hall) in Winchester, Frederick, Virginia, 20 Nov 1777, died 23 Feb 1868 in Jackson (north of Lafayette), Allen, Ohio.] –shb 19 Feb 2004
TAVERNS IN COLONIAL LIFE: They Called Stafford Home – The Development of Stafford County, Virginia, from 1600 until 1865, by Jerrilynn Eby (Bowe, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 1997), pp. 322-323: “Taverns, also known as ordinaries, were located about every fifteen miles along the road. Ordinaries were so named because they served ordinary people. Anyone having a little money could stop and get a meal and lodging for the night. Some ordinaries had a special dining rom where, for an extra fee, gentlemen could have their meals in private. Inns served meals and drinks, and provided accommodations for weary travelers.They also were little centers of social activity. About 1780 the Marquis de Chastellux described a cock fight held at one ordinary to which men gathered from as far away as forty miles. He was amazed that they would be aware of the event as there was no mail service. He spoke of the food as frugal but wholesome and the accommodations clean. ‘For lodging there is one large room for all the company. A pallet brought in and laid on the floor for the guest suffices for these country folk.’
“All ordinaries had to be licensed and the county courts were required to see that these licenses were isued only to men of substance, that ‘the Petitioner is of Ability to provide Travelers with Lodging, diet, Provender, Pasturage and other Necessaries; but must not grant License to poor Persons under pretense of charity, but such only who are able to keep good Houses and a constant supply of all necessary entertainments.’ The tavern keeper had to renew his license annually with the county court ‘having given bond and security according to law.’ The court could refuse to renew the license if it believed the owner of the ordinary had not operated his business according to law.
“Of course, in the days before newspapers, the innkeepers were a source of news and information, and usually were ardent politicians and patriots.
“Many innkeepers went on to hold high public office or military rank. One local example of this was George Weedon, an able soldier who won his position with the Revolutionary army having been ‘zealous in blowing the flames of sedition’ in his ordinary.” –shb 3 Sep 2001
CHRISTMAS IN EARLY VIRGINIA: Karen Hoag, in her “EZ DUZIT” food column (Provo, Utah Daily Herald, 4 Dec 2001), has given me permission (on 4 Dec 2001) to reproduce her column, “Early Americans Really Celebrated Christmas Season,” so long as I include the website and contributors mentioned therein: “‘Twas the night before Christmas in 18th-century Virginia and all through the house was singing and dancing. Meridianmagazine.com tells of balls, foxhunts and fine entertainment. Sally Cary Fairfax recorded in her diary in 1771 that her mama made six mince pies, seven custards, 12 tarts, one chicking pye (yes, that’s how she spelled it!) and four puddings for the ball on Dec. 26.”The holiday began Dec. 24 and some even went to Feb. 2. Here are the commemorations: Dec. 25 – Nativity of Jesus; Jan. 1 – Circumcision of Jesus (8 days after Christmas); Jan. 6 – Epiphany of Jesus (12 days after Christmas); Feb. 2 – Purification of the Virgin (40 days after Christmas). Whew! And we thought we were busy during our Christmas/New Year’s festivities.
“Scot Proctor, who recently visited Colonial Williamsburg, wrote in Meridian that Twelfth Night (Jan. 6) was really the highlight of the holiday season. Slaves sang psalms and hymns in the evening and again in the morning long before daybreak, wrote John Wright on Jan. 6, 1761 [three years before our ancestor William Hall died 10 Nov. 1764 in Halltown, Frederick, Virginia–shb]. Christmas-feast was fish, mutton, ham, wild ducks, roast turkey, veal’s head, cabbage pudding, cauliflower, artichoke, cheesecake, gooseberry tarts, jellies, creams, raisins, grapes, nuts, almonds and applies, according to Martha Blodget in 1796. [Of course not all Virginians were as prosperous as these, who were more educated and inclined to write in diaries–I would guess our ancestors celebrated with more simplicity–shb.]
“Some of the colonies were too strict to celebrate Christmas, as they thought it a pagan holiday. But Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania made up for the rest of them in their celebrations. How about a colonial recipe? HOLIDAY WASSAIL – 1 gallon apple cider, 1 large can pineapple juice, unsweetened, 3/4 cup herb tea – Place in a cheesecloth sack: 1 tablespoon whole cloves, 1 tablespoon whole allspice, 2 sticks cinnamon [another twist is to poke the cloves into apples and float them on the surface of the simmering punch–shb]. Let it simmer very slowly 4-6 hours in slow cooker. Add water if it evaporates too much. Serves 20.
“A 17th-century carol could be sung as you drink it. HERE WE COME A WASSAILING – ‘Here we come a wassailing among the leaves so green, Here we come a wand’ring so fair to be seen (refrain) Love and joy come to you, and to you your wassail too, And God bless you and send you a happy New Year, And God send you a happy New Year. We are not daily beggars that beg from door to door, We are neighbors’ children whom you have seen before (refrain); Good master and mistress as you sit by the fire, Think of us poor children who wander in the mire (refrain); God bless the master of this house, likewise the mistress too, And all the little children that round the table go. (refrain).” –shb 4 Dec 2001
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VIII. EARLY HALL FAMILY/VIRGINA HISTORY 1624-1728
TO DO: Here include landing of Tracys in Virginia, including Gov. William Tracy, who some think may be our earliest American ancestor. The theory is that it was our ancestorWilliam was in debtor’s prison in England, but was rescued from that by influential relatives who got him the governorship of Virginia. This was not such an honor, as nobody else would take this governorship, confident as they were that sure death at the hand of Indians or of starvation and disease was the best they might anticipate from early settlement there. The story is that William thought it better than debtor’s prison and took this opportunity. My notes for this William start, as follows:
1620–CAME TO VIRGINIA AS “CAPTAYNE AND GOVERNOR.” William is of Hayles (sometimes published “Gayles”) Abbey, Glous., England. He qualifies for the Societies of Americans of royal Descent and Colonial Governors. He came to Virginia in 1620, having been “appoynted Captayne and governor over them theis fifty six psons whose names ensue, who forthwith proceeded in their voyage accordingly.” (At the top of this list were Willm Tracy Esq, Mary Tracy his wife, Thomas Tracy their sonne, Ioyce Tracy, their daughter.” (The Records of The Virginia Company of London [RVC], in many volumes–unfortunately I copied out pages, but did not keep the volumes in order–edited by Susan Myra Kingsbury [U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1933]–available in the Brigham Young University HBBL Library, and many documents available as originals in the New York Public Library), p. 405. –shb
Summarizing continuing notes: Gov. William Tracy was among those who died at the hands of Indians in that first settlement, but son Thomas Tracy supposedly escaped into the woods and possibly found his way in a sea vessel to Norfolk, Connecticut, stopping first in Watertown, where there is an earliest record of his existence on this continent. I don’t know if this theory has any basis in fact, but I think it holds as much water as another oft-touted theory that our Lt. Thomas Tracy was of a royal line that somehow thought America looked more promising than enjoyinng the privilege of royal birth in the Old Country. My paternal grandfather Howard Hall married Florence Tracy. This Tracy line has been extended, with many surnames, thanks to those beautiful New England records, but is stalled with Lt. Thomas Tracy. It would be exciting to verify that our Tracys helped prepare Virginia for settlement by our Halls, but at this point this lies in the realm of wild fantasy (if less wild than a lot of what’s out there).
1620–PILGRIMS REACH PLYMOUTH MASSACHUSETTS, ABOARD MAYFLOWER.
1624 and 1625–VIRGINIA BECOMES A ROYAL COLONY–FIRST VIRGINIA CENSUSES.
1626–MANHATTAN ISLAND SOLD BY INDIANS TO NEW AMSTERDAM COLONY.
1634–COUNTY GOVERNMENT AND RECORD KEEPING SYSTEM ESTABLISHED. In 1634 Virginia was divided into counties: Accawmack, Charles City, Charles River, Elizabeth City, Henrico, James City, Warrosquyoake, and Warwick River. Up until 1772, Augusta County bordered Frederick County. In 1772 Halltown, where William lived, was in Berkeley County, Virginia, formed that year from Frederick County. Fairfax County was a border county through the years, and Loudon County then broke off from Fairfax. In 1801 Jefferson County (now West Virginia) was formed from Berkeley County. Halltown, as settled by William I, and where the Hall-Rion estate can today be found standing, is in today’s Jefferson County, WV. –shb
1638–SIMMONS/BALDWIN/LUCAS/PARKHURST NEIGHBORS, CONNECTIONS IN CHARLES RIVER COUNTY, VIRGINIA? “No. 1. p. 66. Deed. 13 Nov 1639. John Utie and Robert Booth sell Thos. Gybson 100 acres in Charles River County, at the head of a small Creek called Queenes Creeke, running up the N side of the creek to Bryary Swamp, including the swamp to the run of water in the swamp. All the land from the dividend of John – [the surname here omitted from the original record]. Adjs the land of John Utie as by a survey made by Mr Thomas Simons in 1638 [our ancestor Anthony Hall, son of William, m. Rachel Simmons–shb]. Signed John Utie, Robert Booth. Wit: Thomas Watts, Edmund Plunckett. ‘Vera Copia test per me Robt Booth Cl Curia’. John Utie and Mary his wife confirm above. Signed John Utie, the ark of Mary Utie: M U. Wit: John Baldwin [If I remember correctly, our Halls in Jefferson County, now West Virginia, had Baldwin neighbors–shb], Hugh Owin, Anthony Parkhurst, Thomas Lucas” [Wm Hall, son of our William and Hannah R., married a Lucas]. –shb 20 Jan 1999
1642-1646–ENGLISH CIVIL WAR. –shb
AFT 1649–ROYALISTS FLEE TO VIRGINIA. For the history behind Northern Neck and Lord Fairfax land that William obtained, see notes [not there anymore–now where did I put it? –shb 2 Sep 2000.
1651-1661–FRANCIS AWBREY/LORD FAIRFAX DEED: Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations From the Revolution Through the Civil War, by Kenneth M. Stampp, accessed by shb 12 Sep 2000 on http://www.lexis-nexis.com/cispubs/guides/southern_hist/plantations/plantm2.htm: “Section 60, Patents of Stafford County, Virginia, 1651-1661 – “This section consists of three items, patents (copies made by Thomas Bryan Martin), 1727-1729, issued by the Northern Neck Proprietary of Virginia for land in Stafford County. Items include patents to Henry Ashton (for 2,000 acres [later Fairfax County] and bears seal of Thomas Lord Fairfax), Francis Awbrey (for 700 acres [later Prince William County] and bears seal of Thomas Lord Fairfax), and William Berkley (for 936 acres [later Fairfax County]).
1654–Laws enacted to register indentured servants. –shb
1655/1657–Law passed pardoning transported prisoners. –shb1681–William Penn grants 100 acres in Concord, Chester, Pennsylvania to a Thomas Hall (Jesse F. Hall’s report, “Descendants of William Hall I,” sent shb Jan 2000. –shb 16 Jun 2000
1662–POTOMAC PARISH DIVISIONS/HISTORY OF STAFFORD COUNTY THROUGH 1777: The Story of Stafford: A Narrative History of Stafford County, Virginia, by John T. Goolrick (Stafford, Virginia: Stafford County Board of Supervisors, 1976), pp. 9- : “Stafford County began in 1662 as Potomac Parish, which was the upper portion of Washington Parish of Westmoreland County. The act creating Westmoreland County in 1653 specified a northern boundary at the falls of the Potomac River near present-day Anacostia. There was no western boundary and Westmoreland included everything between modern Westmoreland and Anacostia. [Pragraph] Sometime between 1662 and 1664 Potomac Parish was divided into an Upper Parish and a Lower Parish. According to “Hening’s Statutes,” the earliest recorded meeting of a court in Stafford was in 1664, and it is assumed that Stafford County and Potomac Parish were one and the same. [Paragraph] Although the exact date of the dividing of Potomac Parish into the Upper and Lower Parishes is unknown, the division left the greatest part of what was then known as Stafford in the Upper Parish. In fact, this parish contained all of present-day Stafford, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Arlington Counties as well as the part of Fauquier that drained into the Potomac River. It is coterminous and all of this area made up what was then called Stafford County. Overwharton Parish contained all land west of Passapatanzy Creek which drained into the Potomac (a line that roughly followed State Route 218). . . . [p. 22]: In 1680 reference was made to the Upper Praish as Stafford Parish and the Lower Prish as Choatank Parish. An official list of parishes in 1702 indicates tht Choatank was renamed St. Paul’s Parish and Stafford Parish became Overwharton Parish (probably named for Parson John Waugh’s plantation by the same name). The boundary between the two was Passapatanzy Creek (now in King George). [Paragraph] Increases in population required a division in Overwharton in 1730. Hamilton Parish, formed from the northern and western portions of Overwharton, took by far the greatest part of then-enormous Stafford county. By the mid-1700s Overwharton contained a much reduced Stafford County and a small portion of land along the Potomac which is today part of King George. [Paragraph] The dividing line between Hamilton and Overwharton was the north branch of Chopawamsic Creek to its head and then soutwest almost to the Rappahannock near the area known as Beach on State Route 616. These lines remain as the boundaries between Stafford and Prince William and Stafford and Fauquier Counties. [Paragraph][ A redrawing of the Stafford-King George boundary line in 1777 placed all land north of the Rappahannock in Stafford.” –shb 30 Sep 2001
1669–JOHN LEDERER REACHES THE VALLEY OF VIRGINIA.
1673–WESTMORELAND COUNTY HARDY TO ALLERTON DEED INCLUDES WITNESS JOHN HALL: Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations From the Revolution Through the Civil War, by Kenneth M. Stampp, accessed by shb 12 Sep 2000 on http://www.lexis-nexis.com/cispubs/guides/southern_hist/plantations/plantm2.htm: “Section 61, Deeds, 1673-1747 – This section consists of four items, deeds, 1673-1747. Items include deeds (copies made by George Turberville), 1673, of Charity (Odyer) Hardy and John Hardy to Isaac Allerton for thirty acres in Westmoreland County, Virginia (witnessed by John Appleton, Anthony Bridges, [John] Hall, and Robert Vaulx); a deed (copy made by Thomas Hobson), 1691, of James Pope to Christopher Neale for 300 acres in Northumberland County, Virginia (witnessed by Richard Flynt, John Haynie, and Daniel Neale and bears affidavit of Mrs. Dorcas Pope Higginson); and a deed, 1747, of Robert Cary to Doctor Kenneth McKenzie for four lots in Williamsburg, Virginia (witnessed by Edmond Blandy, Anthony Walke, and Andrew Watson and bears affidavits of Robert Cary [witnessed by Walke and Watson] and Thomas Everard and seal of Robert Cary).” [Note: A William Hall (probably ours) of Prince William County on Goose Creek was “of Stafford [County, Virginia],” which came from Westmoreland–shb]. –shb 12 Sep 2000
1676–NATHANIEL BACON LEADS REBELLION AGAINST VIRGINIA’S ROYAL GOVERNOR.
1680–UPPER PARISH NAMED STAFFORD PARISH; LOWER, CHOATANK (See 1662 history of Stafford County boundaires). –shb 30 Sep 2001
1694–BEGINNING OF GRANTS IN NORTHERN NECK: LAND IN PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY INCLUDED NORTHERN NECK GRANTS: The Curtis Collection, A Personal view of Prince William County History, by Donald E. Curtis (Prince William, Virginia: Prince William County Historical Commission, 1988), p. 23: “Most of us count ourselves lucky if we own a quarter or half an acre of land ot live on. The acreage of present day Prince William County seems huge by contrast, but in its entirety it constituted only a small plat within the original boundaries of the ‘Kingdom of Virginia.’ Try to imagine one person holding title to five million acres of land in the Colony of Virginia. [Paragraph] The lands that make up Prince William County today were duly included in the Second Virginia Charter of 1609. This charter was drawn the year following Captain John Smith’s voyage up the Potomac and into the Occoquan in 1608. The revised charter granted jurisdiction over ‘all those lands . . . in that part of America called Virginia, from . . . Point Comfort . . . northward 200 miles . . . southward 200 miles . . . and all that space and circuit of land, lying from sea to sea, west and northwest . . .’ These limits of the ‘Kingdom of Virginia’ would have been more sweeping, but at that time the Pacific Ocean was believed to be just beyond the Appalachian Mountains. [Paragraph] In 1649 King Charles II made a gift of a little piece of land in the Colony of Virginia for services rendered. The gift was the five million acre Northern Neck of Virginia. This extraordinary grant, later called the Fairfax Proprietary, included all lands bounded by the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Present day Prince William lands [including the 2,000+acres Thomas’ father, William Hall I accumulated–shb] were, of course, included in that transaction. [Paragraph] Thomas Fairfax, sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron, inherited this vast piece of turf from his mother, the daughter of Lord Culpeper, Governor of Virginia in 1680. He was born in Yorkshire in 1693 and was attending Oxford University when he became the owner of one fourth of the Colony of Virginia. For a considerable time he handled the property as an absentee landlord, but in 1735 it became necessary for him to visit Virginia to protect the grant and survey lands. The matter was settled in 1745 and two years later Lord Fairfax located permanently on his proprietary. He remained a firm loyalist during the American Revolution and died as if on cue following the British defeat at Yorktown.” –shb 18 Aug 2000
HOW FAIRFAX LAND GRANTS WERE RECORDED/HANDLED: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts, Vol. III, p. xii: “The Fairfax grants were not registered in the county records. When an original grantee transferred his land, it may then have been recorded in the couty deed books or in the offices of the proprietor. Occasionally, when land remained in one family for generations no deed of transfer can be found in either source. To run a successful title search of land within the Northern Neck, a variety of records may be required. [Paragraph] The 5,282,000 acres in the proprietary were sold to individuals in thousands of parcels. Information in the Northern Neck survey collection provides a better understanding of the settlement of a large portion of Virginia’s colonial frontier.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
IMMIGRANTS FROM PENNSYLVANIA/HAD MEANS/FAIRFAX LAND DISPUTE: West Virginia and its People, by Thomas Condit Miller and Hu Maxwell, Vol. I (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1913), p. 45: “The lower part of the Shenandoah valley in which the counties of Jefferson and Berkeley lie, was colonized a little earlier than the six other Counties of West Virginia, east of the Alleghanies. The immigrants to a large extent came from Pennsylvania, and appear to have been men of means. They had wagons, and they speedily cleared farms. When they came into the region the land was in the act of relapsing into forest, since the annual Indian fires had stopped. as the years went by the clearing of the land became more laborious, because the trees increased in size rapidly. Grass grew luxuriantly, and cattle were numerous. The Indians’ claim to the land had been bought, and Governor Gouch of Virginia granted large tracts of the land to pretty much anyone who asked for it. Colonel King Carter succeeded in procuring fifty thousand acres in one body; a young woman donned man’s attire, and by changing her name often, was successful in acquiring several tracts of fine land; but one of the most thrifty of all who were recorded in the early annals, was a cattle owner who gave human names to his cattle, and was granted a farm for each one of them. It was a quick and easy way of acquiring land, and the fine limestone soil of the Shenandoah valley went fast. People poured from the north and east. The land policy of the Virginia government did not seem to come in for much criticism. That a stockman could manage to secure a farm apiece for his steers was probably regarded as something to laugh over. There was a world of land waiting for settlers, and a quick and short process of giving title was looked upon as good business–and it was. The Virginians were always liberal in their land policy. They had much land to give, because their frontier line moved west year by year, and they gave generously, and thereby helped to people the wilderness with farmers instead of with traders and adventurers as the French had done farther northand west. It was fortunate that Virginia secured clear title to the land between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies, by the treaty with the northern Indians in 1722. The great drawback was Lord Fairfax’s grant. He claimed most of the land in the Shenandoah valley and westward to the Alleghany mountains, and was ambitious to hold it perpetually in one vast estate, as was the custom in England. When the Governor of Virginia began to make land grants west of the Blue Ridge, litigation followed. Lord Fairfax attempted to dispossess the claimants, and they resisted in the courts of law. The history of that phase of settlement between the Alleghany mountains and the Blue Ridge need not be further given here. Lord Fairfax inherited his land from those who had received it as a grant from the English crown. After the close of the Revolutionary war, Virginia favored the tenants on Lord Fairfax’s estate, virtually confiscating the land . . . ”
1698–FIRE AT JAMESTOWN STATEHOUSE DESTROYS MANY RECORDS.
1698-1708–BIRTH/FATHER: Margaret B. Adams lists William’s birth as “1708, near Halltown, Virginia, which at that time was in King William County, VA.” [I see no reference in her report documenting this birth information–shb]. Before tentatively accepting that birth year, I had estimated his birth at “abt. 1698.” Jesse F. Hall’s report, “Descendants of William Hall I,” sent shb Jan 2000, places William’s birth as “1700 [Chester/Delaware] PA, thought to be son of Thomas Hall, Sr., mother’s name unknown.” If William was born near Halltown, information below would indicate that it might have still been in Augusta County or just outside the King William County line. Adams, in a report of her Hall research sent shb 12 Feb 2000, lists Thomas as father of William, but adds: “I did not give Thomas a number because I have some doubts–not enough certain evidence.” Page one of her report reads: “FIRST GENERATION – THOMAS HALL was about 25 when his first child was born. It has been claimed that Thomas was born in Chester Co., Pa., about 1672, about ten years before the arival of William Penn and his followers in 1682 This is dubious. How could a single family cross the Atlantic? There were no regular sailings from the Old World to the New. [However, there were earlier migrations–see “AFT 1649 ROYALISTS” below–shb.] The first settlers came in groups for safety and because the only way to get here was to hire a ship. Penn created four counties: Philadelphia, Bucks, Delaware and Chester, and distributed to his followers some of this land which he had purchased from the Indians. Thomas’ land was a grant from Penn but we do not know exactly when he came. [New paragraph] In 1705 there was a Thomas Hall in Concord, Chester County. At present there is a Concordville in that county about 10 miles from Chester and 5 miles west of Swarthmore. (A town in Huntington County has the name Concord.) [New paragraph] The Hall Family, American Genealogical Research Institute, Arlington, Va. 1973).” [Note: See notes of Thomas Hall, RIN 7435, and also of William I’s wife Hannah Richardson, RIN 678, for more information about Concord and its “Upland” location today–also for evidence that Thomas was in Concord as early as 1700. Pause to the idea that Wm. I was born to Thomas in 1708 comes, if a note written by an anonymous informant at the FHL in Salt Lake City is taken seriously. Notes pencilled by the printed text of will abstracts for Thomas Hall and George Robinson advise us that after “Thomas Hall of Concord” died, his widow Sarah married George Robinson on 10 May 1708–shb 28 Feb 2000.] [See notes of Thomas Hall, RIN 7435 for variations in this report about Thomas, as sent Louise Miller in 1995–excerpts of rest of her report in both versions, included by appropriate dates, below–shb]
ON WILLIAM’S PLACE OF BIRTH: Though several researchers have listed William’s birth place as “near Halltown,” in what was then King William County, Virginia (now Jefferson Co.), I have found no documentation as to his birth date or place of birth. My brother-in-law Barry Wood passed on this correspondence from Jim Patrick, 6 Jan 2002: “Barry, thanks for your response to my note on GenForum. I agree with you 100% that, unless William Hall was Shawnese, he would not have been born in Halltown. I had passed on that information from another, undocumented source, and was trying to get someone to expand on the family. [Paragraph] Do you have any information on the migration patterns of the children in this family? Regards, Jim Patrick”
1699–CAPITAL OF VIRGINIA MOVED TO MIDDLE PLANTATION (WILLIAMSBURG). Virginia law establishes “treasury rights” as principle means for obtaining land patents. The headrights system (see notes of William’s daughter Ruth) continued only minimally. –shb
1702–STAFFORD PARISH BECAME OVERWHARTON PARISH; CHOATNAK RENAMED ST. PAUL’S PARISH (see 1662 notes for entire history of Stafford County boundaries). –shb 30 Sep 2001
1705–FATHER MOVES FROM PENNSYLVANIA TO VIRGINIA? Margaret Adams report, p. 2 continues: “After the birth of his fifth child in 1705 Thomas Hall moved from Pennsylvania to settle in northern Virginia west of Harper’s Ferry near present Halltown. There William I was born in 1708. This land was then in King William County and is now in Jefferson County, W Va. Between 1720 and 1836 King William County was divided and subdivided twelve times making it appear that the Halls moved a number of times. They did not move, the county changed. Then in the Civil War three counties seceeded from Virginia and became West Virginia. In the latter part of the 1780s there were eight William Halls in northern Virginia. That it was our family who settled here and not some other William Hall is attested by a map in the county records showing the dower lands of Hannah Richardson, William’s wife.” –shb
OTHER THEORIES ABOUT WILLIAM’S PARENTAGE: Jesse F. Hall has also expressed his doubt that Thomas, as father of Wm. Hall I, has been sufficiently documented. My research has produced other local and area William Halls and other leads in the quest for William’s parents, which I have numbered (7 Hall families, as of 28 Feb 2002). To help sift/separate these William Halls, I have attached to each numbered William an alphabetical list of other surnames attached to this William, as found in deeds, wills, or other documents. Caution must be used, in that in some cases, the same names were associated with different Williams, further adding to the confusion. I start with 1) our ancestor, William I, and then continue with other local Williams, as detailed in Section I.
BEF 1708–WILLIAM’S SUPPOSED FATHER THOMAS OF CONCORD DIES: Thomas Hall of Old Concord, Delaware, Pennsylvania, made his will in 1704, which was probated in 1717. Sarah, his widow remarried in 1708. –shb 9 Sep 2000
1715–JACOBITE REBELLION IN SCOTLAND–WILLIAM AN ENGLISH OR SCOTCH IRISH IMMIGRANT? I had previously seen this item in my mother Ida-Rose Hall’s files, but since then neither of us had been able to find it, so was grateful when this was forwarded to me by Jane Zellner O’Brien’s assistant “Cleo”, 6 Jul 2000, item identified as “Cartmell’s History: Shenandoah Valley Pioneers, p. 440.” There were no quotes around this entry, as forwarded–parts of it sound abstracted–I place what was forwarded by Jane/Cleo within brackets–shb: [With the English and Scotch Irish emigrants who settled on the upper drains of the Hogue Creek was William Hall who secured a grant of 2,236 acres and proceeded to locate several families, but was hindered by Lord Fairfax who finally compromised and executed release of the deed. 1764 the old Pioneer died. 1768 was succeeded by his son William. He and brothers James, Thomas, and Bennett [Note: this is in error–Bennett was not a son of William I–shb] established at various points to the survey. Capt. William Hall ran a raid on the Indians in 1788. [Looking at death dates, I assume this Capt. is Wm. III, RIN 6683–shb.] Most Halls moved on save John W. [RIN 19070?–shb] a grandson of Col. William Hall. In a pedigree chart with notes from Elke Hall . . . Starting with Hannah Richardson b 1712 d. aft 1764. Listed Williams as follows: William Hall b. d. Dec 1764 married Hannah Richarson; William Hall b. abt 1743 d. Dec. 1839 Monroe, Ohio, married Elizabeth Lucas; William Hall b. Mar 9, 1761 married Miriam Tullis; William T. Hall no dates married Mary Anderson. [New paragraph] This file runs if I read it right 999 pages and can be downloaded though Jane hasn’t done so yet. It shows first 5 pages here, so other wives will be listed later. I see from papers she was getting ready to send this to you so am forwarding it on. . . Creo.”] Note: I replied 6 Jul 2000 thanks and a request for address of this long file or that it be sent me as an attachment.–shb.
THREE UNRELATED ENGLISH-BORN HALLS IN CLARKESBURG: The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia From 1768 to 1795, by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1975), pp. 184-185: “In 1784, in company with Jacob Foresnash and James Morrison, old comrades in Dunmore’s War and who had worked for him, he [Joseph Hall–see RIN 27623–shb] came to Harrison County and purchased two hundred acres on Peor’s Run, in now Upshur County, West Virginia. He employed Fecknash and Morrison to build a house and clear and cultivate this land under his supervision. For many years, Hall spent the most of his time at Clarksburg, assisting the Surveyor and the County Clerk. He entered numerous tracts of land, which involved him in lawsuits with but little compensation. [Paragraph] Among his early acquaintances at Clarksburg were three Englishmen, whose names were Hall, but they could trace no family relationship. One of these settled in now Marion County, one on Hughes River and the other on Elk Creek. Some of the descendants of the latter intermarried with the Reger family.” [Note: I find an Elk Ridge and Elk Branch, but not an Elk Creek (same as “branch”?) just north and northeast of Halltown, where our William and Hannah Richardson Hall settled and raised their family, Clarksburg being about 27 miles east and a little south of Halltown. I read also (McWhorter, p. 186) of an Elk River Iron Works, “in the County of Braxton, seventy miles from Charleston”–I do not find the Reger name among my Halls near Halltown, so perhaps the Halls settling on Elk Creek were near this Iron Works. Note again: McWhorter, top of Chapter XXIII, talking about Thomas Hughes, Sr., says that he “settled on Elk Creek, in (now) Harrison County, (West) Virginia, and killed by Indians on Hacker’s Creek in 1778.” So, if I can find Hacker’s Creek –shb.] –shb 7 Oct 2000
1716–GOVERNOR SPOTSWOOD OPENS SHENANDOAH VALLEY FOR COLONIZATION: Jane Hall sent shb, May 2002, a pamphlet, “Historic Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia” (Winchester, Virginia: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1981), no pagination. Under the title, “Historic Winchester Area and the Shenandoah Valley”: “To gain a true appreciation of what Winchester [where William I’s will was filed and found—shb] has passed through since its foundation in 1752, it is necessary to go back to 1716 when Governor Spotswood led an intrepid band of explorers across the Blue Ridge Mountins at Swift Run Gap and opened the Shenandoah Valley for colonization; however, not until 1732 [Wm. m. Hannah Richardson in 1731–shb] did white settlers in large numbers venture to settle there, for it took undaunted courage to face the hardships of settling in the valley and [to] wrest the wilderness from its savage lords. It was the indomitable spirit of those early pioneers that blazed the path for progress and civilization and made this country what it is today. [Paragraph] The story of the Shenandoah Valley is one of romance and history. It has been the scene of battle of three great wars, and almost every foot of ground is hallowed with Colonial, Revolutionary and Civil War memories. During the War Between the States almost every hill and mountain top was a signal station, and the highway over which you drive was drenched in blood as the legions in Blue and Gray met in bitter conflict. Through this same region ‘Stonewall’ Jackson fought the famous valley campaign to protect the ‘Granary of the Confederacy,’ and Sheridan galloped his way to fame and immortality. The ruins and ravages of those bitter days have been repaired by the merciful hand of Time, and the smoke of thousands of Army camp fires have been replaced by the smoke of thousands of farm homes and industrial chimneys. Today the valley is a smiling, peaceful land inhabited by a happy and progressive people whose hearty welcome and southern hospitality are yours whether your visit is for a day or longer.” –shb 18 May 2002
SHENANDOAH/WINCHESTER BACKGROUND: “Historic Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia” (see above for full reference), no pagination: “SHAWNEE AND ‘SHENANDOAH'” – Long before the white man braved the Appalachian Mountains and the vast unknown regions that lay to the westward, the Shawnees were one of the many tribes of red men who inhabited the wide and spacious Shenandoah Valley. Centuries and centuries ago, ancient Indians named this beautiful valley, ‘Shenandoah,’ meaning, ‘Daughter of the Stars,’ thus giving it the name we know today. At one particular little stream that flowed from a crystal-clear spring in the northern end of the valley, many tribes were known to camp from time to time, but the Shawnees seemed to be attracted to this one spot, and history tells us that their tribes inhabited the area for centuries. [Paragraph] This little stream of crystal-clear waters was destined to become the center of great happenings of great men, and when the white man came upon it in the 1730s, he too was attracted and stayed. The first settler in the area now known as Winchester was Abraham Hollingsworth, who purchased 582 acres of land at Shawnee Springs in 1732 and built one of the first, if not the first, dwellings here. More white men came and stayed, and by the year 1744 a settlement had sprung up on the very edge of an unknown world. Streets were laid out and surveyed by Col. James Wood, first clerk of the Court, and the village was named ‘Fredericktown.'” –shb 18 May 2002
1720–WILLIAM HALL COMES TO VIRGINIA: According to a note left by Earsel Hall, at bottom of a lineage she posted for her sister Winona as a “First Families of Allen County, Ohio” entry, an ancestor of theirs is “Mary Ward . . . who married Anthony Hall, son of William Hall, an English Gentleman . . . William Hall came to Va in 1720.” I wish I knew where she got that information. –shb 19 Feb 2004
1720–A JOHN CROW LIVES ADJ. WILLIAM HALL HEIRS IN FREDERICK–1755, TAX DELINQUENT?: “0-288 – John Crow of Frederick Co. 463 A. in said Co. Surv. Thomas Rutherford. Adj. Howard’s Marsh. John Sewell, Heirs of William Hall [since Wm. Hall who m. Hannah Richardson in 1731 died in 1764, does this indicate that he was an heir of a father named William?–check this source again to verify the date–shb.] Heirs of Simeon Rice, Adam Casper, Helins Dungan, Henry Moore. 12 June 1720” (p. 204, VA Northern Neck Land Grants, Vol. II, 1742-1775, Compiled by Gertrude E. Grey, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1993). [Note: William’s son Joseph married Mary Crow–John’s daughter?–shb]
TO DO: Check above reference to verify 1720 date–if her abstracts started in 1742, it would seem this is a typo.–shb
1721–SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY CREATED FROM KING WILLIAM: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts, Vol. III, p. x: “In 1721 the county of Spotsylvania was created from Essex and parts of King and Queen and King William with ‘. . . bounds upon Snow Creek up to the Mill, thence by a south-west line to the river North-Anna, thence up said river as far as convenient, and, thence by a line to be run over the high mountains to the river on the northwest side thereof, so as to include the northern passage thro’ the said mountains, thence downt he said river until it comes against the had of Rappahanock . . . and down that river to the mouth of Snow Creek.’ Spotsylvania was later divided into the parishes of St. mark’s and St. George’s.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1722–WILLIAM HAWLIN OF MARYLAND WARRANT ON LAND IN STAFFORD COUNTY: Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys (Dunmore, Shenandoah, Culpeper, Prince William, Fauquier & Stafford Counties 1710-1780), Vol. III, Compiled by Peggy Shomo Joyner (Portsmouth, Virginia: Published by Joyner, 5008 Dogwood Trail, 23703, 1986), p. 159: “Stafford County – WILLIAM HAWLIN of Maryland; 1 Feb. 1722/23 [warrant–shb] – 26 Nov. 1724 [survey date–shb]; 535 a. on Poto R. Surv. John Savage. Filed in OVERSIZE box.” [Note: This same p. 159 in Stafford County listings lists at the top an entry for “WILLIAM HALL” and near the bottom, one for “WILLIAM HAWLIN of Maryland.” The entries were made five years apart, however, and a clerk could have been referring to the same person. –shb 25 Sep 2000
1723–SIMMONS/WEST CONNECTION IN STAFFORD COUNTY: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts (see ref. above), Vol. III, p. 148: “Stafford County – CAPT CHARLES BROADWATER, no wart, date from surveys, 1 Oct. 1722 – 29 Nov. 1723 & 2 Dec. 1723; 388 a. & 100 a. (1) on Accotinck Crk. & (2) on Great Hunting Crk. (100 a. given by Majr John West, decd, unto ____ Simmons, son of Thos Simmons, decd, including house sd Simmons lived in according to Will) adj. plantation Wm Goin now lives on. Surv. Thomas Hooper.” [Note: Two of our William Hall I’s children married a Rachel Simmons (my ancestress) and a Sarah West.] [Note: See notes of Thomas Simons, RIN 27180, and his son Thomas; also, see 1768 notes of William, son of William–a Richard Woods committed two negroes to jail for “robbing the house of William Hall in Augusta County.] –shb 25 Sep 2000
1724–SIBLING MARRIAGE IN KENT COUNTY MARYLAND? A William Richardson (see RIN 17777) married an Ellenor Hall on 19 Apr 1724 in Shrewsbury, Kent, Maryland. This is close enough to the year of William Hall and Hannah Richardson’s marriage, that there is at least a possibility that two Richardson siblings married two Hall siblings. –shb 4 Nov 1999
TO DO: Check Shrewsbury, Kent, Maryland records for Halls/Richardsons and family lines.
1724-1727–WILLIAM MOOR LAND ADJ. GEORGE MASON, GRIFFIN: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts (see ref. below), Vol. III, p. 164: “Stafford County – WILLIAM MOOR for whom survd, assignee of William Gowin; no wart, date from survey, 22 May 1724 – 17 May 1727; 480 a. on brs. of Accotinck & Pope’s Head; adj. Colo Geo Mason, Walter Griffin. Surv. Jno Savage”; [next item, Joyner p. 164]: “WILLIAM MOOR, no wart, date from survey, 13 Nov. 1727 – 14 June 1728; 110 a. on br. of Difficult Run. Surv. James Thomas.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1724-1727–RUSSELL LAND: Joyner Abstracts, Vol. III, pp. 166-167: “Stafford County – ANTHONY RUSSELL of Westmoreland Co. for whom survd, son of Andrew Russell, decd; no wart, date from survey, 28 Jah. 1726/27 – 27 Oct. 1727; 1,750 a. on Broad Run of Poto; adj. Colo Henry Ashton, Francis Russel. Surv. James Thomas”; [next item] “FRANCIS RUSSELL of Westmoreland for whom survd, son of Andrew Russell, decd, the warrantee; no wart, date from survey, 28 Jan. 1726/27 – 27 Oct. 1727; 1,750 a. on Broad Run of Poto; adj. Colo Henry Ashton. Surv. James Thomas”; [next] “Stafford County – FRANCIS RUSSELL & ANTHONY RUSSELL, sons of Andrew Russell of Westmoreland; no wart, date from survey, 28 Jan. 1726 – 27 Oct. 1727; 3,5000 a. on Broad Run of Poto; adj Colo Henry Ashton. Surv. James Thomas. Filed in OVERSIZE box”; [next, p. 167]: “JOHN RUSSELL, no wart, survd 17 Sept. 1724; 200 a. on br. of Bull Run. Surv. John Savage”; [next]: “John Russell, no wart, date from survey, 5 Jan. 1724/25 – 24 Sept. 1725; 227 a. on brs. of Cubb Run. Surv. John Savage”; [next] “NATHANIEL RUSSELL, no wart, date from survey, 8 Oct. 1724 – 27 Oct. 1724; 130 a. on Bull & Rocky Runs; adj. Honble Robert Carter, Esqr. Surv. John Savage”; [next] “NATHANIEL RUSSELL, no wart, date from survey, 5 Jan. 1724/25 – 22 Sept. 1725; 280 a. on N. side Bull Run, Little Rocky Run. Surv. J. Savage”; [next] CAPT WILLIAM RUSSELL, no wart, date from survey, 24 July 1724 – 24 Aug. 1725; 643 a. on br. of Broad Run of Occaquan, on W. Pignut Ridge. Surv. John Savage”; [next] “[still] Stafford County – WILLIAM RUSSELL, no wart, survd 24 Nov. 1724; 645 a. on Turkey Run; adj. Mann Page, Esqr. Surv. Thomas Barber.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1727-1728–LASSWELL SURVEYS ADJ. WILLIAM HAWLINS/COLO CARTER: Joyner abstracts (see below), III, p. 161: “Stafford County – ISAAC LASSWELL, assignee of John Trydane for whom survd; no wart, date from survey, 18 Nov. 1724 – 24 Nov. 1724; 175 a. on Cool Spring & Limestone Runs of Poto. Surv. John Savage”; [next item] “ISAAC LASSWELL, 10 Nov. 1727 – 25 Nov. 1727; 198 a. on Goose Crk. at the mouth of Secolin Br. Surv. James Thomas”; [next] “ISAAC LASSWELL for whom survd, assignee of Colo George Mason; no wart, date from survey, 30 Aug. 1727 – 24 Nov. 1727; 1,165 a. on S. side Poto R. where Minockosy Crk. enters, ca. 5 miles above Goose Crk. on Cool Spring. Isaac Lasswell’s house on plat near Bradford’s Island. Maryland across Poto; adj. Wm Hawlins. Surv. John Savage. Filed in OVERSIZE box”; [next–still p. 161, Stafford County]: “JACOB LASSWELL [see RIN 27561–shb], assignee of Jane Lasswell, wife of Isaac Lasswell [see RIN 29091–shb], (survd) for Patrick Spence); 16 Nov. 1727 – 21 Nov. 1728; 140 a. 8 miles up Goose Crk. & 2 miles below beginning tree of Colo Carter’s Goose Crk. Tract; from survey – granted Isaac Lasswell, decd. Surv. Jas Thomas.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1727–MIDDLETON SHAW NEIGHBOR–TUSKARORA ALIAS SECOLINE BR.: Joyner Abstracts III, p. 168: “Stafford County – MIDDLETON SHAW, assignee of William Chandler for whom survd; no wart, date from survey, 10 Nov. 1727 – 31 May 1728; 188 a. on Goose Crk. & Tuskarora alias Secoline Br.; adj. John & Jacob Laswell. Surv. Jas Thomas”; [next] “MIDDLETON SHAW, assignee (in 1730) of James Wood; 31 Jan. 1729/30 – 21 Mar. 1729/30; 407 a. on Tuskorora Br. under the broken hills; adj. Wm Chandler. Surv. John Warner.” –shb 6 Mar 2001
1727-1728–MARGARET HALLIN, WIDOW: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts (see ref. below), Vol. III, p. 159: “Stafford County – MARGARET HALLIN, widow, assignee (in 1728) of George Slater, assignee of David Heron; 10 Nov. 1727 – 18 Nov. 1728; 416 a. on Clarks Run 15-16 miles above Goos Crk. & ca. two miles below Kittocton Mts. near the broken hills being the place where Wm Wilkinson is now seating. Surv. James Thomas.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1727-1728–Joyner, p. 174: “Stafford County – RICHARD WOOD for whom survd, assignee of Nathaniel Wood; no wart, date from survey, 14 Nov. 1727 – 19 Nov. 1728; 600 a. on Limestone Br. above Goose Crk., Kittocktan Mts. Surv. James T
1728–FIRST LAND GRANTS MADE IN SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
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IX. HALL FAMILY IN THE YEARS 1754-1764–INDIAN CONFLICTS, THEIR LAND, MILLS AND CROPS
1754–FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR BEGINS.
1754–FREDERICK COUNTY FIRST DIVIDED: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts (see ref. below), Vol. III, p. xii: “In 1743 the first court was held in Frederick. In 1754 this county was first divided when Hampshire was created in the northernmost part of the Northern Neck.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1754–FREDERICK COUNTY FEE BOOK: Meredith Helm, Sheriff, signed this fee book, dated Jan. 17, 1754. – James Wood, Clk of Court, provided a list of 502 heads of families, along with fee assessments totaling 66,451 pounds of tobacco, thereby providing a type of “census of families” just before the mass emigration from Frederick County brought about by the French and Indian War. These have not been published, but a list and accompanying information reports, such as “Tax Records Reveal Valuable Facts About Pioneers in Old Hampshire County, Virginia” were written as a public service by Wilmer L. Kerns, Ph. D., and published in the West Virginia Advocate, Hampshire County, WV (and posted on http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafreder/fredbook.htm). Names that caught my eye on this list are as follows: “Female Heads of Households in 1753-1754, followed by assessment fee (tobacco): Margaret McKee (150 pounds), Elizabeth Vestall? (55 pounds) [This may be a relative–Hannah Potts Vestal, my RIN 7285, married William Vestal who died aft 19 Apr 1782. Hannah then m. Thomas Hall (son of William and Hannah Richardson), bef 1792], Margaret Warrin, (144 pounds), Elizabeth Harden (40 pounds), The Rev. John Gordon (110 pounds–Gordon also paid 55 pounds as a schoolmaster), The Rev. William Williams (606 pounds). Largest assessments: Thomas Wood (969 pounds), Robert Buckles (905 pounds), William Russell (2 accounts–767 pounds), Rev. Wm. Williams (606 pounds), Robert Worthington (430 pounds). Kerns indicates that this Fee Book “lists all the ordinary licenses in Old Frederick county during the 1740s and 1750s, plus all licenses to peddlers” (but this information is not listed in his account). Next he tells about a 1744 assessment by James Wood (d. 1759), which Kerns says did not include many Old Hampshire/Hardy County settlers and again lists settlers, along with fees assessed in pounds of tobacco. He notes that there are “two John Richardsons named below. One was called ‘Red’ and the other ‘Black.’ Can anyone explain this?” Names on this Fee Book list of 1744 that catch my eye are: Anderson, Colvert (163), Anderson, John (125), Ashby, Thomas Jun. (46), Anderson, Thomas (51), Ashby, Robert (55), Anderson, Enoch (81), Anthony, John (274), Buckles, Robert (417), Buchanan, John (196), Buchanan, Robt (55), Brown, Thomas (135), Buchanan, Arthur)771), Burnett, Daniel (412), Bell, Humphrey (150), Campbell, Hugh (170), Calmes, Marquis (221), Collins, John & McGuire (35), Colvin, Joseph (150), Collins, John (620), Colvin, William (78), Curtis, Jonathan (166), Davis, William (308), Denny, Walter (216), Denny, George (101), Dennis, Samuel (202), Davis, Robert (150), Ewing, Alexander (120), Funk, Jacob (130), Fearnley, William (273), Fitzsimmons, John (401), Green, Robert (70), Grigg, Samuel (111), Gray, Edmund (106), Green, William (120), Harris, Thomas (119), Hyte, Jacob (279), Harper, Leonard (366), Hart, Silas (70), Hedge, Jonas (25), Hytes, John and Jacob (449), Hart, Thomas (301), Hedges, Solomon (170), Harrison, Thomas (55), Hardin, Eliza (91), Harrison, Cuthbert (206), Hyte, John (256), Hyte, Jost (109), Harris, John (416), Halling, William (18), Jay, William (15), Lewis, Vincent (55), McCormack, John (172), Moore, Benjamin (213), Mitchell, William (1179), McKee, James (630), Miller, William (317), Mitchell, William & Comp (125), Mitchell, John (515), McCoy, William (80), Mitchell, John (55), Miller, Wiegard (46), Mercer, Nicholas (80), Miller, John (221), mcKay, William Carolina (106), Rennick, Thomas (360), Robinson, Charles (33), Richardson, John “Black” (136), Richardson, Daniel (196), Rutherford, Benjamin (86), Ryan, Michael (131), Rion, John (409), Robinson, George (75), Richardson, John “Red” (23), Story, John (55), Smith, John (766), Smith, John the “Blacksmith” (55), Smith, Robert (148), Smith, Jeremiah (205), Swearington, Van (190), Simons, Jonah (289), Smith, George Audley (60), Simons, Jonathan ye infant (560), Shippin, Edward (100), Seaman, Eliza (5), Shippin, Joseph Jr (199), Smith, John Jr (96), Seaman, John (150), Thompson, Neil (55), Thompson’s Exrs (150), Thomas, Nathaniel (183), Thomas, Lewis (80), Vance, David (155), Vanmetre, Isaac & Henry (100), Vance, Joseph (150), Vanmetres, Isaac & Jacob (15), Watkins, Evan (40< Worthington & Thomas (20), Worthington, John (156), Wilson, John (250, Wilson, Robert (409), Worthington & Matthews (10), Winslow, Richard (60), Worthington, Robt (881), Wood, John (5), Wilson, Thomas (96), Waugh, James (55), Worthington & Others (93), Waring & son Thos (845), Williams, William Revd (496), –shb 21 Feb 2002
1754–INDIAN TROUBLES START/1754-1763 FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR: Jesse F. Hall’s report (see above), p. 2, quoting Margaret Adams of Lawrenceville, New Jersey: “Trouble with the Indians began about 1755 and even after the end of the French and Indian War, 1764 [William I died 10 Nov 1764–shb] occasional raids came into the Shenandoah Valley. This must have been a tense time for the Halls since they were close to the frontier. Finally, Lord Dunmore, Governor of Virginia, led an expedition against the Indians in 1774, defeating them at Point Pleasant and ending the Indian troubles.” Peter Rouse, Jr. (The Great Wagon Road, ref. above), p. 83: ” The murderous conflict between Great Britain and France for control of eastern North America was to end in a great victory for the British, but it was won only at great loss of life to frontier settlers. It also thrust the British government deeply in debt, leading to King George II’s efforts to tax the thirteen colonies which brought on the Revolution. For the frontier dwellers, however, the French and Indian wars brought immediate gains: a sense of colonial unity, new lands to the south and beyond the Appalachians, and less danger from the Indians.” –shb 8 Aug 2000
1754–NEIGHBORS: Abstracts of Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys (Dunmore, Shenandoah, Culpeper, Prince William, Fauquier & Stafford Counties), 1710-1780, Compiled by Peggy Shomo Joyner (Portsmouth, Virgnia: Published privately by Joyner, 5008 Dogwood Trail, 23703), Vol. IV, p. 119: “Fairfax County – JOSEPH WEST, assignee of Jacob Lasswell; no warrant, surveyed 9 Nov. 1754; 460 a. on NW fk of Goose Crk; adj. Joseph Dixson of Pensylvania, Wiliam Dodd, Richard Brown, Thomas Matthews, Thomas John, Thomas Janney. Surv. John Hough.” –shb 12 Sep 2000
1754–GEORGE HARRISON LAND SURVEYED, DUNMORE COUNTY RECORDS: Joyner Abstracts (see above), Vol. II, p. 10: “Dunmore County – GEORGE HARRISON, assignee of heirs of John Crista/Cristy for whom it was survd; no wart, survd 20 June 1754; 300 a. on Elk Run, a br. of Stony Crk. in Frederick Co.; no adj. owners shown. CC – Henry Burge & Thomas Gill. Marker – John Cristy. Surv. Robert Rutherford.” [Note: I don’t know why I keep thinking the Harrisons are connected to the Halls–this entry may not apply at all–shb.] –shb 25 Sep 2000
1755–PHILIP HARPER LAND SURVEYED, DUNMORE COUNTY RECORDS: Joyner Abstracts (see ref. above), Vol. III, p. 10: “Dunmore County – PHILIP HARPER of Augusta Co. on wart & of Frederick Co. on survey; 8 Mar. 1753 (?) – ` Jan. 1755; 85 a. in Frederick Co. on No. side Holeman’s Crrk., a br. of North R.; adj. Archibald Ruddell, Thomas Moore, John Thomson, Peter Gortner. CC – Charles Stapleton & Jacob Rick. Marker – Phillip Harper. Surv. Robert Rutherford.” [Note: Harper’s Ferry was very near Wm. Hall I’s property–do not know if this Harper is connected–shb; Potts land entries are also in Dunmore County–see notes of John Potts.] –shb 25 Sep 2000
1755–BRADOCK’S ARMY CROSSES AT KEYES’ FERRY: Humphrey Keyes, son of Gershom (who established the ferry and willed it to Humphrey in 1763), married William’s daughter Sarah, as his second wife, in 1762. When Braddock’s army crossed at the Keyes’ Ferry, Sarah, b. 1745, was only ten-eleven years old. Jane Hall sent shb, May 2002, a pamphlet: “Historic Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (Winchester, Virginia: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1981), no pagination. Under the title, “Historic Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley,” are paragraphs that explain this period in the lives of the William Hall family: “The tragic ending of the Braddock expedition left the entire western border exposed to the ravages of the French and their Indian allies. Apprehensions were grave that they might cross the Allegheny Mountains and invade the valley of the Shenandoah. Realizing that the situation was perilous and that prompt ad decisive action was necessary, Governor Dinwiddie convened the Assembly and urged them to devise measures for the public safety. The members of the House of Burgesses acted promptly. They voted forty thousand pounds for the raising of a regiment of one thousand men and nominated George Washington commander-in-chief of all the military forces in Virginia. Washington, who had retired to his home at Mt. Vernon, modestly accepted the appointment and hastened to Williamsburg for a conference with the governor. Briefly Governor Dinwiddie outlined the plan of action he was to pursue. [Paragraph] Immediately after the conference Washington proceeded to Winchester and established his headquarters in the little building that had served him as an office while in the employ of Lord Fairfax as a surveyor. Here he began to draft the plans for the construction of Fort Loudoun, the first of a chain of stockade forts to be erected at strategic points along the northwestern border of Virginia to the Carolinas. Throughout the summer of 1756 Washington exerted himself diligently in carrying out the plans for the frontier defenses. . .Another name closely linked with Winchester is [that of] General Daniel Morgan, the renowned Indian fighter and hero of Cowpens. Like Washington, he too accompanied General Braddock on his ill-fated expedition to Fort Duquesne, where death awaited for the British general and seven hundred of his soldiers when within seven miles of the fort. Morgan was but a lowly teamster in this battle, yet he rose from the lowest rank to Major General. [Paragraph] After the French and Indian War Morgan retired to his farm in Clarke County. When Massachusetts sent forth her stirring appeal to her sister colonies to stand by her side or fall after the battle of Bunker Hill, Morgan was the first from Virginia to respond to her call. Organizing a company of ninety-six riflemen from the Shenandoah Valley, he marched them to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a distance of nearly six hundred miles in twenty-one days. In the storming of Quebec Morgan and his riflemen covered themselve with glory. But in the battle of Cowpens Morgan achieved his greatest victory by defeating Colonel Tarleton’s crack dragoons. [Paragraph] When the Revolutionary war ended, Morgan retired to his home he called ‘Saratoga,’ situated about a mile from the village of Boyce. In 1800 ill-health forced him to leave his home and move to Winchester to live with is daughter Betsy Heard. When he died, July 6, 1802, he was buried in the Old Stone Presbyterian churchyard. Directly after the War Between the State, his remains were moved to Mt. Hebron cemetery. The granite monument which bear his likeness was erected by the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society in 1953.” –shb 18 Mar 2002
1756–William Hall purchased 486 acres adjoining Morgan Henry, Joseph Car, Benjamin Machall (and William’s other lands). (See William’s 1743 notes for more detail). –shb 9 Sep 2000
1758–WILLIAM STRUPE/STROOP A NEIGHBOR? Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys, Frederick County 1747-1780, Vol. II, Compiled by Peggy Shomo Joyner (Portsmouth, Virginia: Published privately, 5008 Dogwood Trail, 1985), p. 151: “WILLIAM STRUPE/STROOP, assignee of Thomas Heart/Hart, Senr; no wart, survd 8 Apr. 1753; 185 a. on drs. of Potomack, called Cabbin Run; adj. Benja Bradley, Geo Wm Fairfax, Esq., Banja M’Call, Thos Heart, Junr. CC – James Loyd & Miles Heart. Surv. Thomas Rutherford. 6 May 1761 – Hart sold to Stroop. Hart sd it joined his own land & Benja Michols”; [next item] “WILLIAM STRUPE, 26 Nov. 1758 – 5 Apr. 1762; 381 a. on Potomack; adj. in wart Peter Polson, in surv. Wm Hall, Casper Boner, his own land, Joseph McClun. CC – Jacob Piper & Conrod Strupe. Surv. Thomas Rutherford”; [next item] “WILLIAM STRUPE, 18 Feb. 1752 – 17 May 1762; 400 a. on Potomack; adj. his own land, Robt Buckles, Israel Friend. CC – Jno Taylor, Wm Strupe, Junr. Surv. Thomas Rutherford.” –shb 14 Aug 2001
1759–FAUQUIER COUNTY TAKEN FROM PRINCE WILLIAM: Joyner Abstracts, III, p. xiii: “Fauquier County was taken from Prince William in 1759 when ‘. . . all that part of the said county that lies above a line to be run from the head of Bull Run and along the top of Bull run mountains to Chapman’s mill, in Broad run thoroughfare, from thence by a direct line till it intersects the nearest part of the line dividing Stafford and Prince William Counties.'” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1759–HOPEWELL QUAKER MEETING HOUSE BUILT NEAR WINCHESTER BY FREDERICK COUNTY QUAKERS. Did Hannah and her family ever attend at Hopewell, if Quakers?
ABT 1760–OCCUPATION MILLING/THE HALL MILLS: A drive through Halltown, now in Jefferson County, West Virginia, soon brings to view a large paperboard company, which we Bartholomews first saw before we learned that it stood on historic Hall family land. It was interesting to read the following in a flier placed inside Don C. Wood’s “A History of the Halltown Paperboard Company” (Halltown, West Virginia), that helps identify exactly where the original William Hall grist mill was located: “Around 1760 a grist mill existed on the present Halltown Paperboard Company property. Its foundations are within the current ‘Beater Room’ foundations. By 1763, deeds indicate that the grist mill was owned and operated by William Hall, who died in 1764. He left the mill and surrounding property to his two sons, Thomas Hall and John Hall [see notes of John, RIN 680, for information about milling in early Jefferson County–shb]. In 1769 a ‘Fulling’ mill existed next to the grist mill, built and operated by John Rion, father of Sarah Rion, who married Robert Lucas [William and Hannah Hall’s son William married Elizabeth Lucas–relationshipo to this Robert unknown–shb] and resided at Rion Hall [Historical Records of Old Frederick and Hampshire Counties, Virginia (Revised), by Wilmer L. Kerns (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 1992), p. 39, lists among grist mill owners in early Jefferson County, William Vestall and John Hall].
WHEAT PRODUCTION/HOME CROPS: The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution 1763-1789, by Freeman Hansford Hart (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), pp. 10-11: “Wheat ranked next to hemp in production. Scores of flour mills had been erected by 1763, some with independent proprietors and others as adjuncts to the larger plantations (footnote 22: ‘Court records, Valley Counties, 1763-1776. See Gray, op. cit., I, 164. See Revolutionary Claims, preserved in the form of certificates, which indicate Berkeley and Frederick were each prodcing over a million pounds of flours a year. See picture of mill, facing p. 42’). By 1775 the north Valley was exporting large quantities of both flour and wheat, and the southern counties were not far behind. Wheat was raised easily, since it required little preparation of the soil, and even less cultivation, the amount produced per acreas about twelve bushels, a low yield as compared with the present day, but good when we consider the farming methods of the time (footnote 23: ‘See Cresswell, “Diary,” pp, 47, 49, 196; Stephen Papers, no. 138. The plowing was very shallow. The writer of “American Husbandry,” 1775, I, 263, claimed about 25 to 40 bushels per acre, but he seems to have known little of conditions on the frontier. Some efforts were made to get a larger yield per acre by introducing better seed. See Gates Papers (N.Y.P.), Evans letter, April 24, 1773′). [Paragraph] The colonial legislature showed an active interest in the production of flour, not by subsidizing it as in the case of hemp, but by providing for its inspection. This was done to protect the public and shippers from an inferior product (footnote 24: Hening, “Statutes, V, 350; VIII, 143, 198; “Journal, Burgesses,” Dec. 16, 1766; Augusta Order Book, VIII, 382’), as well as the producers from unscrupulous competition. In their bill of 1772, amending earlier inspection acts, the Burgesses noted that the production of flour had ‘of late very much increased in ths Colony and become a very advantageous article for commerce’ (footnote 25: ‘Hening, op. cit., VIII, 511-514; “Journal, Burgesses,” April 9, 1772. The barrels had to be labeled with the initials of the maker, be marked with “S.F.” or “F.” (i.e., superfine or fine), and have the weight stamped on. The range in price of flour and wheat during the period is not easily determined. About twenty-five shillings a barrel (flour ran about 220 lbs. to the barrel) was allowed to the French and Indian War claimants (“Journal, Burgesses, Dec. 10, 1766). The price on the Philadelphia market, 1769-1772, varied from fifteen to twenty shillings (Pennsylvania Gazette, 1769-1772, passim). In 1775 General Gates was allowed ten and a half shillings a barrel at Alexandria (Gates Papers, N.Y. H.S., no. 198). The preceding year wheat sold for about three shillings a bushel in the Valley, but in Alexandria it brought as much as four and five shillings (Cresswell, op. cit., pp. 47, 196). [Paragraph] Corn was another popular grain crop (footnote 26: ‘Corn sold locally at a shilling a bushel. Gates Papers [N.Y.H.S.], Misc., 1773’). There was also an abundance of hay, some rye, oats, barley, and beans, as well as root crops. Most of these were produced for home consumption (footnote 27: ‘Cresswell, op. cit., pp. 48, 198; Valley Court Records, 1763-1776, passim’). Thus while tobacco prodction was developing a stronghold in the Piedmont, as it had in the Tidewater, the Valley was laying the foundation for grain production both there and in the west. [Paragraph] Horses, cattle, and hogs rivaled wheat and flour as Valley products. In addition to their value in raising of grain, horses had an especial appeal. They provided the frontiersman, ever interested in moving on when he heard of better lands elsewhere, with the necessary means of transportation. If raised for the market, horses were easily sold. Since such accessible and mobile property provided unusual temptation for the idle and vicious, the ready sale proved a bane as well as a blessing. As a result, horse stealing beame the chief criminal problem of the frontier. The colonial legislature offered ten pounds reward for the apprehension of such thieves (footnote 29). [Paragraph] It was easier to raise cattle than horses; the expense was lower and there was less likelihood of theft (footnote 30: ‘About 70 per cent of the people owned cattle of some sort’). Since there were several methods of marketing cattle, that problem was not so great as for some other Valley products. The animals were driven to market centers, or were slaughtered and prepared for shipment by one of three processes–drying, smoking, or salting–and then were packed in wooden casks (footnote 31: ‘County Court Records, 1763-1776, passim’).” [There follows a description of William Crow’s cattle driving–one of Wiliam’s sons Joseph, RIN 685, married Mary Crow, who may have been related to this William (see RIN 28725 for the account and also RIN 27013, who may be the same William Crow)]. –shb 13 Aug 2001
ABT 1760–GRIST MILL/NEW MANOR HOUSE/COUNTY HISTORY [Wood, again]]: “William Hall took advantage of this excellent location and established a grist mill and new Manor House along Howard’s Branch by 1760. When William Hall established his plantation it was located in Frederick Co., Va. which had been taken off Orange Co., Va. in 1738. In 1772 Berkeley Co. was taken from Frederick Co., Va. and in 1801 Jefferson Co., Va. was carved off Berkeley County, Va. and was part of the State of Virginia until during the Civil War when the new State of West Virginia was formed June 23, 1863. Berkeley County and Jefferson County did not become officially part of West Virginia until November of that year.” For more about the history of William I’s mill, see notes of son Thomas Hall. –shb
PHOTOS OF AN OLD VIRGINIA GRIST MILL. See attached photos of an old, restored Virginia grist mill, owned by a man named White. These photos were taken by John Robert “Bob” Langford and forwarded to shb, 8 Sep 2006. We are still trying to establish whether or not my Langfords connect to his (who were millers), but I knew that our Virginia pioneer, William Hall, had a grist mill (along with others of our early pioneers), so I was very interested to see these. I have attached Bob’s photos to William’s media file. Here is a history Bob also forwarded that tells about White’s Mill (and old grist mills generally). He writes:
“Below is a history of the mill, written by some local historian, which differs significantly in some areas from what the grandson of the previous owner, Scott Miller, told me today.
This old mill might give us a rough idea of what my g.g. Grandpappy Stephen’s Grist Mill might have looked like, although Stephen’s Mill, on Lick Creek, would have been much smaller [William’s probably was smaller, as well–shb]. White’s Mill is 4 stories and has a
22 foot water wheel. The old wooden wheel was replaced by this metal one in the mid 1930’s. The Grinding stone, which will be used when the mill is restored, is the original one imported from France in 1796. The miller is presently using a small, electric powered stone grinder. He was milling Indian corn today. [He then provided photo legends that I have placed in notes of each photo–shb.]
“History from website. Author’s name not given:
“John’s Lewark, a ship builder by trade, constructed a water powered grist mill for Thomas Moffett sometime in the early 1790’s. Located on the site of the current White’s Mill, this early operation witnessed the influx of settlers traveling the ‘Great Road’ through Abingdon and westward. Forest land was cleared for crop use resulting in an increased need for milling capacity. So began the history of milling on the headwaters of Toole’s Creek in Washington County, Virginia.
“Historical architects and restoration specialists speculate that the present mill was built late in the 1820’s [so this would be more like mills some of William’s descendants ran–shb]. The strongest evidence leading to this conclusion is the lack of hand made (rose head nails) throughout the mill. Prior to the invention of machinery to mass produce ‘cut nails’ all nails were made by the blacksmith which resulted in a rose pattern on the hammered head; thus a clue that dates the current building to post circa 1820’s.
“White was a local merchant, entrepreneur and frontier industrialist having been involved in salt production in Saltville, lead mining in Austinville and iron ore mining in Brumley Gap. Washington County tax records show an increase in accessed tax value between 1836 and 1838. Following James White’s death his son WYC White continued to operate until the early 1900’s. It was during this period the name White’s Mill originated
“Scott Miller purchased the mill in 1922 and it remained in the Miller family until 1989. Many of the features around the property were constructed by Tom Miller, including the barn and raceway inlet dated 1917. It should be noted that the mill served as a Post Office and polling place up until the early 1940’s. Tom’s son Guy operated the mill as a tourist venue with trout ponds for 20 years. Many children caught their first trout at White’s Mill in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In addition, Guy Miller continued to custom grind corn and livestock feed. Following his death in 1989, the mill was sold to ownership outside the area. After 1989 it operated on a limited basis until 1999 during which time its upkeep and condition declined severely.
“In March 2001 the White’s Mill Foundation purchased the mill and surrounding property. As milling equipment changed, renovations were made. Originally constructed with two stones, a corn stone and wheat stone, modifications around the early 1900’s moved the wheat stone out and replaced it with roller mills, bucket elevators, screening deck and bolting sifter. The corn stone remains. The four-story, 5,000 square foot timber frame structure is an historic example of milling and the evolution of mill equipment.” –shb 8 Sep 2006
1760–COLO JOHN CARLYLE LAND, FREDERICK COUNTY, SURVEY MENTIONS WILLIAM HALL/JOHN VESTAL: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts, Frederick County, Vol. II, p. 27: “COLO JOHN CARLYLE, 6 Nov. 1760 – survey undated; 1,200 a. on Shannandoah; adj. Geo W Fairfax, Esq., John Harden (formerly John Vestals), Reuben Rutherford, Carlyles Mill (formerly Hardins), Henry Hunt, land said Carlyle bought of Edward Musgrove, Christofer Bealor, John Vance, William Hall. CC – Jonathan Conard & Jos Hough. Pilot – John Vestal. Surv. John Hough.” –shb 27 Sep 2000
1760–GEORGE CARGER LAND ADJ. EDWARD LUCAS, FREDERICK COUNTY: Joyner, Vol. II, p. 26: “GEORGE CARGER, 9 Aug. 1760 – 8 Oct. 1760; 172 a. near Potomack & on drains of Rich Gulley; adj. George Henry Peachtolt, Edward Lucas [his dau. Elizabeth m. William Hall’s son William], Jacob Huntsbarger. CC – Geo. Smith & Adam Cooper. Pilot – Geo Henry Peachtolt & Geo Carger. Surv. Thomas Rutherford.” –shb 27 Sep 2000
1760–ROBERT HARPER LAND: Joyner, Vol. II, p. 69: “Frederick County – ROBERT HARPER [see RIN 27394–shb], no warrant, survd 10 Apr. 1760; 92 a. on Potomack R.; adj. his own pat., Gershem Keys [son of Gershem’s m. Wm. Hall I’s dau.–shb], Thomas Mabary. CC – Bostian Boyard, Jno Cager. Surv. Thomas Rutherford.” –shb 27 Sep 2000
1760, 1763–DANIEL JONES LAND SURVEYS: Joyner, IV, p. 101: “Loudoun County – DANIEL JONES, 9 Aug. 1759 (?) – 26 Sept. 1760; 410 a. on drs of Goose Crk; adj. Sauel Butcher/Bucher, John Hough, Benja Grayson, George Burson, Colo Blackburn, John Little. Surv. John Hough”; “Loudoun County – DANIEL JONES, 14 Nov. 1763 – survd N.d.; 341 a. on Fks of Beaver Dam of Goose Crk; adj. Colo Richard Blackburn, George Burson, Elizaeth Hanby Jane John, John & Jeremiah Bronough. CC – Thos ___? & Jonathan Burson. Surv. John Hough.” –shb 6 Oct 2000
1761–JOSEPH DARK LAND ADJ. EDWARD LUCAS, FREDERICK COUNTY: Joyner, Vol. II, p. 42: “Frederick County – JOSEPH DARK, 11 Feb. 1761 – 18 Mar. 1762; 380 a. on drains of Elk Br.; from warrant – adj. Malger Engle, Miles Hart; from survey adj. his own line, Edward Lucas [Edward, a Quaker, m. Mary Darke–is Joseph her father? –shb], James Castle, John Humfrys, Geo: Wm Fairfax, Esq. CC – Conrad Ronemuss & Philip Engle. Marker – Joseph Dark. Surv. Thomas Rutherford”; [next item, p. 42]: SAMUEL DARK, 4 Apr. 1750, survd N.d.; 360 a. where he lives near the main road; adj. James Glenn. CC – Thos Hart & James Loyd. Surv. Guy Broadwater.” –shb 27 Sep 2000
1762–HEROIC IN BATTLE WITH INDIANS? An early Winchester newspaper account found and forwarded to shb by Kathryn Lones Pyles lauds the heroism of a William Hall (see accompanying notes about how a road opened up about this time from William Hall’s land to Winchester, which makes it very possible that this was our William I (then about age 54) or his son William (then about age 22), who fought the Indians so bravely. Here is Kathy’s letter of 30 Nov 2003: “Bowen’s CENTINEL AND GAZETTE -WINCHESTER POLITICAL REPOSITORY (Frederick County, Va.)
(Winchester, Va. newspaper) Selected items of genealogical value – File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Judy Wright <jtillison@msn.com>:
“October 1, 1792
A List of Letters remaining in the post office, Winchester
Samuel Hall
John Thompson
Susanna Wood
“A List of Letters in the Post Office at Winchester….
George F. Norton, P. M.
April 15, 1792.
John DAVIS
Absalom HALL
Moses M’EVOY
Thomas STEELE
“Winchester June 10 (there is no year with this article, the paragraph prior is dated: June 10, 1792
Account of an Indian Attack….
“The Knoxville Gazette, of the 8th ult. furnishes the following melancholy detail of Indiana depredations: ‘Last Saturday James DONELSON arrived in town express, from Cumberland, Mero
district. From him we have received letters, containing the most melancholy accounts of the disstressed situation of the truly unfortunate inhabitants of that district.
“‘Among the many murders and depredations lately committed by Indians, in that district, the following, which have taken place between the 9th and 28th of April, are a part.
“’27th A party of INDIANS, at first supposed to be sixty, but since, on good grounds, believed to be two hundred, attacked the station at Greenville and killed JOHN JARVIS , and a negro fellow belonging to Mrs. PARKES. This station was saved by the Signal bravery of WILLIAM NEELEY, William WILSON , and WILLIAM HALL, who killed two Indians and wounded several others. Men are now in pursuit of the Indians. Whre will these mischiefs end? What are the blessings of government to us? Are we to hope for protection? if so, when.
“‘Last Tuesday week two horses were stolen by Indians, from JAMES BOYD and STEPHEN GRAVES , at M’Tear ‘s station, twelve miles from this place: And on Saturday night last, fifteen horses were stolen from MATTHEW BISHOP ‘s eight miles from this place.'” –shb 30 Nov 2003 [Note: Jane Hall, fellow Hall family researcher’s response to my forwarding this article: “Hi Sherlene, Interesting account! However, I don’t know that any of our William Halls were in Indiana at that time [when I read it, I did not see the “a”–read it as “Indian–shb]. But — you never know! What they did between one census and another is always a mystery! When there was a census to do things between. [Paragraph] One thing about old newspapers, the news was always “greener” in another pasture. Most little Wisconsin papers were always reporting deaths, accidents, etc. in distant places — never local, because everyone local already knew who died or had an accident. Not much help to us today! Take care! Jane ” –shb 1 Dec 2003
1762 SURVEYS–WILLIAM STRUPE A NEIGHBOR, FREDERICK COUNTY: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts, Frederick County, Vol. II, p. 151: “WILLIAM STRUPE, 18 Feb. 1752 [warrant] – 17 May 1762 [survey–shb]; 400 a. on Potomack; adj. his own land, Robt Buckles, Israel Friend. CC – Jno Taylor, Wm Strupe, Junr. Surv Thomas Rutherford”; also, p. 151: “Frederick County – MR WILLIAM STRUPE, 26 Nov. 1758 – 5 Apr. 1762; 381 a. on Potomack; adj. in wart Peter Polson, in surv. Wm Hall, Casper Boner, his own land, Joseph McClun. CC – Jacob Piper & Conrod Strupe. Surv. Thomas Rutherford.” –shb 27 Sep 2000
1762–WILLIAM HALL LAND RECORDS ON GOOSE CREEK IN LOUDOUN COUNTY/HALLING, HAULINS NOT HALLS/MOORE, SMITH, KEYS ARE GOOSE CREEK NEIGHBORS: Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys (Hampshire, Berkeley, Loudun, Fairfax, King George, Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumberland & Lancaster Counties 1697-1784), Vol. IV, Compiled by Peggy Shomo Joyner (Portsmouth, Virginia: Published privately by Joyner, 5008 Dogwood Trail 23703, 1987), p. 98: “Loudoun County – WILLIAM DOUGLAS, 17 Dec. 1762 [warrant–shb] – no surv; 150 a. adj. Wm. Hall, Henry Moore, Thomas Smith, Humphrey Keyes”; [next item, p. 99]: “Loudoun County – WILLIAM D(O)UGLAS, assignee of John Sinklar/Sinclair who forfeited; no warrant, surveyd 4 July 1763; an escheat notice 30 Dec. 1762 – part of grant to Ebenezer Floyd & Benja Halling/Haulin for 995 a. between 2 tracts of Mercer, first taken up by Richd Wood & George Slaughter, concluding with Wm Halling & Amos Sinclair; 100 a. above Goose Crk near Poto which escheats from sd Floyd & Halling who died without known heirs [our ancestor Wm. Hall (whose dau. m. Humphrey Keyes) left a will, made 1764, so these must be two separate Williams]; [next item] “Loudoun County – CAPT WILLIAM DOUGLASS, 13 Sept. 1773 – 23 Nov. 1773; 8 a. on Poto; adj. his own, W Halling. Surv. John Hough.” –shb]. [Note: next Douglas 1763 deed mentions “Wm Halling” and 100 a. “above Goose Creek.”] –shb 11 Sep 2000
1762/1763–LAND IN FREDERICK COUNTY–SAME MOORE, KEYES, DOUGLAS, SMITH NEIGHBORS–SAME LAND? Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys, Frederick County, 1747-1780, Vol. II, Compiled by Peggy Shomo Joyner (Portsmouth, Virginia: Published privately by Joyner, 5008 Dogwood Trail, 23703), p. 86: “Frederick County – GERSHEM KEYES [father of Humphrey who m. Sarah, daughter of our ancestors William and Hannah Richardson Hall], 13 Feb. 1762 – 9 Apr. 1762; 415 a. on Shannandoah at Keyes ferry; adj. Jno Vestal, Colo Jno Carlyle, Wm Hall, Mr Duglys. CC – Ben Bradley & Alexr Bennet. Surv. Thomas Rutherford”; [next item] “Frederick County – GERSHEM KEYES, assignee (in 1763) of William Douglas of Fairfax Co.; no wart, survd 28 Dec. 1762; 140 a. on Shannandoah in the Barrens; adj. Henry Moore, Humfrey Keyes, Wm Hall, Thos Smith. Surv. Thomas Rutherford. Mr Nicholas Minor witd transfer.” –shb 26 Sep 2000
1762/1763–Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts, Vol. II, p. 67: “Frederick County – WILLIAM HALL, 15 Apr. 1762 – 29 Mar. 1763 (resurvey); 2,236 a. on Potomack R. near mouth of Shannandoah R., Cabben Run, Elks Br., Howards Br, Road from Winchester; adj his own land (his house & mill drawn on plat), Simeon Rice, decd, Robert Harper, Wm Strupe, Joseph McCammes, Gershem Keyes [son Humphrey m. William’s dau.], Colo John Carlyle, John Gladden, John Sewell, John Crow [William Hall’s son Joseph m. Mary Crow–is John her father?–shb] Jno Vestal [son William’s widow Hannah m. William’s son Thomas]. Surv. Thomas Rutherford. Original pat. – 1,068 a. surplus in original – 1,035 a.; late survey – 133 a., all contiguous tracts in one survey.” –shb 26 Sep 2000
SEWEL/SUEL LAND: Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys, Frederick County, 1747-1780, Vol. II, Compiled by Peggy Shomo Joyner (Portsmouth, Virginia: Published privately by Joyner, 5008 Dogwood Trail, 23703), p. 139: “JOHN SEWEL/SUEL [see 1762/1763 entry above, too–shb], no wart, survd N.D.; 365 a. adj. Capt Rutherford, Peter Burr, Benja Bradly, Wm Hall, old Main Rhode, walter Shurly. CC – Thos Smith & Benja Bradly. Surv. Guy Broadwater.” –shb 27 Se 2000
1762–George Washington, Esqr. (“Father of Our Country”) was chosen and appointed as one of the Vestrymen, Truro Parish. In 1758, John West jun. was Clerk of the Vestry (Rev. Slaughter’s History of Truro Parish in Virginia, my printed p. 13). –shb 12 Sep 2000
1762–A JOHN HALL IS CHAIN CARRIER FOR MARTIN PICKETT LAND IN FAUQUIER COUNTY: Joyner Northern Neck Abstracts (see ref. above), Vol. III, p. 142: “Fauquier County – MR MARTIN PICKETT in trust for heirs of Mr William Pickett for whom survd, 11 mar. 1762 – 8 Apr. 1762; 243 a. on dr. of Carter’s Run, Rappa R. & Piney Mt.; adj. Henry Martin, John Rowser/Rassiers, Hitt, Thomas, Kamper, Joseph Blackwell on wart only. CC – James Hall & John Flowers. Present – John Rossier & Wm Pickett, Junr. Surv. Jno Moffett.” –shb 26 Sep 2000
1762, 1771–MAJR CHARLES BROADWATER: Joyner, Vol. IV, p. 106: “Fairfax County – MAJR CHARLES BROADWATER, no wart, survd 17 Apr. 1762; 83 a. on fk of Hunting Br; adj. his own, Watts, Harrison. CC – William Tunnell (or Tunwell?) & John Hyson. Surv. John West, Junr”; [next] “MAJR CHARLES BROADWATER, 1 June 1769 – 5 Apr. 1771; 208 a. on Hunting Br. of Accotink, Bear Br; adj. Benja Moody (formerly John Colvill’s), Harrison, Richard Watts (formerly John Watts), John Fitzhugh. Surv. William Hough for John Hough.” –shb 6 Oct 2000
1763–TREATY OF PARIS SIGNED: Rouse (The Great Wagon Road), p. 89: “Though Great Britain in 1763 expelled the French from the trans-Appalachian region, warfare with the red men continued. The very next year chief Pontiac of the Ottawas–one of the Six Nations–renewed attacks on white settlers. Shawnees again ravaged the Valley of Virginia . . . .” –shb 8 Aug 2000
1763–OWNED GRIST MILL/RIONS RAN NEARBY FULLING MILL/NEIGHBORS: Another early mill owner in early Jefferson County was William Vestal (first husband of Hannah Potts, who married William’s son Thomas). See notes of son Thomas, RIN 23799, for an account of what happened to William’s mills from 1769 on–also for more about William’s neighbors in Jefferson County, including Gershom Keyes (RIN 7301–land transactions 1763 involving his son Humphrey (RIN 699), Joseph McCormacks, John Carlyle, John Gladdion, John Sewell, John Crow, Simeon Rice, and Robert Harper. –shb 1 Mar 2000
1763–OTHER FREDERICK COUNTY NEIGHBORS: See 1763 notes of William’s son-in-law Humphrey Keyes for land survey by John Semple [there are “Sample” grants on p. 138–shb], of Maryland, assignee of Gersham Keys–lists land on south of Shanandoah “adj. Humphrey Keyes, his own (G. Keyes) land. Robt. Harper. CC – Thos Hart & Jno Rice. Survey Thomas Rutherford.” –shb 27 Sep 2000
1763–JOHN PILES, JONAS POTTS SURVEY OF LAND ON GOOSE CREEK, LOUDOUN COUNTY (Warrant was in 1751): Joyner abstracts, Vol. IV (see above), pp. 102-103 (see 1751 notes for text). [Note: An Elizabeth Hall m. a John Potts–relationships not known.] –shb 27 Sep 2000
1763–HENRY RECTOR ON GOOSE CREEK, LOUDOUN COUNTY: Joyner, p. 103: “Loudoun County – HENRY RECTOR, SENR, 26 Apr. 1763 – 16 Aug. 1763; 237 a. on Beaverdam; adj. Daniel French, Brown, Dr Green, Colo John Carlyle. CC – William & Jno Robertson. Surv. John Hough.” –shb 11 Sep 2000
1763–WILLIAM ROBINSON IN LOUDOUN: Joyner, p. 103: “Loudoun County – WILLIAM ROBINSON, 30 Jan. 1763 – 21 Mar. 1763; 223 a. on Beverdam; adj. Benja Greyson, Amos Janney, Colo Richard Blackburn, Danl French (formerly Amos Janney’s), thos Dodd. CC – Danl Jones & Henry Rector. Surv. John Hough.” –shb 11 Sep 2000
1763–BLUE RIDGE STILL MARKS WESTERN FRONTIER: The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia From 1768 to 1795, by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1975), p. 58: “The Blue Ridge marked the western frontier of Virginia as late as 1763 (footnote 2: See p. 422). The few settlements scattered beyond that boundary towards the Ohio, the westernmost of hwich was on Looney Creek, a tributary of the James (footnote 3: p. 422), were not permanent, and were almost all destroyed by the conspiracy of Pontiac.” –shb 7 Oct 2000
1763–POPULATION/TOWNS IN VALLEY OF VIRGINIA: The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution 1763-1789, by Freeman Hansford Hart (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), pp. 7-8: “In 1763 Augusta and Frederick counties embraced in their boundaries not only the Valley but also Trans-Alleghany Virginia, extending indefinitely toward the west (footnote 2: ‘William W. Hening, “Statutes at Large,” V, 78; VI, 376 et passim’). By 1776 a part of Augusta had become the new county of Botetourt, while Frederick had been divided to form the two new counties of Berkley and Dunmore (footnote 3: ‘Hening, “Statutes,” VIII, 395; Botetourt, 1796, and Berkeley and Dunmore, 1772’). Two additional counties, Rockbridge and Rockingham, carved largely from Augusta, were created in 1778 (footnote 4). [Paragraph] The Valley was settled chiefly by Palatinate Germans and Ulster Scots (footnote 5) who were a part of the large stream of these two races that moved west, south, and southwest from Pennsylvahia in the eighteenth century. The Germans came first and occupied the more fertile areas of the north Valley; in the Revolutionary period they were predominant in Dunmore County (Shenandoah), Rockingham, and to some degree, in Frederick [Note–in 1788 Pendleton County was taken from parts of Augusta, Hardy, and Rockingham counties, with a heavily-German population of 2000 that prominently included the Hall-associated family names Simmons, Evick, Hevener or Heffner (William’s Miller A prominent name was The Scots, who were almost entirely Ulstermen, followed closely behind, some stopping to occupy the somewhat less favored lands near the Potomac, others pushing on into the south Valley. Most of them settled in Berkeley County by the Potomac and in Augusta rickbridge, and Botetourt (footnote 6). In addition to its German and Ulster Scot settlers the region had even in these early years a considerable number of English from eastern Virginia, some from Pennsylvania, and a small number directly from England. A few Swiss, Dutch, Swedes, and Welsh were also to be found. Likewise there were large numbers of indentured servants, chiefly Irish it seems, who were rapidly becoming independent settlers as their indentures expired. James Ireland wondered at the numerous nationalities and sects but saw them living together in a ‘common state of sociability’ when as a Baptist circuit rider he went to the Valley to preach just before the Revolution (footnote 7). [Paragraph] The most acceptable estimates for the populkation of the Valley in 1763 show 20,000 whites and a thousand blacks; by 1776 there were 48,000 whites and 5,000 blacks; and in 1790, 71,000 whites and 12,000 blacks (footnote 8). In so far as these figures are correct there was a population density of less than three to the square mile in 1763, a little over seven in 1776, and about twelve in 1789. There were six towns in the Valley in 1763: Winchester, Mecklnburg (Shepherdstown), Staunton, Stephensburg, Strasburg, and Woodstock. Five of them had been established within the half-dozen years before 1763, partly on the theory that the ‘erecting of towns’ might aid inhabitants in defending themselves against ‘the incursionsof the enemy’ (footnote 9)–a reference to Indian raids. Two additional towns were established between 1763 and 1776, Fincastle in the south Valley and Martinsburg near the Potomac (footnote 10). By 1789 eight more had been added: Bath, Lexington, Harrisonburg, Charlestown (named for the brother of George Washington who lived near by [and very near Halltown, as settled by our ancestors William Hall and Hannah Richardson–shb], Middletown, Front Royal, Pattonsburg, and Crowsville (footnote 11). Thus the Valley grew and rospered in the Revolutionary period. [Next paragraph] From the standpoint of a ‘money crop, hemp was the leading product of the Valley, just before the Revolution.” [Note: See “WHEAT PRODUCTION,” above for information about other crops probably raised by the Halls–shb.] –shb 13 Aug 2001
1763–LAND BORDERS THAT OF GERSHOM KEYES: Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book Series, Volume 2 – Deed Books 5, 6, 7, 8 1757-1763, Abstracted, Compiled by Amelia C. Gilreath (Nokesville, Virginia 22123: 14200 Vint Hill Road, 1990), p. 133: “Bk 8, p. 254 – 1 March 1763 – [Lease] Between Thomas Smith of County of Fairfax [to] Gershom Keyes of County of Frederick . . . consideration of five Shillings . . . Tract of Land lying and being near the mouth of Shannandoah River in County of Frederick containing 400 Acres being Granted by deed from the Proprietor of Northern Neck to said Thomas Smith the 15th Dec. 1762 . . . Corner to William Hall . . . Rent of one Pepper Corn on Lady Day next . . . [Signed] Thomas Smith; Wit: Wm Crutcher, Bryan (BA) Alliston, William Ashford; Recorded: 1 March 1763.” [Note: Abt 1762 Gershom’s son Humphrey Keyes m. Sarah Hall, dau. of the William Hall whose land “Corner” is mentioned in this deed–shb.]
1763, MARCH 29–LAND SURVEY: A copy of the survey of William Hall I’s combined lands, signed by Tho. Rutherford, was mailed to shb by Jane (Mrs. Garth O.) Hall (arrived 29 Apr 2004), so it could be part of my power-point presentation at our “Family Tree Fair,” as part of our Hall Family Reunion, held June 6-9 at the Great America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. Coming to this reunion are 200 (out of a possible 260 descendants) of Howard and Florence (Tracy) Hall, my father H. Tracy Hall, Sr.’s parents. Howard, of course, is a descendant of William Hall I. Some Internet cousins who have been doing research on the lines are being flown in and will also give presentations. Unfortunately Jane was unable to come (Kathryn Lones Pyles, Delight Furst Heckelman, and Delight’s gdau Lantana Wood, all descendants of William Hall [son of Anthony Sr., son of William I] and Clarinda Evick will be here and have been sending in materials to be formatted into power point presentations.
I am excited to have a copy of this survey to put on display (see William I’s PAF media file, where a copy is attached). I will try to decipher it here: Howard’s Branch runs north and south through the middle of William’s lands, and the location of his mill is noted just below his total acreage, as noted (today there is a paper mill in that location, as you go through Halltown). William’s acreate is noted, as follows: “Contents of the original Patents 1068; Surplus contained wihin the Patents 1035; Contents of the Late Survey 133; Total Area 2236 Acres.” Northof William’s boundary (west side) is land of John Sewell. North of William’s land (east side) is the land of John Crow. East is land of “Cimeon Rice” (north side), and through Cimeon’s land, north and south, is “Cabbon Run.” Even more East (of Cimeon Rice’s land) is Robt. Harper’s land, through which the Elk Branch runs north and south. South of Robt. Harper’s land is that of Wm. Shupe, and it appears that even farther East of the plot of Robt. Harper is other land marked only “Harper.” South of Cimeon Rice’s land and East of William Hall’s is land of Joseph McCammes. The entire south border of William’s land appears to be owned by “Mr. Gersham Keyes,” and at the South East border of William’s land, a note written in a southeast direction over
William’s border towards Gersham Keyes’ land says “Harper’s Ferry” (I believe that’s what it says–shb). The west boundary of William’s land is owned by Col. Carlyle (south end) and Jno. Gladden (north end). Now I will try to transcribe the wording on the survey, dated 29th March 1763: “By virtue of a warrant from the Proprietor’s office granted to William Hall of Frederick County bearing date the 15th day of april 1762 I have Resurveyed Round the bounds of a Patent formerly granted to the said William Hall for Five Hundred and eighty two acres beaing date the 31st day of May 1751 and allso one other Patent granted to the S. William contiguous to, by Patent bearing date the 22d day of October 1756 also Round the boundary of a late . . . [can’t read this part–shb] for the sd William Hall the course [?] to Include the sothern [?] Tracts in as [?] follows Beginning as a white oak at A, marked (WH) near and on the north side of Howards Marsh and on the upper side of the mouth of a glade, in the County ____[?–shb] and Extending thence N ’23’:E.’ 211.;. . . [I give up at this point–I’m going blind–shb]. At the end it says ” . . . Beginning containing twenty two Hundred & thirty six acres.” It is signed “By Tho Rutherford.” Under a line at the left are these names (in the same handwriting as the rest): Jno Burnet Wm. Hall Junr, Wm. Hall Senr. Robt Harper Wm. Shupe Jno Sewell Jno Crow Jno Vestal _____[?–can’t read] and ____ [?again, can’t read–shb] ” –shb 29 Apr 2004
1764–HALL PLANTATION LOCATION “EXCELLENT”/WARM SPRING ROAD: P. 38 of this Wood booklet about the Halltown Paperboard Company: “The location of his [William I’s–shb] plantation was excellent–nearby Gersham Keyes [RIN 7301–Gersham’s son Humphrey married William I’s daughter Sarah–shb] had established a ferry in 1748 on the Shenandoah and Robert Harper established one at his plantation, now Harpers Ferry. The 1764 survey map shows a road leading to Winchester; around this time a road was established across his plantation known as the Warm Spring Road linking ye famed Warm Spring (now Berkeley Springs) with Alexandria, Virginia by crossing at Keyes Ferry. This road was travelled many times by General George Washington on his trips to his nearby lands in present Jefferson County and to the Warm Springs.
ROADS DEVELOPED FOR WARM SPRINGS/FERRY RIGHTS: The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution 1763-1789, by Freeman Hansford Hart (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942), p. 22: “The keen interest in the commercial, as well as the medicinal, value of the mineral springs along the western boundary of the Valley has been noted. Crowds gathered at Bath (footnote 65: ‘Stephen letter in Etting Collection, Pa. Hist., IV, 71-72; Gates Papers (N.Y.H.S.), no. 197; Washington, “Diary,” July 31, 1769. Washington took his little stepdaughter, Patsy Curtis, to the Springs in the hope that the water might help her. In September, 1775, Fithian reported 400 people at these springs, “Journal,” p. 125’) in Berkeley County, and promoters saw the possibilities of enhancing business through the developmnt of the Hot and Warm Springs in Augusta County (footnote 66: ‘Virginia Gazette, 1771; Fleming Papers, Dr. Meldrum to Fleming, Sept. 10, 1765). Accordingly these promoters petitioned the Burgesses for a new road that would connect these springs with eastern Virginia (footnote 67: ‘Journal, Burgesses, July 15, 1771; April 4, 1772. The plan includes a public subsidy to make these places health centers’). Their request likewise was granted by the Assembly, thus adding another link between the eastern and western parts of the state (footnote 68: ‘Hening, “Statutes,” VIII, 263, 546-549′). [Paragraph] The granting of ferry rights showed a similar tendency toward an East-West trade alignment. About the time that the Burgesses decided there was not enough business across the Potomac to allow both Thomas Shepherd and the widow of Thomas Swearingen to operate ferries at Shepherdstown, within a half mile of each other, petitions were sent to the assembly by the Valley people, asking for three ferries across the Shenandoah, to connect with Alexandria and the roads of eastern Virginia (footnote 69).” –shb 13 Aug 2001
NEIGHBORS OF HALL PLANTATION [Wood continues]: “Hall’s plantation was joined on the east by Gersham Keyes and Joseph McCamres (Cormacks) on the south by Colonel John Carlyle (of Alexandria, Virginia.) the ore bank tract and John Gladion and by John Sewell and John Crow and Simon Rice on the west and Robert Harper on the north. See Land Grant Map II. (Original land grants and survey Virginia State Library, Caltjo Geertsema Land Grant Map, Berkeley County Courthouse.)
1763–LAND SURVEY: A copy of the survey of William Hall I’s combined lands, signed by Tho. Rutherford, was mailed to shb by Jane (Mrs. Garth O.) Hall (arrived 29 Apr 2004), so it could be part of my power-point presentation at our “Family Tree Fair,” as part of our Hall Family Reunion, held June 6-9 at the Great America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah. Coming to this reunion are 200 (out of a possible 260 descendants) of Howard and Florence (Tracy) Hall, my father H. Tracy Hall, Sr.’s parents. Howard, of course, is a descendant of William Hall I. Some Internet cousins who have been doing research on the lines are being flown in and will also give presentations. Unfortunately Jane was unable to come (Kathryn Lones Pyles, Delight Furst Heckelman, and Delight’s gdau Lantana Wood, all descendants of William Hall [son of Anthony Sr., son of William I] and Clarinda Evick will be here and have been sending in materials to be formatted into power point presentations.
I am excited to have a copy of this survey to put on display (see William I’s PAF media file, where a copy is attached). I will try to decipher it here: Howard’s Creek (?) runs north and south through the middle of William’s lands, and the location of his mill is noted just below his total acreage, as noted (today there is a paper mill in that location, as you go through Halltown). William’s acreage is noted, as follows: “Contents of the original Patents 1068; Surplus contained wihin the Patents 1035; Contents of the Late Survey 133; Total Area 2236 Acres.” North of William’s boundary (west side) is land of John Sewell. North of William’s land (east side) is the land of John Crow. East is land of “Cimeon Rice” (north side), and through Cimeon’s land, north and south, is “Cabbon Run.” Even more East (of Cimeon Rice’s land) is Robt. Harper’s land, through which the Elk Branch runs north and south. South of Robt. Harper’s land is that of Wm. Shupe, and it appears that even farther East of the plot of Robt. Harper is other land marked only “Harper.” South of Cimeon Rice’s land and East of William Hall’s is land of Joseph McCammes. The entire south border of William’s land appears to be owned by “Mr. Gersham Keyes,” and at the South East border of William’s land, a note written in a southeast direction over William’s border towards Gersham Keyes’ land says “Harper’s Ferry” (I believe that’s what it says–shb). The west boundary of William’s land is owned by Col. Carlyle (south end) and Jno. Gladden (north end). Now I will try to transcribe the wording on the survey, dated 29th March 1763:
GEORGE WASHINGTON WAS HERE, 1748-1765. Frederick County, Virginia webpage “History of Frederick County”: “George Washington was associated with Winchester and Frederick County between the years of 1748 and 1765. Early during those years, he maintained a surveying office in Winchester. During the French and Indian War, he was given a Commission and later made Commander in Chief of the colonial forces with headquarters in Winchester. Washington held his first elective offices representing Frederick County, having been elected to the house of Burgesses in 1758 and 1761.”
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X. 1764 – WILLIAM’S LIFE ENDS – CONSOLIDATES LAND, MAKES WILL; HIS BURIAL/ESTATE
1764–WILLIAM [OR WM. II?] PURCHASES FINAL TRACT OF LAND, CONSOLIDATES DEEDS: For 1764 land purchase, see 1743 heading, end of son Richard’s notes, RIN 682). On Oct. 8, 1764, shortly before he made his will, William consolidated his three deeds into one. By then he had accumulated a total 2,236 acres or, according to Jesse F. Hall, about 3.5 square miles, possibly in one plot. –shb 9 Sep 2000
1764, 21 October–MADE WILL/DIED December, 1764: Virginia Will Records, Indexed by Judith McGhan (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1982), p. 628, Call Volume 6: “440. 1805 District Court, Winchester, Sleigh v. Strider: WILLIAM HALL, died in December, 1764. Will dated 21 October 1764. Issue: Richard Hall, died in 1799, married circa 1776, Sarah West, and has issue, one son, Thomas, and several daughters, of whom, the eldest is Elizabeth, wife of Henry Sleigh. Land in Berkeley county.” –shb
1764–MADE WILL/SON WILLIAM IS EXECUTOR/DOES NOT NAME WIFE/CHILDREN: [Don C. Wood, “A History of the Halltown Paperboard Company” (Halltown, West Virginia), continues: “William Hall wrote a will on October 21, 1764, probated 4 December 1764. He divided his land among his children. To son William Hall he gave the land where said William lived and below his plantation to son James Hall; the northern section he gave to son Richard Hall. His old plantation was to be divided between sons John Hall and Anthony Hall [our ancestor, m. Rachel Simmons–shb]. To son Thomas Hall and Joseph Hall he gave his new ‘dwelling and the mill thereon.’ But all of the above tract of land were only to his sons for their life time and then to their eldest son or daughter. He gave to his son William Hall the right to cut hay around his mill and 3 acres of the meadow next to the mill to his son James Hall. His children were to have the right to have their grain ground ‘tool free’ at the mill for their life time. To his daughters Elizabeth Pemberton, Ruth Heavin, Hannah Harris and Sarah Keyes he left his new survey which was to be sold by his executors and the money divided between them. To his beloved wife, sister of Richard Richardson, he gave his stock and everything on his plantation for her life. (Frederick Co., Va. Will Book 3, page 233). [Actually one wonders how beloved wife Hannah Richardson Hall was when you read the original will (see below), he seemed concerned that she might try to embezzle his property–shb.]
1764–WILL, FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA. Dated 21 Oct 1764, Proved 4 Dec 1764 (A transcription of this will was sent me Jan 2000 by [who I then thought was] my fifth cousin, once removed, Jesse F. Hall, whom I met on GenForum.com. Today, 9 Feb 2000, I received a photocopy of the original William Hall I will from Mr. Hall, which I have checked against the transcription (that I had previously typed below) for accuracy, finding very few changes, which I did make. This long will is in beautiful, easily readable script, and I am thrilled to get it. Mr. Hall said he got the will from Mary Lou Spindt, who explained in an e-mail sent shb 28 Feb 2000: “I found the will in Winchester, Virginia about 1989 when we made a visit there. It covers pages 233-236 [Will Book 3, Frederick Co., Virginia–shb]. Then there are several pages of estate inventory.” [Note: Jane (Mrs. Garth O.) Hall, who proved to my satisfaction that Jesse Hall’s William is not our William I, in response to my request, sent about a dozen improvements/answered questions/insertions to my description/transcription of William’s will, 26 Apr 2004. We cousins now render the will as follows, original spelling/ punctuation/line endings preserved, as marked by a “/”.
Hall’s Will – “In the Name of God Amen, I William/ Hall of Frederick County in the Colony of Virgi/nia being sick and weak in body body (sic) but of perfect/ mind and memory thanks to Almighty God and calling to mind the transitory estate of this life and well knowing that all flesh must yield unto death when it shall please God to call do make and Ordain this to be my last Will and Testament in manner and form fol/lowing viz. First I Recommend my soul in/to the hands of Almighty God that gave it me/ trusting in the merits of my blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to receive it again at the last day./ And as for such worldly goods as my blessed God has been pleased to bestow on me in this life I give and bequeath the same in man/ner and form folowing Viz/ My just debts be/ing duly paid and my funeral charges also. [Paragraphing mine–it was all run together–shb.]
“Item I give or let my son William Hall have/ that piece of land he now lives on during his/ natural life, and no longer and then I give and/ bequeath the said piece of Land to the Eldest son/ of said William said Moiety of Land and his/ heirs forever, and [the word ‘if’ inserted above–shb] in case there should be no son/ to heir the same my will is that the Eldest daugh/ter of said William shall posses the same to her and/ heirs forever, said Land begining where this home/ patent ends and taking its coarse below the lower/ field. [Paragraphing mine, as this was all run together–shb]
“Item I give or let to my son James Hall/ have [sic–shb] from the top of the hill between his/ brother William and him the remaining part of/ the above first mentioned land during his na/tural life and no longer and then I will and/ bequeath the said moiety of Land to the Eldest/ Son of said James Hall and if no male Issue to/ the eldest daughter and her heirs forever, but if a/ son to him and his heirs forever.
“Item I give or/ let my son Richard Hall them lands adjoining/ Macals line thence runing within a few poles of/ the place I bought of John Hountson Mounts on during his/ natural life and no longer and after I will and be/queath the same to his Eldest Son and his heirs forever but/ if no male Issue to his Eldest daughter and her/ heirs forever.
[Note: I had transcribed the name, above, as “John Hountson Mounts on,” to which Barry D. Wood responds, 6 Feb 2007: “Isn’t this really just “Mountson”? Mount or Mounts was a common Swedish given name in these times, among the Swedes who settled on the Delaware and then moved west into the Potomac valley. There were seeral men, for example, named ‘Mounts Justice,’ or ‘Mons Gustavs. (The ‘G’ in Swedish was pronounced like a ‘Y’ in English or ‘J’ in German; hence the confusion.) The patronymic Mountson / Mounson is the same as ‘Monson.’ As you know, your Yocum/Yocum (= Joachim) family followed the same miration pattern.” –shb 7 Feb 2007]
“Item I give or let to my sons John Hall and/ Anthony Hall the old place or plantation beginning at/ Macals line and thence runing to McCormacks line during/ their natural life and no longer and then I will and/ bequeath the same to each of their eldest sons and their/ heirs forever, but if no male Issue to each/ of their Eldest daughters and their heirs forever./
“Item I give or let to my son Thomas Hall &/ Joseph Hall my new dwelling Plantation and/ the mill thereon during their natural life and/ no longer, and then I will and bequeath the same/ to each of their Eldest sons and their heirs forever/ and if no male Issue to each of their Eldest dau/ghters and their heirs forever.
“Item my will is/ that my new Survey of land shall be sold by my /Executor hereafter mentioned and the money got/ for the same shall be Equally divided among/ my four daughters Viz – Elizabeth Pemberton,/ Ruth Heavin, Hannah Harris and Sarah/ Keyes and it is my will also that my full [odd phrase, meaning ‘all of my?’–jh] children/ always to have their grain ground toll free du/ring their natural life or the mill ingoing.
[Note: I transcribed it as “tool” or “toil,” but am advised by Barry D. Wood, letter of 6 Feb 2007, that the word in the above paragraph is “no doubt ‘toll.’ Toll-free means free of charge for milling, in this context.” –shb 7 Feb 2007]
“I also Will to my son William a full liberty of/ cuting hay on that meadow ground next the mill/ during his life time. I also will to my son James/ three acres of said meadow next the fence his Life/time.
“Item I will to my beloved wife during her/ Widowhood my full stock and all now belonging/ to said Plantation during her natural life yet–/ notwithstanding if my said wife should waste or/ Embazel said Effects unlawful I then Impower/ my said Executor to take all but her third out of her/ hands and make an Equal dvision [sic] of the same/ amongst all the children in full./ [A word is inserted at end of this sentence that I cannot read–shb. Jane responds ‘It looks to me like the word inserted here above the end of the sentence might be ‘Names’–like the person who edits thought the names should have been inserted here.’]
“Lastly consti/tute nominate and appoint my well beloved son/ William Hall my whole and sole Executor of this/ my last will and Testament Confirming this only/ to be my last will and I hereby revoke make void all/ other will or wills made heretofore by me allowing/ this alone to be my last will and Testament and/ in witness hereof I set my hand and affix my/ seal this twenty first of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty four.
“My will is also/ that the money due and belonging to me with my/ wifes brother Richard Richardson be got and Equally divided among my children. William Hall (Ls) [Looks like his full signature, in a different script–looks labored, but readable–the “Ls” is added in parentheses after the signature and is in the same script as the rest of the will–shb.
[Regarding the “LS,” noted above, Barry D. Wood writes shb, 6 Feb 2007: “”Ls”is short for “locus segnali,” the place of the seal (meaning that the wax seal of the decedent was placed there, by his signature, to make it official). People of a certain stature had a signet ring with which they could make an impression in the hot wax to indicate their approval–an especially useful device in an era where so many people, even those with some status in society, were unable to write. As literacy improved, it became obsolete, but you still see “LS” and other references to seals in legal documents, even now–mostly in respect of corporate seals.” –shb 7 Feb 2007]]
“Witnesses present – John Vestal, Thomas X Findley [‘his’ above the X, ‘mark’ below the X [Note: William’s gdau. Elizabeth Pemberton (RIN 24099, b. 26 Sep 1758, six years before William’s death), dau. of Isaiah and Elizabeth (Hall), m. a Finney–shb], James Havins [–], John Heavin [–] Mark”
“At a Court held for Frederick County the 4th day of December 1764 [Indented paragraph after this–shb]
“This last Will and Testament of Willi/am Hall Deceased was produced in Court by Willi/am Hall the Executor therein named who made oath thereto and the same/ being proved by the oaths of John Vestal, Thomas Findley and John Heavin three of the Witnesses thereto is Ordered to be Recorded, and upon the mo/tion of the said William who entered into bond with Thomas Speake John Write and Edward Thomas his/ Securities in the Penalty of one thousand pounds con/ditioned for his due and faithful administrati/on of the said Estate certificate is Granted him/ for obtaining a probate in due form.
[Next line–shb] By the Court – JaKeith [two initials follow that I can’t read–shb] – Frederick Court [“Court” was cut off–don’t know if there’s anything more–shb]” –shb 9 Feb 2000
[Note: I find in Botetourt County, Virginia, record of a will probated Aug 1784, for a John Heavins (see RIN 28978), who names a daughter Mary, wife of Thomas Finley (sic) of North Carolina–is this the John Heavin and Thomas Findley mentioned as witnesses, in William’s will, above?–shb 4 Mar 2001.]
1764–DEATH AT ABOUT AGE 56: If our dates for William’s birth and death are correct, he died about a year before my age now, as I write this. I am reminded of closing words in the very interesting book I just read, The Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia to the South, by Parke Rouse, Jr. (Richmond, Virginia: Dietz Press, 1995, reprinted 2000), p. 267: “Thus the highways of yesterday merge into the America of today. Past becomes present, and present becomes the future, and none can stop the clock. But in a conformist world, let Americans not lose the healthy individualism of those earlier generations which grew up along the rugged Appalachians in America’s infancy. They worked hard, faced terrible enemies, and usually died young. Let it not be forgot that they left a great, free nation to show for it.” –shb 18 Aug 2000
BURIAL: Jefferson County Deed Book 20, page 432, August 1835, William III (see RIN 6683–shb) and Mary, his wife, of Jefferson Co. sold to Robert and William Lucas for $1,530.00 the remaining part of the tract of land William Hall had purchased from his father William Hall II which included the family graveyard of l/4 acre which was reserved with instruction that it “is not to be exposed to be rooted up by hogs.” This tract of land joined the Allstadt heirs.” (As stated on p. 81 of Appendix F, “Division and Sales of the William Hall I 2,236 Acres Plantation,” by Don C. Wood, November 1984, as included in A History of Halltown Paperboard Company, Halltown, WV.) See 1800 note below about restoration by current owner Gibson of the Alstadt property. –shb 3 Mar 2000
TO DO: Find William Hall or other early Hall graves near the Alstadt property, take information and photos. –shb
WILLIAM’S ESTATE/INVENTORY: “Frederick County Court, Winchester, Virginia, Abstracts: Will Book 4, pp. 407-408: The Estate of William Hall, deceased, to William Hall’s Executors. The value of inventory listed but not totalled. Among the various names were these: William Brooks, Robert Harper, Jacob Hite, John Sponely, William Carlysle, Eleslia Isaac, Gabriel Jones, Joseph Burns, John Sample, Humphrey Keyes, Hannah Hall, widow of William Hall. Among the items were these: By cash at his death being possessed by Hannah Hall widow L62-16-8 By cash in the hands of Humphrey Keyes his wife a Legatee 7-7-10; By cash in the hands of Howard Heavins his wife a Legatee 8-0-0 (two pages of items in disbursements, this being also the estate account). [Above was reported by Christine Bergen, who was doing research for my uncle, Eugene M. Hall.] –shb
1764–SON-IN-LAW HUMPHREY KEYS SURVEYS LAND IN HAMPSHIRE COUNTY: See Humphrey’s notes–of interest here is that though Humphrey is described as being of Berkeley or Frederick County, these land surveys are in Hampshire County, dates ranging from 1761-1776. Other surveys made along the Gt Cacapehon in Hampshire County involve: Bakers (Henry, John, William, James, and Samuel), John Harris, William Baldwin, Smiths (Charles, William), and formerly owned by Humphrey’s father Gersham Keyes.. –shb 26 Sep 2000
WIFE HANNAH’S DOWER LAND–[Wood continues]: “Hannah Hall, the widow of William Hall I, petitioned the Court for her dower land from her husband’s estate since the will had not allowed any land in August 1765. Jacob Hite and Robert Rutherford [Robert was a local surveyor–not necessarily a relative–shb] and others laid off Hannah Hall’s dower land of 690 acres. This land was hers only for her life time and then went to the various sons which it had been assigned to (Frederick Co., Va. Deed Book 11, page 175.)
LEGAL PROBLEM IN WILLING TO ELDEST GRANDCHILD: Jesse F. Hall’s report, p. 2: “William I died 10 Nov 1764 leaving a will which named his children and his son William II as executor. At the time of his death, a survey of William I’s properties showed he owned 2236 acres, all in Frederick Co., VA in 1764. Later disposition of his lands shows that some of the land was in what is now Jefferson Co., WV. The will passed his property through his children to the eldest grandchild of each of his children. This caused a legal problem in 1803, since one of his sons, Joseph, died without issue” [this 1803 suit, Hall vs. Hall, referred to in 1751 note, above–shb 23 Jan 2000].
1764–HEIRS LAND, NEIGHBORS NAMED IN RESURVEY: See 1763-1764 notes of Gershom Keyes for Joyner abstracted account of John Crow land (Crow was assignee of “Gershem”), 1764 resurvey of 463 acres “adj. the heirs of William Hall, the heirs of Simeon Rice, John Adam Cooper, John Sewell, Hellens Dungen, Henry Moore. CC – Benja Bradley & Peter Bur [see notes of Mary Darke, RIN 17295, and Rev. William Williams, RIN 27003–shb]. Markers – Jno Sewell & Jno Crow. Surv. Thomas Rutherford.” –shb 16 Apr 2001
1765–CAPT. WILLIAM WEST LAND ADJACENT WILLIAM HALL LANDS, LOUDOUN: Joyner abstracts, Northern Neck grants, Vol IV (see above), p. 104: “Loudoun County – CAPT WILLIAM WEST, 28 May 1765 – 3 July 1765; 230 a. about the Bull Run Mt; adj. his own, John Young, John Mercer (formerly Owsley’s), corner ‘to William Hall alias Owsley, now John ___?.’ Surv. Jno Hough.” –shb 11 Sep 2000
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XI. THE YEARS 1765-1790 (with an addendum treating land tenure of a William Hall in Prince William County, Virginia, starting in 1731, and other historical information)
1765–ELIZABETH HOUGH, JOHN HOUGH NEIGHBORS? Joyner Abstracts, Vol. IV, p. 100: “Loudoun County – ELIZABETH HOUGH, 4 Aug. 1765 – 10 Aug. 1765; 405 a. on Beaverdam br. of Goose Crk, N side Hogback Mt; adj. Mahlon Janny, John Mushet, Robt Carter, Esqr, James Buckley, Majr Thos Waring (now Colo Benja Grayson’s). Surv. John Hough”; [next item] “JOHN HOUGH, 16 June 1760 – survd N.d; 250 a. on br. Goose Crk; adj. Colo Blackburn, Thos John (now Geo Burson’s). CC – Saml Harris, Junr [a Saml Harris m. a dau. of our William and Hannah Richardson Hall–shb] & Isaac Walker. P&M Jacob Lasswell. Surv. William West.” [Note: the following five entries for John Hough, plus one for Joseph Hough and one for William Hough mention these participants or neighbors: John Mercer, Thomson Mason, Capt John Dalton, Wm Dodd, Henry Kiger, William West, G Wm Fairfax, Esqr, Capt Samuel Johnston, Colo John Taylor, Thomas Suddon, John Lassswell, Warner Toward, Mahlon Janney, Benja Poole and Jacob Janney, Andrew Russell, Dennis McCarty, Capt Geo Turberville, Andrew Hutchinson, John Elliott, Benja Mason and Andrew Hutchinson, Junr., John Hinford (Heriford?), Saml Tillott (formerly Geo Burne’s), Cocke, Mercer, Man Page, Benja Grayson’s former 973 a. tract (now Jno Mercer’s) near Wm Ensley’s house (formerly Foster’s pat.), John Thornton, Thomas Cavins & Mahlon Hough, Chas Binns (formerly Francis Hague’s), Wm Mead, Colo John Carlyle, Moses Rohdes (formerly Wm Mead’s). CC – Jason Mortan & Robert Sinklar, Henry Lefever, Wm Berry, Jacob Wildman & Daniel Brilford. –shb 6 Oct 2000
[Note: regarding this entry, Barry D. Wood writes shb, 6 Feb 2007: “. . . . I don’t know that the reference to the Hough land is that relevant to William Hall. There are lots of Harrises around, and I wouldn’t necessarily conclude that the Samuel Harris metioned there was necessarily the husband of Hannah’s daughter. But if there was no Samuel Harris living in Old Frederick the right age to have married her daughter, then, yes, a Loudoun County Samuel could be considered. [Paragraph] In any event, the land was clearly in what is now Loudoun County, as the recordation of the deed indicates, and not in Old Frederick County. Several of the neighbors mentined were members of Goose Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends, including the Janneyes, Bursons, Russells and Meads (all of whom married into my Spencer, Nichols and/or Hatcher families). The Beaverdam Branch of Goose Creek is a western continuation of the North Fork of Goose Creek, where the North Fork turns sharply north a bit west of Philmont. As you can see from the Loudoun map on Topozone, Hogback Mountain is in central Loudoun County, not really close to Halltown. It’s part of the Catoctin Mountain chain, just southwest of Leesburg. What’s a bit strange about the description is that, strictly speaking, Beaverdam Branch doesn’t drain any part of Hogback Mountain. I have to surmise that at the time the deed was written, Crooked Run was somehow considered as a tributary of Beaverdam Branch.” –shb 7 Feb 2007]
[Note: Response to the above item, from Barry D. Wood, 6 Feb 2007: ” . . . . I don’t know that the reference to the Hough land is that relevant to William Hall. There are lots of Harrises around, and I wouldn’t necessarily conclude that the Samuel Harris mentioned there was necessarily Hannah’s husband. But if there was no Samuel Harris living in Old Frederick the right age to have married Hannah Hall, then, yes, a Loudoun County Samuel should be considered. [Paragraph] In any event the land was clearly in what is now Loudoun County, as the recordation of the deed indicates, and not in Old Frederick County. Several of the neighbors mentioned were members of Goose Creek Monthly Meeting of Friends, including the Janneys, Bursons, Russells and Meads (all of whom married into my Spencer, Nichols and/or Hatcher families). The Beaverdam Branch of Goose Creek is a western continuation of the North Fork of Goose Creek, where the North Fork turns sharply north a bit west of Philmont. As you can see from the Loudoun map on Topozone, Hogback Mountain is in central Loudoun County, not really close to Halltown. It’s part of the Catoctin Mountain chain, just southwest of Leesburg. What is a bit strange about the description is that, strictly speaking, Beaverdam Branch doesn’t drain any part of Hogback Mountain. I have to surmise that at the time the deed was written, Crooked run was somehow considered as a tributary of Beaverdam Branch.”–shb]
1770s–WILDERNESS ROAD OPENS ACCESS TO KENTUCKY AND AREA THAT BECAME WEST VIRGINIA.
1772–PART OF FREDERICK COUNTY BECOMES DUNMORE: Joyner Abstracts III, p. xii: “In 1772 a portionof Frederick County, known as Beckford Parish, formed the county of Dunmore. The name was changed to Shenandoah in 1778 without boundary adjustments.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1772–FREDERICK COUNTY DIVISIONS/BERKELEY BREAKS OFF 1772, JEFFERSON, 1801: The Story of Frederick County, available at the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Chapter 3 (by Sam Lehman), illustrates which counties formed from Frederick County, as follows: Berkeley (1772) and from that, Jefferson (1801). Hampshire broke from Frederick in 1753 and from it came Hardy (1776) and from Hardy, Grant (1866). Also from Hampshire came Mineral (1866) and Morgan (1820–also took from Berkeley). The City of Winchester took from Frederick in 1874, 1905, 1921, and 1971. Dunmore (Shenandoah) broke from Frederick in 1772, and from Dunmore came Page in 1831; Warren was formed from Frederick and Dunmore in 1836; and Clarke County was formed from Frederick in 1836. Some of this activity is described by Lehman as follows: “Virginia had chartered counties as settlement spread up the landgrant. After Northumberland in 1648, each took the large western lands of its parent: Westmoreland in 1653, Stafford in 1666, Spotsylvania in 1720, Orange in 1734, and Frederick in 1738. [paragraph] On May 1, 1753 the 1191 square miles owned by Lord Fairfax which lay in Augusta County between Hume’s line and the Privy Council line were annexed to Frederick County. The Frederick/Warren County line was adjusted in 1899, and the Frederick/Shenandoah line in 1935. The City of Winchester’s 9.2 square miles and 36 square miles of Tucker County came from Frederick; 76 square miles of Page County, 34 of Hardy and 112 of Grant came from Augusta County.” –shb 8 May 2000
1772- MR LEVEN POWELL ON GOOSE CREEK, LOUDOUN: Joyner, Vol. IV, p. 103: “Loudoun County – MR LEVEN POWELL, 14 Sept. 1772 – 20 Sept. 1772; 150 a. on Beverdam of Goose Crk; adj. Mr Benja Grayson, Thos John, Wm Rust. C[hain] C[arriers] Richard Richards & William Robinson. Surv. John Hough.” [Note: William’s son William’s daughter Sally Hall m. Abner Powell; also William’s alleged father Thomas’ widow Sarah is thought to have married a Robinson.]. –shb 11 Sep 2000
1765–FAIRFAX PARISH FORMED FROM TRURO: “The Act provided that the division should take place from February 1st 1765, the line being ‘by Doeg creek from the mouth thereof to Mr. George Washington’s mill, and from thence, by a straight line, to the plantation, of John Munroe, and the sme course continued to the line that divides the counties of Fairfax and Loudon.’ All between this line and the Potomac was to be the new Parish of Fairfax” [this line later adjusted, leaving 1013 tithables in Fairfax and 962 in Truro, where Gen. Washington was elected a Vestryman in 1765. Among other vestrymen, Truro Parish, 1764, are Colo. George Mason, Colo John West, Mr. Benjamin GraysonMr. Charles Alexander, Lewis Ellzey. (History of Truro Parish in Virginia, by Rev. Philip Slaughter (see ref. above), my printed pp. 16-17). –shb 12 Sep 2000
1765–FAIRFAX PARISH FORMED FROM TRURO: “The Act provided that the division should take place from February 1st 1765, the line being ‘by Doeg creek from the mouth thereof to Mr. George Washington’s mill, and from thence, by a straight line, to the plantation, of John Munroe, and the sme course continued to the line that divides the counties of Fairfax and Loudon.’ All between this line and the Potomac was to be the new Parish of Fairfax” [this line later adjusted, leaving 1013 tithables in Fairfax and 962 in Truro, where Gen. Washington was elected a Vestryman in 1765. Among other vestrymen, Truro Parish, 1764, are Colo. George Mason, Colo John West, Mr. Benjamin GraysonMr. Charles Alexander, Lewis Ellzey. (History of Truro Parish in Virginia, by Rev. Philip Slaughter (see ref. above), my printed pp. 16-17). –shb 12 Sep 2000
1765: Parliament imposes a Stamp Tax on the colonists to help pay debts incurred in the French and Indian War (driving France from Canada and the Ohio Valley). –shb 8 Aug 2000
1771–WILLIAM SMITH (also 1762), JOHN PEMBERTON IN CULPEPER COUNTY: Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys (Dunmore, Shenandoah, Culpeper, Prince William, Fauquier & Stafford counties), 1710-1780, Vol. III, Compiled by Peggy Shomo Joyner (Portsmouth, Virginia: Published privately by Joyner, 5008 Dogwood Trail, 23703), 1986), p. 79: “Culpeper County – WILLIAM SMITH, 13 May 1762 – 13 Apr. 1763; 400 a. on N. side fork Mt. on N. br. Stanton R. on the edge of the chestnut Level on S. side Doubletop Mt. CC – Enoch Hill & Matthew Knight. Surv. Richd Young”; [next item] “WILLIAM SMITH, 21 Jan. 1771 – 3 Apr. 1771; 60 a. adj. Timothy Acuff, Wm. Sims, John Pemberton, Wallace. CC – Wm Smith & John Stowers. Pilot – Isaac Smith. Surv. Richard Young.” –shb 25 Sep 2000
1772–HALLTOWN IN BERKELEY COUNTY, VIRGINIA: Halltown, where William lived, was in Berkeley County, Virginia, formed from Frederick County. Fairfax County was a border county through the years, and Loudon County then broke off from Fairfax. –shb 4 Jul 2000
ABT. 1773–PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY FARMERS MOVED FROM TOBACCO TO WHEAT: The Curtis Collection, A Personal View of Prince William County History, by Donald E. Curtis (Prince William, Virginia: Prince William County Historical Commission, 1988), p. 18: “It is also interesting to note that several years prior to the Revolutionary War some Prince William County farmers began to move away from tobacco and begin the cultivation of wheat. This change was brought on by heavy duties placed on tobacco which cut into the profit margin of this traditional crop. Also, the exhausted land tended to grow a better yield of wheat than tobacco.” [I am thinking that, beyond possible religious/political dissent, this change in local circumstance might have kept some of William’s sons at their mill during the Revolutionary War–shb.] –shb 19 August 2000
1776–VIRGINIA ANNOUNCES ITS INDEPENDENCE FROM BRITAIN; FOUR OF WILLIAM’S SONS AID REVOLUTIONARY CAUSE: See notes of William II who married into the Lucas family that saw intensive Revolutionary War activity. See also “ROBERT RUTHERFORD” information in wife Hannah’s notes to learn about his role in local Revolutionary War activity (as a local surveyor, he also laid out Hannah’s dower land). William I died 10 Nov 1764, so perhaps his sons were needed at home to run the mill, which does not exclude the possibility that they also participated in some of the other Rev. War campaigns. George Washington, as a young man, surveyed the Fairfax land Wm. I later purchased, and nearby Charles Town was named after George’s brother. So it is not surprising that Washington called on his acquaintances in Virginia for reinforcement and that they responded. (There is also a chance that our Halls had pacifist, Quaker leaning or joined other family members in Pendleton County, a stronghold for royalists.) –shb 3 May 2000 –shb May, 2000
OTHER LOCAL REVOLUTIONARY WAR ACTIVITY INVOLVED LUCAS, BEDINGER, OTHER FAMILY CONNECTIONS–ALONG WITH HALLS? See notes of son William Hall II, RIN 681 and those of his father-in-law, Quaker Edward Lucas, RIN 17294. [Note: A Henry Bedinger married a Rachel Strode (see RIN 23878), of interest, because Thomas Hall of Old Concord, Pennsylvania, lived near a George Stroud or Strode–it is supposed that this Thomas is father of William Hall–in which case, perhaps the families migrated to Virginia together–shb.] –shb 6 May 2000
1776–DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
FREDERICK COUNTY IN THE REVOLUTION: “History of Frederick County, Virginia,” as posted on the Frederick County website: “Although there were no battles or military engagements in Frederick County during the Revolutionary War, the area was very important in the effort. General Daniel Morgan, who lived in eastern Frederick County (now Clarke County), and his “Long Rifles” played a prominent role in many battles of the Revolutionary War, including the Battle at Cowpens in South Carolina. Several local citizens furnished the troops with food and supplies, including Isaac Zane who supplied the army with ammunition made at his ironworks in Marlboro. Many prisoners captured during the War were held in Winchester and Frederick County.
“By 1779, the number of British prisoners held in Winchester had increased so much that it was decided to build a larger prison. A barracks was built four miles west of Winchester to hold these prisoners whose number had increased to 1,600 by the year 1781.
“During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, life in the current Frederick County area centered around small family farms. Local farms tended to be smaller than farms to the east. During this period, wheat production became the center of the local economy, along with cattle production. In 1820, there were fifty flour mills in Frederick County along with numerous sawmills, tanneries, and other business activities.
“Economic life was centered around Winchester and other local towns including Stephens City, Middletown, Kernstown, Gainesboro and Gore. There were a large number and diversity of craftsmen and merchants in these towns. The strongest influence on the local economy was the Great Wagon Road, which later became U.S. Route 11 and which carried settlers and travelers from Philadelphia, south through the Valley and to the west. Activity associated with this road made Winchester one of the largest towns in western Virginia.” –shb 6 Dec 2004
1776–TRACY NEIGHBOR TO “HOALS”? Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, Extracted from the Original court Records of Augusta County 1745-1800, by Lyman Chalkley, Vol. III (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965), p. 545: “Page 261.–19th March, 1776. John Young and Margaret to Jacob Trace [sic–shb], on South Branch of Potowmack [sic–shb] below Hoals [sic–shb] Land.”
1777, NOVEMBER 20–GRANDSON ANTHONY JR. (M. MARY WARD) IS BORN IN WINCHESTER, FREDERICK, VIRGINIA: This date/place for Anthony Jr.’s birth was provided by local historian Earsel Hall, as a note at the end of a lineage she compiled for her sister Winona to enter in the “First Families of Allen County, Ohio” project. This entry was found and photocopied by Kathryn Lones Pyles and mailed, Oct. 2003, to shb (see Winona’s notes, RIN 24948, for full detail about this entry). –shb 19 Feb 2004
1779-1802–CHURCH OF ENGLAND DISESTABLISHED.
1780–CAPITAL MOVED TO RICHMOND.
1780-1781–PUBLIC SERVICE CLAIM CERTIFICATES: At the Virginia State Library, Richmond, 11 Aug 1977, my father H. Tracy Hall, Sr. copied out these certificate numbers: “Anthony & Thos. certif. #169 – 3 May 1781; William & Anthony #170 – 23 Oct 1780; Joseph #171 25 Oct 1780; Wm. #172, 2 May 1781. I think these are the certificates received to acknowledge civilian aid given to the Revolutionary Cause. The above was on one page, next page reads: “Public Service Claims – Hall Anthony Berkeley Co. in 1781 – Certificates 2 (for 1 of these see cert. of John Hall). Lists p. 2. Also Pub. Serv. Claims – Berkeley Co. for John, Geo, Thomas,
William Hall, & Joseph Hall (see cert. of John also); also for Christopher Wishart, also Wisehart and for John Fisher. I ordered copies of certificates for Wisehart U& Fisher, Anthony, John, Wmn, and Jos. Hall. The “Lists” are on microfilm. I didn’t have time to search them.” [Note: I asked Dad about those ceritificates, and he couldn’t remember a thing about them–I’ve never seen them in my parents’ files–shb.] TO DO: Send off (to the Virginia State Library?) for these certificates, as recorded in Dad’s little gray, spiral bound notebook. –shb 19 Jul 2000
CIVILIAN PARTICIPATION IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: Margaret Adams’ Hall Report, 1955: “The American Revolution could not have succeeded without the support and participation of the civilians. A booklet of selected Berkeley County records shows that many items were ‘impressed,’ that is requisitioned: horses (45 to 60 pounds), use of team and wagon, blankets, quilts, clothing, corn, wheat, beef, pork, whiskey, guns, and services such as pasturage, use of wagon and team (waggonage). Then there was ferriage, use of the ferry across the Potomac. Here is just one item: Fifteen pounds 7-9 for ferriage of 35 waggons, drivers, 182 Horses, and 409 foot guards. Think of the problem of getting a whole army across the Potomac! (Virginia Publicke Claims, Berkeley County, compiled and transcribed by Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slatten). The names of four sons of William 1 appear on the above lists. William Jr., John, Joseph and Anthony provided grain. Son-in-law Samuel Harris contributed meat and two pounds ten was the value assigned the ten days he spent collecting food and clothing for the army. (Officers had uniforms made but the common soldier wore what he had, which was often insufficient.) Another son-in-law, Humphrey Keys, provided ferriage on three occasions and his pasturage of 48 cattle was valued at 16 shillings. [Paragraph] Each contributor was supposed to receive a certificate stating what was contributed and its value. Sometimes this was not done. Some certificates were found unacceptable for lack of proper information. Some certificates were lost. After the war the payment of these claims was turned over to the local courts, and for one reason or another, many did not receive the promised reimbursement.” –shb 3 Apr 2002
1781, 19 OCTOBER–BRITISH (LORD CORNWALLIS) SURRENDER TO WASHINGTON AT YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA. SIX MONTHS LATER, ROYALIST LORD FAIRFAX DIES.
1781–LORD FAIRFAX DIES: The Curtis Collection, A Personal View of Prince William County History, by Donald E. Curtis (Prince William, Virginia: Prince William County Historical Commission, 1988), p. 24: “It was the general practice of Virginia during the Revolution to confiscate the estates of British subjects that failed to take an oath of allegiance to the American cause, but Lord Fairfax was left undisturbed. A young public surveyor earlier employed in the Shenandoah Valley by the Fairfax Proprietary was by this time an influencial general officer. His name was George Washington. [Paragraph] When Lord Fairfax died in 1781 he left his estate to a brother in England, but Virginia moved quickly to expropriate the Fairfax Proprietary. Resultant litigation continued until 1816. Landowners that had been paying quitrents to Lord Fairfax were allowed to hold their lands in fee simple. The rightful heirs of Lord Fairfax were allowed to retain the lands which Lord Fairfax had appropriated for his personal use. Lands which were left unappropriated were taken by Virginia. [Paragraph] I was reminded of the grip Lord Fairfax had on the land in Prince William County in some genealogical research I was doing a few weeks ago. In tracing early ownership of land by my family in old Prince William I came across a land contract involving an early ancestor and Lord Fairfax. The conditions of the contract, involving several hundred acres of land, called for an annual fee rent of one shilling sterling for every 50 acres of land payable on the ‘Feast Day of St. Michael of Archangel.’ Also included was Lord Fairfax’s standard reservation to himself of a third of all ores and minerals discovered on the property. [Paragraph] It was possible, however, for clever speculators to make a killing even under such conditions as imposed by Lord Fairfax. For example, Robert ‘King’ Carter amassed 330,000 acres of land in Virginia during the 1700’s. Several of the tracts patented included lands now part of Prince William County. The properties lay along Kettle Run, Broad Run, Bull Run, and the Occoquan River. [Paragraph] Too bad Lord Fairfax never had the experience of receiving a real estate tax bill from Prince William County. November 30, 1977.” –shb 18 Aug 2000
1783–TREATY OF PARIS ENDS REVOLUTION.
1784–VIRGINIA CEDES TERRITORY NORTH OF THE OHIO RIVER TO THE U.S. THAT LATER BECAME OHIO, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, MICHIGAN, WISCONSIN AND PART OF MINNESOTA.
1785–FAIRFAX GRANTEES GET CLEAR TITLE: Sam Lehman, Chapter 3, The Story of Frederick County, available at the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah: “After the Revolutionary War and Lord Faifax’s death, Virginia labeled his English nephew and heir an ‘alien enemy.’ In 1785 the Commonwealth of Virginia under Governor Patrick Henry awarded Fairfax’ grantees/leasees clear title to the land they possessed, freeing them from his ‘quitrents’. Lord Fairfax’ remaining land, the ‘manors,’ went to his lawyer John Marshall, John Markham and Rawleigh C
1787–FIRST SHENANDOAH VALLEY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED: The Story of Frederick County (available at the FHL, Salt Lake City), Chapter 30, “Newspapers,” Chapter by Harry F. Byrd, Jr: “The best I can determine, and I put it that way because my research finds conflicting information, the first newspaper published in the Shenandoah Valley was the “Virginia Gazette and Wichester Advertiser,” a weekly. The first issue bears the date of July 11, 1787. Its proprietor was Henry Wilcox and Company. The following April, Richard Bowen and Company published the first issue of the Virginia Centinel.”
1788–VIRGINIA ADOPTED ITS CONSTITUTION ON JUNE 25 and was one of the original thirteen states. Virginia, as admitted, comprised not only its present area but West Virginia and Kentucky.
1788–PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH BUILT IN WINCHESTER: Built in 1788, this old stone church (on East Piccadilly Street) has been restored and is now open to the public. General Daniel Morgan was a member of this church and was buried there in 1802, but after the Civil War, his remains were removed to Mt. Hebron Cemetery. (Information from pamphlet sent shb by Jane Hall, “Historic Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia (Winchester, Virginia: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1981), no pagination). –shb 18 May 2002
1789–GEORGE WASHINGTON ELECTED FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
1790–FIRST CENSUS TAKEN: Virginia is, at the time, the most populous of all the staets with a population of nearly three-fourths of a million (Gazatteer of Virginia and West Virginia, Two Volumes in One, by Henry Gannett [Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1975), pp. 7-8. –shb 20 Feb 2002
1790–HALL EPISCOPAL HERITAGE? In the 1790 U.S. Census of Ann-Arundel County, Maryland, it is interesting to find these persons living near each other: Thomas Norris, William Franklin, Jacob Franklin, John Johns, Joseph Galloway, Nanny Broun, John Cole, Elizabeth Joice, Anthoney Smith, William Hall (with 34 slaves), James Butler, Robert and John Welch (or Welsh). Not far away in this county are William Richardson and Richard Richardson (43 slaves). A William Hall was in trouble with the Quakers for holding slaves, so I can see the families connecting through the Episcopal Church, where a lot of Quakers went. History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, by J. Smith Futhey and Gilbert Cope (Louis H. Everts, Philadelphia, 1881), p. 276, mentions the development of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Great Valley (northeastern part of East Whiteland township, near the line of Tredyffrin township, Chester County, Pennsylvania), which was errected in 1744 [after the date Hannah Richardson and William Hall were married, 1731, in Old St. Paul’s Episcopal church in Chester County, but R. Richardson, of St. Pet. could be her relative (see notes of Thomas’ mother Hannah Richardson for more on the participation of a Richard Richardson in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church activity). Also of interest–Sarah, widow of Thomas Hall of Concord (and possible father of William I) m. George Robinson, 10 May 1708, also at St. Paul’s Church, Chester–shb]:
See notes of wife Hannah Richardson for more on Quaker/Episcopalian influences. –shb 5 Mar 2000
1792–KENTUCKY SET OFF FROM PARENT VIRGINIA AND ADMITTED AS A SEPARATE STATE ON JUNE 1.
1793–ELI WHITNEY INVENTS THE COTTON GIN.
1798–ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS PASSED TO DETER DOMESTIC OPPOSITION.
1800–FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MOVES TO WASHINGTON, D. C.
1809–ABRAHAM LINCOLN WAS BORN.
1820–MISSOURI COMPROMISE OUTLAWS SLAVERY IN MOST OF THE WEST.
1831–NAT TURNER LEADES SLAVE REBELLION IN VIRGINIA.
1861–VIRGINIA SECEDES FROM THE UNION AND CIVIL WAR BEGINS.
1861-65–MANY MAJOR BATTLES OF THE CIVIL WAR FOUGHT IN VIRGINIA; MANY COURTHOUSES BURNED AND RECORDS LOST.
1862-1864–BATTLES AT WINCHESTER DESCRIBED: Pamphlet sent by Jane Hall to shb, May 2002, “Historic Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia” (Winchester, Virginia: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1981), no pagination: “THE BATTLES IN WINCHESTER – Three major battles were fought in Winchester during the War between the States. The first engagement took place May 25, 1862, between General Jackson and General Banks, and was fought in the hills west of Valley Avenue and south of Handley school, also in the neighborhood of the Winchester armory. It was a decisive victory for Jackson. A large amount of supplies were captured and the panic-stricken Federal army was driven as far as Martinsburg, where they continued their flight to the Potomac. [Paragraph] The second battle in Winchester was fought June 14 and 15. Soon after the defeat of the Federal Army at Chancellorville, General Lee determined to invade the North, and by a supreme effort overthrow the Federal Government. On June 10th, General Ewell’s corps advanced beyond the Blue Ridge, passed north through Chester Gap, and marched rapidly up the Shenandoah Valley. On the 13th, they arrived in the vicinity of Winchester. The next morning they attacked General Milroy’s forces. Ewell threatened Milroy with two feints, one from the south up Bower’s Hill, and the second from the east on line with the Shenandoah Valley National Bank branch on the Berryville Road. The first by Gordon’s Division, to which was added the troops stationed in the Valley, consisting mostly of the Maryland Line, drove the Federals along Bower’s Hill to the neighborhood of ‘Selma.’ The second, which was made by Edward Johnson’s Divison, kept up pressure on the Federals, who had occupied a line of trenches east of Smithfield Avenue, and extending from Fort Collier south to the Berryville Road near the National Cemetery. [Paragraph] Meanwhile Early’s Divison, which was charged with the principle assault, moved out the Cedar Creek Grade, across the ‘Cloverdale Farm,’ now the property of Dr. Robert S. Boyd, then across the Romney Road at the large stone house, which was then the home of Dr. J. S. Lupton. From this point the Division moved west of the ridge on which is located the ‘Stonewall Orchard’ to a position opposite the West Fort. Early had with him twenty guns, and the whole force had reached the point of attack without the knowledge of the Federals in Winchester or the forts. The West Fort was situated down the extension of Apple Pie Ridge south of Route 522. Early’s infantry, with the exception of the Louisiana Brigade, was lined up behind a stone fence at the top of te ridge with ten guns at each end. When everything was ready, the guns opened on the fort and, under their protection, the Louisiana Brigade moved into and deployed in a swale on the back of the Solenberger farm. When the Brigade advanced, the guns ceased firing, and the brigade climbed the hill and took the fort. [Paragraph] The loss of the West Fort made the Main or Flag Fort, now known as Milroy’s, untenable, and after midnight Milroy moved out, leaving his sick and wounded, his wagons and artillery and all his supplies. The force in Star Fort and other defenses were included. The retreat was by the Martinsburg Pike and was undisturbed until they reached the entrance to the Jordan Spring Road just south of Stephenson Depot. There they were met by Edward Johnson’s Divison, which Ewell had dispatched by a round about route to head them off. After quite a hard fight, most of Milroy’s men surrendered, but much to the disgust of the Confederates, Milroy escaped. [Paragraph] The third battle of Winchester took place September 19, 1864, just north of the Berryville Pike. The action began at daybreak and lasted all day. Sheridan, who had been sent by General Grant to devastate the Shenandoah Valey, commanded the Union forces, and General Jubal A Early, the Confederate army. It was a bitterly fought battle. The Union forces number about forty thousand men; the Confederates, about eleven thousand. While the Confederates fought hard and inflicted severe loss on their opponents, the day for the Southerners was irretrievably lost. The Federals loss was about five thousand, and the Confederates numbered about four thousand. [Paragraph] Many of the earthworks that were thrown up during the War between the states are still standing. One mile north of Winchester, on the Gainsboro Road, are the defensive breastworks of Star Fort. Fort Milroy is close by. Fort Collier is located on the Martinsburg Pike about one mile from Winchester.” –shb 18 May 2002
1853–EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION ISSUED; BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG
1863–THE FIFTY COUNTIES THAT BROKE OFF FROM VIRGINIA ADMITTED TO THE UNION ON JUNE 19, AS WEST VIRGINIA.
1864–LINCOLN REELECTED.
1864–GENERAL SHERIDAN LEAVES MARK: Pamphlet sent by Jane Hall to shb, May 2002, “Historic Winchester and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia” (Winchester, Virginia: Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, 1981), no pagination, in a section titled “Middletown”: “Here on October 19, 1864 General Sheridan checked the routed Union army General Early had surprised and sent flying at Cedar Creek. Mounted on his black charger Rienzi, Sheridan, who had left Winchester at break of day, encountered the disorganized troops along the Valley Turnpike and called upon them to turn back and follow him. ‘We’re going back to retake the Camp,’ he shouted. His words had a magical effect upon the men, and amid wild enthusiasm they faced about and swept onward to Cedar Creek like an avalanche and recaptured the camp they had been forced to give up. So complete was the rout and overthrow that the Confederates were unable to do anything more in the Shenandoah Valley during the war.” (While in the area, Sheridan’s troops inhabited the Rion-Hall estate built on land once owned by our ancestor William Hall I, leaving their sword marks on the fireplace mantel, as shown us by Ora Cooper, present owner there, while we visited there, in company with my sister Virginia (Hall) and her husband, Barry D. Wood, in I think 1991.) –shb 18 May 2002
1865–LEE SURRENDERS AT APPOMATTOX, VIRGINIA; LINCOLN ASSASSINATED; ANDREW JOHNSON SUCEEDS HIM AS PRESIDENT.
1870–VIRGINIA READMITTED TO THE UNION.
1880–LAST COUNTY (DICKINSON) CREATED IN VIRGINIA.
1896, DECEMBER–LAW REQUIRING REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES LAPSED.
1898–SPANISH AMERICAN WAR.
1902–ESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT CITIES.
1912, 14 JUNE–VIRGINIA RESUMES REGISTRATION OF VITAL RECORDS.
# # #
William Hall and Hannah Richardson, Virginia Pioneers 
April 14, 2007 at 1:12 pm |
Would like to contact Sherlene Hall Batholomew. There are a total of four Halls with a high resolution match at Family Tree DNA. None of the four knew each other before independently getting their y-DNA tested. Statistical averages suggest a common ancestor of all 4 Halls about 300 years ago.
A preponderance of evidence suggests that all 4 are descendants of William Hall and Hannah Richardson. My dad’s cousin has a clean paper trail going back to William J. Hall, who married Elmina Easton in 1825 in Jefferson Co., WV. They were in the right place. Other Halls were around, but so far paper proof of kinship hasn’t been found.
However, two of the other Hall matches have paper trails that go back to the Abbeville District of South Carolina. Deed records in South Carolina prove that this Hall family descends from William & Hannah Hall of what is now Jefferson Co., WV.
Another Hall match descends from a family that was in Texas as early as the 1830s, with a likely origin in the Carolinas.
We would like for one of the Hall men with a clean paper trail to William & Hannah to get tested with Family Tree DNA. This would, for once and for all, prove whether the four above mentioned are an extension of this family, and , since the Hall haplotype of the four is unusual, would provide a clean benchmark for determining if a Hall is or isn’t descended from William Hall & Hannah Richardson.
Timothy Peterman
Kansas City, MO
July 22, 2017 at 4:36 pm |
Hello Tim…
I am currently searching my family tree and have taken/submitted my DNA to Ancestry. I think William Hall is my 6x GG. How can I share my DNA results with this line of Halls?
Thank you for your help,
Judy (Hall) Sanvitis
Holly Ridge, NC
June 7, 2007 at 6:56 pm |
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September 9, 2009 at 3:07 pm |
Sherlene, I have just read this entire blog and I wanted to thank you for posting it and sharing it with others. You have so many other items, notes etc. noted that I would like to read those items also. I’m a a direct descendant of Abner Powell and Sally (Sarah Hall) and have been researching for over twenty years. Is your PAF file available for download, gedcom or other format?
Thanks Bill Rushin
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March 20, 2012 at 4:08 am |
Dear Sherlene,
I am looking for information about my great great grandfather John (Jack) Allen Hall who was born in Roanoke County, Virginia in 1826. He died in 1908 and is buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Rose Bud, Arkansas with his wife Julia Ann (Terrill) Hall. How do I find out the names of John’s parents so I can continue my search?
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April 2, 2012 at 10:29 pm |
Hello, thanks so much for your research and thorough family relationships to all esp. the org. author but also to all those you left comments and information. I am the gr. grandaughter of Sparrel Tazwell Hall and CAtherine “Kitty” Greer, grandaughter of Blanch Martha Hall and Peter J. Stankawich/Stonecash. I have my Hall family information from family, internet relatives, dna. etc and still have so many questions?:) It is my understanding that Gr. Grandpa Sparrel Hall was the son of James Hall, grandson of James Hall, greatgrand son of James Hall, and so that would make him the gr. gr. grandson of William Hall and Hannah Richardson in our family at least. My problem is that our family had written down that Thomas Hall married Sarah Braveb orn 1674(descendant of Pocahontas) in 1694. Would someone please help me get the correct sources to get the correct names, dates, places for our Hall family. I appreciate all of the work you done but I am still confused as to the relationship between William and Thomas Hall and my gr. grandparents and Sarah Brave and thomas Hall and Pocahontas. Also my grandma Blanch said that were white and other and that we were Cherokee mixed with Catawaba, Choctaw, Chickasaw. Within the body of the above report and research it states that the Halls would have had to have been Shawnese to live in Hallstown, Jefferson, W V. thanks looking forward to hearing from all of you that can help me get my family genealogy correct.
Annmarie
April 9, 2012 at 4:25 pm |
I’m just beginning. I have Philip Thompson married to Lucretia Hall. Lucretia’s line goes to Thomas Hall and Sarah Brave. You mentioned Sarah Brave as descending from Pocahantas. My daughter married Alfred Robert Akemon, direct descendant of Pocahantas. Did you get anymore info on Sarah Brave?
April 9, 2012 at 6:39 pm
hello Debbie, thanks so much for your response I am still searching for Sarah Brave’s ancestry and descendants, thanks. annamarie
February 10, 2014 at 11:41 pm |
To put the Pocahontas matter to rest you can have your DNA tested to see if you have any Native American heritage. I can trace my line back to Thomas Hall and Sarah Brave too. I had my DNA tested. Not one ounce of Native American.
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April 9, 2012 at 4:28 pm |
I descend from Thomas Hall married to Sarah Brave down to Nathaniel Noble married to Martha Thompson
April 9, 2012 at 7:54 pm |
Hello Debbie, how does the descendants from thomas hall to sarah brave down to Nathaniel Nobe married to Martha Thompson, which brother or sister of Thomas Hall or Sarah Brave do you descend from, thanks, let me know:) annamarie
April 10, 2012 at 1:08 am |
Thomas Hall – William-Anthony-William-Lucretia-Martha Thompson-Martha McDaniel-Eliza Ellen Noble-Ethel Van Buskirk-Clyde Darst- then me.
April 10, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Hi, thanks, okay so its Thomas Hall, William Hall Anthony Hall, William Hall, Lucretia, Marth Thompson, Martha McDaniel, Eliza Ellen Noble, Ethel Van Buskirk-Clyde Darst and Debbie Darst:) okay, that’s great, Can I use this in my family tree:) thanks, annmarie
May 25, 2012 at 3:59 pm |
THANKS for the info! Interested in Robert Buckles b 1702. It seems Robert Buckles Sr. traveled from Bucks Co. PA down to Frederick Co. VA and then on to Berkeley Co. VA/WV. It appears a large group of folks did the same…at least from PA to Frederick and surrounding area. It seems as well that Buckles knew in some capacity the Janney’s and perhaps some Quakers as he married a Ann Brown at some point and as the story goes she was booted from the fold since Robt. was not a Quaker.
Would be VERY interested in any info on the folks who traveled from PA to VA. and perhaps any more info you have on Robert Buckles.
Thanks and Take Care! Aaron
June 14, 2012 at 3:19 am |
This is great reading. As my mother was a Hall. My 3 great grandfather was John R Hall. John’s first son was John Thompson Hall and the next son was William Franklin Hall.(my line). They moved from Va or the Carolinas to Walker County Georgia when the land opened for settlements. Can’t seem to find John R Halls parents. He was married to Mary Ann (I think Aaughtry).The children were Elizabeth J., John Thompson,, William Franklin,James Phillip, Mary Ann,Susan octabia, Francis Isabelle,George Marshall, Joseph Washington. Albert Lee Hall. If any of these names fit into any Hall genealogy, please contact me at mynana38@gmail.com
Thanks marjorie
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February 10, 2014 at 11:53 pm |
To Sherlene,
Thanks so much for all your research. Fascinating and very helpful. When the Halls moved on to Monroe County, Ohio my great grandfather, Calvin Hall, was born. He served with an Ohio volunteer infantry in the Civil War. Was captured in July 1864 by the Confederate forces in the second battle of Kernstown (outside Winchester, VA) . Family lore has it that he was imprisoned first at Libbey prison in Richmond and then later at Andersonville. He survived, reportedly weighing about 85 lbs when he was released. I have checked the Andersonville records and can’t find his name. I would appreciate hearing from others who may know more.
Calvin Hall had three other brothers who volunteered for Ohio or West Virginia Union forces. One (Jacob, I believe) died at the Bloody Lane in the Battle of Antietam. Another died of infection in Tennessee. And the third died reportedly died either in Andersonville or more likely Salisbury prison in North Carolina.
Interested in learning more about our William Hall of Halltown, Thomas Hall, Sarah Brave, and their/our ancestors. Has anyone been able to trace the Hall ancestral line back to England??
Salutations!
Bill Hall
Portland, Oregon
March 3, 2014 at 9:05 pm |
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are currently
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March 6, 2014 at 4:54 am |
At this time it looks like Movable Type is the top blogging
platform available right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you are using on your blog?
December 22, 2015 at 12:50 pm |
It’s very effortless to find out any topic on web as compared to textbooks, as I found this paragraph at this web page.
August 23, 2016 at 8:59 pm |
Am connected to William Hall and Elizabeth Lucas. Their daughter Catherine ‘Caty’ married Nimrod Snyder. I am a descendant of the Snyder (Snider)/Matthew lines who removed to Preston county, VA/WV. Happy to share more if interested.
January 30, 2017 at 1:12 am |
profits Online
William Hall I, “The Old Pioneer” (1708-1764), s/o Thomas Hall and Sarah Brave?, m. Hannah Richardson 1731, in PA, of Halltown, Frederick, Virginia | William Hall and Hannah Richardson, Virginia Pioneers
August 17, 2017 at 8:34 pm |
I’m a direct descendent of Sarah Brave and Thomas Hall of Concord/Bethel, Pennsylvania.
March 9, 2018 at 6:19 pm |
My wife and I are looking into buying our first home. The one we have seen which we like the most, both neighbors backyards had pools of water in them, however the house we saw was very damp but no pools. There is however a willow in the backyard, I’m guessing this is helping. I’m concerned about the dampness as there are other trees blocking the sun in spots, there is a grat deck and pool, and i would hate for the large yard to be ruined with a damp and mosquito filled environment . Any suggestionsThank you!
October 17, 2018 at 10:22 pm |
Thank you for all of the information on the Hall family. William Hall I was my 4th great grandfather. I’m still working on finding the parents of his wife Hannah. I thought it was Thomas Richardson and Abigail Ruggles but have concluded that’s not right. Have there been any more leads on her parents?
July 15, 2019 at 2:53 am |
Thank you for your efforts and time putting this together, while my I can’t quite wrap my brain around ALL of the information, I have found many of the same books you mention. Thomas Hall and Rebecca Story are my 7x Great Grandparents. I am the only person in my entire family that is working on our history and this is just one piece of the puzzle. I wish I had more to offer, but thank you for all your HARD HARD work!!!
Your Cousin Heather Hendrickson-Jackson from Spokane, Washington
March 14, 2021 at 2:26 am |
Hello Sherlene
I just found this blog and just started reading….when I came upon the following:
“3) 1741/42–AN AUGUSTA COUNTY WILLIAM HALL PURCHASED BORDEN LAND; HAD WIFE JEAN IN 1758: See MRIN 8681–in 1758 a William Hall and wife Jean convey land purchased “in 1741 or 1742” from Borden (353 acres in 92,100) to Andrew, oldest son and heir. Since Hannah Richardson, wife of our ancestor William Hall, did not die until after 1765, we might know that this Borden land was being purchased by a different William Hall. I am therefore conveying information formerly stored here concerning the William who bought Borden Land on the North Branch of the James River and married Jean to the notes of RIN 21019. [Note: I have since learned that this William Hall, RIN 10870, married Jean Mitchell. He helped settle Catawba Valley, was b. abt 1706, and d. abt 1773 in Botetourt County, Virginia. Children I have for them were named Andrew, Isabell, William, Nathaniel, James, Agnes, and John–shb.] For sorting purposes I have compiled the following names associated with this William and Jean (Mitchell) Hall: Allison, Berry, Buchanan, Baxter, Campbell, Evans, Fearnley, Galloway, Gold, Hamilton, Hill, Hunter, Kirpatrick, Lyle, MacKinley, McClure, McNabb, Mills, Ramsey, Robinson, Stevensen, Story, Thompson, Walker, Wallace, and Young. –shb 20 Feb 2002”
I have extensively researched this specific Hall family and I can more than assure you that William Hall, nor any of his family members, ever settled or lived in the Catawba Valley. William Hall lived his entire life on Whistle Creek – land originally purchased from Benjamin Borden in Orange Co., VA. Through several boundary changes – Orange Co>Augusta Co>Botetourt Co>Rockbridge Co.
You can thank George von Kromer and his bogus research for the belief of this William being in Catawba. I can prove with court documentation, as well as DNA that the Hall’s of Catawba and William Hall (of present day Rockbridge) are 2 entirely different haplogroups.
As I said above Wm Hall resided his entire life on Whistle Creek and all of his sons also lived and died within that area. Not one of their family members ever resided on Catawba Creek (now in present day Roanoke Co.)
This William Hall of Whistle Creek – his wife is named Jeane/Jean in several documents. Nothing I have ever found has definitively proven that her maiden name was Mitchell. There are some researchers who believe her name might have been Collier or Collyer – that being unproven as well.
I will be happy to provide further details if you’d like.
March 15, 2021 at 7:46 pm |
William and Hannah (Richardson) Hall were my 4th great grandparents. According to your research and that of Sherlene, they either lived near Catawba or Whistle Creek. I have William being born in Chester, Pennsylvania, having a land contract in Frederick County, VA, and living and dying in Halltown VA. There was a civil court case in 1765 naming Hanna as right of dower.
Is any of this consistent with your research? I’ve used several books and other sources to follow up on the research of Jesse Hall (I believe he died some time ago).
I would love to hear from you via email so that we can exchange notes. eastave90@gmail.com