Excerpts from
PIONEERS OF
OLD FREDERICK COUNTY, VIRGINIA
By Cecil O’Dell
Marceline, Missouri
Walsworth Publishing
Company, 1995
Submitted by Kathy
Busby
October 20, 2003
Researched at L. D. S.
Library, Salt Lake City, Utah
Page 79
LINVELL
WILLIAM LINVELL (son-in-law of Morgan
Bryan) was in Orange County
before 18 November 1735
when he received 140 pounds of tobacco from the Court for one old wolfshead, certified by the Jost
Hite. 181
An Action of Debt was filed against him on 25 March 1742 by Nathaniel Chapman,
Administrator of the Estate of Peter Falkner. 182
Falkner,
merchant, was deceased by 1739 and had resided on land located about three
miles north of present-day Winchester, Virginia on U. S. Highway 11. The Action of Debt was settled by Jury Trial
on 24 September 1742 when
the Jury ordered LINVELL to pay
Chapman the sum of 6 pounds, 5 shillings and 11 pounds for debt with 1 penny
for damages and also costs of the plaintiff.
At the same Court, it was ordered that Lewis Stephens, James Bond, John
Sheldon, Daniel Harrison, Abraham Hollingsworth and Elizabeth Cantrell be fined
350 pounds of tobacco each for failing to appear and give evidence on behalf of
WILLIAM LINVELL. 183
The
Orange Court paid JOHN LINVELL for a wolf’s head
certified by Jost Hite on 27 October 1737 and awarded 870 pounds of
tobacco to THOMAS LINVELL on 26 October 1738 for six wolf heads
certified by Morgan Morgan and Benjamin Borden. 184
A
JOHN LINVELLE was taxed in Chester
Township, Chester
County, Pennsylvania in 1715
and THOMAS LINVELLE was taxed in Upper
Chichester Township
from 1715 through 1732. 185 THOMAS LINVILL, husbandman, and his wife
Dinah of Chichester Township, Chester
(Delaware) County, Pennsylvania
sold 86 acres to John Worrall on 23
February 1733/34. 186 The 86 acres was located on Marcus
(Hook) Creek adjacent Grubb’s land which was part of two tracts of land
aggregating 190 acres; this would be about 10 miles southeast of Morgan
Bryan’s area.
181
Orange
County, Virginia Court Book 1, p. 40
182
Ibid., Book 3,
p. 117
183
Ibid., p. 251
184
Ibid., pp 230. 398
185
Chester
County, Pennsylvania Tax List
186
Chester
County, Pennsylvania Deed Book #, Vol. 5, p. 253
Page 316
CHRISSMAN
Jacob
Chrissmann (b. 1705 c.) married Magdalena Hite
(baptized 13 September 1713,
daughter of Jost Hite) and in March 1737, they were
living on the tract which they later bought from her father for seven pounds,
10 shillings, on 14 May 1746.
328 Sheep
Run is the north property line and West Run is the south line; both runs are
branches of Crooked Run. Both U. S. Highway 11 and Frederick County Highway 735 transverse the tract. Chrissman Spring is
located at the southwest corner. (Tract
133D, Map 8) The 750 acre tract, if
bought at the prevailing price of three pounds per 100 acres, would have cost
22 pounds, 10 shillings.
Jacob
purchased 500 acres on LINVILLE CREEK
in present-day Rockingham County, Virginia
from THOMAS LINVELL and his wife
Hannah for 100 pounds on 14 November
1746. He purchased an
additional 500 aces on LINVILLE CREEK
from Joseph Bryan and his wife Alice for 150 pounds on 3 June 1755.
Both tracts were part of the 1,500-acre tract which WILLIAM LINVELL had purchased from Jost
Hite. Jacob and his wife, Magdalena, sold 300 acres of
this land to Francis McBride for 150 pounds on 5 April 1761. On 5 May 1761, they sold 376 acres to
their son George Chrissman for 100 pounds and 300
acres to their son John Chrissman for 100 pounds. 329
328.
Orange
County, Virginia Deed Book 1, p. 436, Book 4, p. 1
329.
Augusta County, Virginia Deed Book 1, p. 165; Book 7, p. 219;
Book 9, pp. 369, 373, 376.
Pages 74-77
BRYAN
On
24 December 1734, Robert Brooke
surveyed a tract of land containing 450 acres for Bryan;
the tract was located on the west side of Opequon
Creek at the mouth of Tuscarora Creek on the south,
to Julep Bend on the north. 140
(Tract 46, Map 2) He received a patent from the Colony for this tract on
12 November 1735 141 He then
sold 250 acres (Tract 46A) to his son Samuel Bryan on 11 November 1747 for 100
pounds; John Ellis, Evan Ellis and
Samuel Strode served as witnesses. 142 Samuel
Bryan of August County
sold the 250 acres to Henry and Abraham Vanmeter for
120 pounds 29 March 1753. 143 On 6 September 1748, Morgan sold 100
acres to Samuel Strode for 20 pounds. 144 (Tract
46B) He then sold the remaining 100
acres to Simon Linder for 28 pounds on February 1749/50. 145
Morgan
Bryan was taxed in Birmingham Township
in 1719 and in Marlborough Township
from 1720 to 1726 146 on the drains of Brandywine Creek, south of
present-day Chester, Chester
County, Pennsylvania. He probably moved to the Potomac River area
of the Blue Ridge in 1726 or 1727 where he assigned (sold) 1,303 acres to John
Mills by 5 March 1729/30 when Mills had a “Warrant” issued for the
1,303 acres by the “Proprietor’s Office.” This tract of land is located in present-day
Milltown Creek; a branch of Catoctin Creek and the
Mountains on Milltown Creek; a branch of Catoctin
Creek and the head of Dutchman’s Creek at the Short Hills, half-way from
the Potomac River and Virginia Highway 9 and west of
Virginia Highway 287. John Mills
assigned (sold) the tract to Catesby Cocke after it was surveyed on 19 November 1730. Mills and Bryan were both listed as
being of Prince George County, Maryland. Morgan also had 1,015 acres on the Blue
Ridge surveyed on 30
March 1732; 147 this tract on North Catoctin
Creek was located near present-day Virginia
Highway 9 and Vestal’s Gap. (Grant, if issued, not recorded) Morgan, his wife Martha and his daughter
“Elinor” Bryan attended the marriage of
Thomas Mills and Elizabeth Harrold at Josiah
Ballenger’s at “Manaquicy” in
present-day Frederick County, Maryland on 18 June 1730. 148
Morgan
probably was living on his 1,250-acre patent on the Opequon
Creek by or before 1730, based on the fact that he had a mill in operation in
1734. Since a mill would require a
millwright to build the facility, grinding stones, gears, a dam across the
stream and mill races with labor-intensive manual labor, it is a safe
assumption that Morgan would have started construction on the mill at least two
years before and after he settled in with house and crops. Moreover, there had to be many other farmers
in the area by that time in order to make the venture a good investment; before he even started construction, since
establishing a mill required a sizable monetary investment and many customers
within a three-mile radius. And since
there was also a mill at Josiah Jones on Rockymarsh
Run about six miles east and Thomas Anderson’s mill about four miles
southwest, it is likely that there were sufficient farmers in the vicinity for
Morgan to anticipate a profit on his enterprise.
Morgan
was in Orange (Augusta) County after 9 March 1744 and before 16 August 1744 149
where he received a Virginia Land Patent for 400 acres on LINWELL’S (LINVILLE) CREEK on 20 September 1745. 150 This
land is located south of Broadway, Virginia in Rockingham
County. Son-in-law WILLIAM LINWELL (LINVELL)
and wife Elenor (daughter of Morgan and Martha) sold
to “George Bowman 500 acres on LINWELL’S
CREEK in the line of Joseph Bryan (in his possession)” on 15 August 1746. 151 Joseph was still living in Frederick
County. The LINVELLS
were on LINVELLE CREEK before 25 December 1739 when James Wood made
a survey for William Spillaim. 152 On 3 June 1755, Joseph Bryan and Alice sold 500 acres to
Jacob Chrissman and adjacent to the above tract which
he had purchased from his brother-in-law WILLIAM
LINVELL on LINVILLE CREEK. THOMAS
LINVELL, brother of WILLIAM, was
an adjacent landowner. 153 Samuel
Bryan, Morgan Bryan Jr. and John Ellis (a neighbor in Frederick
County) were witnesses to a land
sale “on a branch of North River of Shanando
called Wallings Creek” on 11 December 1746. 154 On 26 February 1746/47, Morgan Sr. purchased three cows and
a set of smith tools from THOMAS LINVILL.
155
Morgan
and his wife Martha were in Anson (Rowan) County, North
Carolina after 29 November 1749 and by 13 February 1749/50. 156 On 7 March 1749/50, he gave power of attorney to John
Madison to collect debts in Augusta and Frederick counties, Virginia. 157 The August
County Court issued a “Commission 27
September 1753 to Edward Hughes, Squire Boone and James Carter of Roan (Rowan)
County, North Carolina to take
acknowledgement” of Martha Bryan as to the deed of land sale to David
Johnston, dated 29 November 1749. This action was executed and returned to the
Augusta County Court on 20 May 1754.
158
Samuel
Bryant (Bryan), John McDowell, Morgan Bryan, William Sherrill and WILLIAM LINVIL were among the Grand and
Petit Juries of the first Court of Rowan County, North Carolina. 159 John Ellis,
the neighbor in Frederick and Augusta
Counties, also moved to Rowan
County with them, 160 as
did Morgan and Martha Bryan’s granddaughter Mary Curtis Forbes (wife of
Robert Forbes and daughter of Mary and Thomas Curtis). 161 Morgan’s son William Bryan was
still in Augusta County,
Virginia on 11 October 1765 when he sold “133 acres
on Roanoke River to William Bryan, Jr., the son of
William Sr. 162
Hopewell
Friends History states that Morgan’s “granddaughter Rebecca,
daughter of son Joseph, married Daniel Boone.
Squire Boone and Sarah Morgan, father and mother of Daniel Boone, were
married at Gwynedd Monthly Meeting (of Quakers) in
1725.”(Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania) Morgan was possibly a former Quaker of Scotch
ancestry, as many were who left the Society and later reverted to their
original religion. He was probably
attending Presbyterian meetings in 1737 when he signed a petition to the Orange
Court along with 29 others that “meeting
places might be erected, and recorded in your Court, one at the land
of Reverend Mr. William Williams (a
Presbyterian minister) and another at Mr. Morgan Bryan near his house.” 163
Morgan
Bryan’s will was written 28
March 1763 in Rowan County, North
Carolina listing his daughter “ELINOR LINVILE, granddaughter Mary
(Curtis) Forbes, sons Joseph, Samuel, Morgan, John, William, James and
Thomas. Sons John Bryan and William
Bryan are named as executors with Morgan Bryan listed as witness. 164
William
Bryan’s (of the County of Kentucky) will was written on 23 May 1780 and
entered in Rowan County, North Carolina leaving his wife Mary 1,000 acres
purchased of Sarah Bryan lying between Cain Run and the north fork of Elkhorn
Creek in “Caintuky County due unto the said
Sarah for rasing a crop of corn in the year
1776.” (Located near Georgetown,
Scott County, Kentucky) His children listed in the will were sons; Daniel,
Samuel and daughters; Phebe, Hannah, Sarah,
Elizabeth, Mary. Sons Samuel and Daniel
were appointed executors and Joseph Bryan, William Grant, and Samuel Boone were
witnesses. 165
140
Brooke, Robert,
Book of Surveys, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond,
Virginia
141
Virginia Land
Patent Book 16, p. 156
142
Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book 1, p. 339
143
Ibid., Book 3,
p. 34
144
Ibid., Book 1,
p. 423
145
Ibid., Book 2,
p. 82
146
“Hopewell Friends History,” pp. 16-18
147
Joyner, North Neck
Warrants and Surveys, Vol. III, pp. 95, 99 (Prince William
County)
148
New Garden Monthly
Meeting, Chester
County, Pennsylvania, p. 73 ½
149
Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book 1, pp. 37, 124
150
Virginia Land Patent
Book 24, p. 8
151
Augusta County, Virginia Deed Book 1, p. 143
152
James Wood Survey
Book of Frederick County (located at Clerk’s Office,
Winchester, Virginia)
153
Augusta County, Virginia Deed Book 7, p. 219
154
Ibid., Book 1,
p. 193
155
Ibid., p. 188
156
Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book 2, p. 81
157
Augusta County, Virginia Deed Book 2, p. 731
158
Ibid., Book 7,
p. 267
159
Rumple, A History
of Rowan County, North
Carolina, p. 57
160
Joyner, Northern
Neck Warrants and Surveys, Vol. II, p. 159
161
Frederick County, Virginia Deed Book 7, p. 332
162
Augusta County, Virginia Deed Book 12, p. 313
163
Orange
County, Virginia Court Book 1, p. 213; Dorman, Orange County,
Virginia Deed Book 3 & 4, 1736 Judgments, p. 101
164
Rowan
County, North Carolina Will Book A, p. 13
165
Ibid., Book B,
p. 36
Page 349
BOWMAN
George
Bowman (b. 1705 c.) purchased 1,000 acres from Jost
Hite (part of the Vanmeter patent land) and received
a patent from the Colony of Virginia on 3
October 1734. 1
(Tract 138, Map 10) This tract is
located on Cedar Creek about ½ mile northeast of Strasburg, Virginia. Approximately 300 acres on the east side of
Cedar Creek are located in present-day Warren
County and roughly 700 acres are in
Shenandoah County. County Highway 611 and 635 cut across the
southeast section while U. S. Highway 11 and Interstate Highway 81 cross the
center section. George sold 280 acres of
the 1,000-acre tract to John Stickley for six pounds
on 25 November 1741. 2 (Tract
138A, Map 10)
George was deceased
by 2 March 1768 when his
will (dated 3 November 1764)
was proved in Frederick County Court. 3 He bequeathed one-third of the
moveable estate and negroes to his wife Mary.
He willed 100 pounds each to daughters Elizabeth Ruddle,
Sarah Wright, Regina Dyeller and Rebecca Bowman. He also willed 100 pounds to his daughter Mary
Stephens and in a codicil dated 28
August 1766, he instructed that Mary’s legacy was to be
divided among her children; 20 pounds each to William, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph and
Adam to be disbursed as each came of age (21).
To his son John
Bowman, he bequeathed 500 acres on Linville Creek in Augusta
County which George had purchased from
Jost Hite on 4
October 1749. John sold the tract (now 545 acres) to Abraham Miller
for 180 pounds on 1 July 1768.
To his eldest son
Jacob (b. 1735 c.) he willed 500 acres on Linville Creek which George had
purchased from William Linvell and his wife Elenor for 100 pounds on 15 August 1746. After moving to South
Carolina, Jacob sold the 500-acre tract to Josiah
Davidson for 180 pounds on 15
November 1768. 4
To his son George
Bowman Jr., he willed the upper (north) one-fourth section of the 720-acre
balance of the 1,000-acre patent land “where he lives” which included
the saw mill and grist mill. To his son
Isaac, he willed the adjacent south one-fourth section with the house. He bequeathed to his son Abraham the
one-fourth section south of Isaac’s place and to son Joseph the lower
(south) one-fourth section including the Big
Island in Cedar Creek.
George Sr. appointed
his sons Jacob and George Jr. and his son-in-law Isaac Ruddle
to serve as executors of his estate with instructions to sell his other land holdings.
1
Virginia Land
Patent Book 15, p. 338
2
Orange
County, Virginia Deed Book 6, p. 291
3
Frederick County, Virginia Will Book 3, p. 431
4
Augusta County, Virginia Deed Book 1, pp. 143, 369; Book 15, pp. 151,
161
Page 482
MOORE
Reiley Moore had settled in Orange
County, Virginia (Shenandoah
Valley) by 26 January
1735/36 when Morgan Morgan and Peter Woolf listed the settlements within the McKay, Hite, and
Duff and Green 1000,00-acre Colony of Virginia grant land. 144 Before
24 September 1742, he had
attended the Orange County Court for eight days, testifying for William Linvell against Nathaniel Chapman. 145
Stephen Ruddle
sold 175 acres on the west side of the North River Shenandoah to Reiley Moore for which Moore
received a Fairfax grant on 15 August 1749. 146 This tract was located between
Benjamin Allen’s 400-acre tract and William White’s 400-acre 29
June 1739 patent land. (between Tract 157 and Tract 158, Map 15) U. S. Highway 11
crosses the west section of the tract at South Jackson.
Reiley Moore
was deceased by 1 July 1760
when his will (dated 15 February 1760)
was proved in Frederick County Court. He
willed one-half of his plantation and the moveable estate to his wife
Sarah. After Sarah’s death, her
half of the 175 acres would devolve to their son James Moore. He bequeathed the other half of the 175 acres
to son Reuben Moore. He mentioned “other
children” but did not name them.
Witnesses to the will were Evan Jones,
Amos Lewis and Susan Lewis. 147
Reiley
Moore’s father was William Moore (b. 1676 c.), a carpenter by trade and a
member of the Established (Episcopal) Church.
He married about 1699 Rachel --, Prince George’s
County, Md. William and Rachel Moore had seven children: (1)
Ann Moore b. 12 July 1700;
(2) Riley Moore b. 8 February 1702,
and twin of (3) John Moore; (4) Samuel Moore b. 15 February 1704; (5) William Moore, Jr. b. 10 April 1707; (6) Rachel Moore b. 18 May 1710; and (7) George Moore b. 16 September 1712. These dates of birth are from St. Barnabas Church,
Queen Anne’s Parish, Prince George’s
Co, Md. 1689-1777, Births and
Christenings.
Riley Moore, the twin, b. 8 Feb. 1702, Prince
George’s Co., Md.
m. Sarah Holland 16 Aug. 1726 at St. Barnabas Church, Queen Anne’s Parish
(Marriage Records 1711-1711). Riley and
Sarah (Holland) Moore had seven
known children.
144
Hite/Fairfax
Lawsuit, British Copy, p. 262
145
Orange
County, Virginia Court Book 3, p. 240
146
Gray, Northern Neck
Grants, G-272
147
Frederick County, Virginia Will Book 2, p. 405
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