Legends of the Skyline Drive and the Great Valley of Virginia. Etta Belle Walker

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ for their lands, and records show that many of the Germans, especially the Quakers, who settled on Apple Pie Ridge also bought lands from the Indians. These settlers were never disturbed by the Indians. However, when it came to the lands which we now call the Great Valley of Virginia, the Indians were agreed among themselves that no one tribe was to possess any of it. The lands were so fertile and so much game feasted there, that all should be at peace when in the Valley.

      So when the first Quakers came we find these names recorded: the Neills, Walkers, Bransons, McKays, Hackneys, Beesoms, Luptons, Barretts, Dillons and Fawcetts.

      Another Quaker, Ross, obtained a warrant for surveying lands and his lines were run along the Opequon, north of Winchester, and up to Apple Pie Ridge. Soon many other Quakers from Pennsylvania were moving into the Valley to settle on Ross's surveys. By 1738 these deeply religious people had built homes and were holding monthly meetings to worship God. They had tiny settlements up and down the Valley. They cultivated their farms, took little interest in politics, cared very little for worldly intercourse and made excellent neighbors. Their manners and dress were plain, their furniture only what was necessary, their homes were crude, but their barns were large and their cattle were well protected.

      They refused to pay taxes during the Revolutionary War or to bear arms. Then their neighbors began to ridicule them, calling them cowards, and were no longer friendly. Officers came and seized their crops or property and sold them to raise funds with which to carry on the War against England. The Legislature enacted a law whereby a Quaker either had to fight or pay a substitute to fight for him. Their personal property was put under the hammer and soon they were reduced to poverty. One incident will give us a picture of those far-off days. James Gotharp lived with his neighbors on Apple Pie Ridge. One day during the Revolutionary War officers came, demanding that he should march away with them to join the militia; he refused. The men forced him to come along and later he was made a guard. He was placed beside a baggage wagon and told to let no man go into the wagon who did not have a written order from the commanding officer. Along came an officer who started to climb into the vehicle. James called to him and demanded to see his order of authority. The officer cursed him and stepped up to climb in. James caught him by his legs and pulled his feet off the step. This caused the officer to fall, striking his face against the wagon, bruising his nose and mouth severely.

      The dress of the Quakers is still picturesque and many are to be seen in certain sections of the Valley. They wear a broad brimmed hat, a long frock coat, generally black. The women wear full skirts, down to their ankles, black hose, plain black shoes, with round toes. Their bodices, usually black or gray in color, are severely cut, with long plain sleeves, with a high neck, relieved by a white collar. They usually wear a small cap, made of the same material as their dress.

Dunkards

      Lending an air of uniqueness yet to the Valley towns is that religious sect called Dunkards. One sees the women of that denomination, with their little black bonnets, on almost any street in any town along the Lee Highway.

      At one time the sect was called Tunkers. They are an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Baptists and had their beginnings in the Valley a little after 1732.

      When Dr. Thomas Walker passed through the section on his way westward he noted in his journal on March 17th, 1750, "The Dunkards are an odd set of people, who make it a matter of religion not to Shave their Beards, ly on Beds, or eat Flesh though at present, in the last, they transgress, being constrained to it, as they say, by the want of a sufficiency of Grain and Roots, they having not long been seated here. I doubt the plenty and deliciousness of the Venison and Turkeys has contributed not a little to this. The unmarried have no private Property, but live on a common Stock. They don't baptize either Young or Old, they keep their Sabbath on Saturday, and hold that all men shall be happy hereafter, but first must pass through punishment according to their Sins. They are very hospitable."

      The Dunkards built a part of their faith around their disapproval of violence, even for self-defense, and their submission to fraud or wrongdoing rather than resorting to court trials.

      The Scotch-Irish in the Valley

      Many reasons caused the people of Europe to emigrate during the eighteenth century. In Ireland and Scotland an unrest was spreading as seen in the story of John Lewis.

      He was born in Ireland and was a thrifty gentleman. He fell in love with and married Margaret Lynn, daughter of the laird of Loch Lynn, a descendant of a powerful Scotch clan. They were very happy with their three little sons and soon John Lewis rented more lands from a landlord. These lands brought him more and more wealth and the landlord grew jealous. He told Lewis that he would not let him continue to cultivate them, although the lease was not expired.

      One day the landlord came to the Lewis home. He brought many of his hirelings and demanded that Lewis vacate the house at once. At the time, Lewis' brother was ill and could not help him defend his home. Margaret, his wife, and a few servants quickly barred the doors and windows and defied the landlord to enter.

      The infuriated man began to fire into the house and one shot killed John Lewis' brother and one wounded Margaret. John could not stand such an outrage any longer, so he rushed out and in the fight which followed, he killed the landlord.

      His family and neighbors, knowing the influential Irish would not give him a fair trial, urged him to flee the country. At last he consented to go, but before he did, he carefully wrote down all the details of the trouble and sent it to the proper authorities. Then he hastily left the country and soon was on his way to Virginia. Lewis went to Williamsburg after landing in Virginia. There he met a weaver, Salling, who told him some of the wildest stories he had ever heard.

      The weaver had known a peddler, named Marlin, who took his pack far into the land beyond the mountains and traded his pewter ware, beads, compasses and other small articles to the Indians for furs. He told Salling such marvelous stories of the Indians and country that the weaver asked to let him go on one of his trips with him. This he did, and the weaver had plenty of adventures before he finally got back to Williamsburg.

      The two men reached the Valley and were far beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains when the Cherokee Indians, thinking they were spies, took them prisoners. Marlin had the good fortune to get away, but Salling was carried farther across another mountain range into what is now Kentucky, where the Indians went to hunt buffalo. Here the Cherokees were attacked by their enemies from Illinois. Salling was again captured and carried off to the southwest. He was adopted by an old Indian squaw as her son and for some time he lived with her. At last a Spaniard bought him and took him as an interpreter to Canada. There he met the French Governor who sent him to New York and after six years, he at last reached Williamsburg.

      You would think Salling after this would have settled down and become a weaver again. But life was too tame. When Lewis asked him about the lands in the Valley, Salling decided to take him and the Englishman, John Mackay, who also wanted to go. Lewis found the country all that Salling had promised him and he decided to settle on a creek which bears his name today.

      He obtained authority to 100,000 acres of land in and near the ground on which he built his fort-like house. Before very long, many of his friends and neighbors from Ireland were on their way to Virginia to join him. Many of them settled in Western Augusta near Fort Lewis. One can imagine how happy it made John Lewis to be told that the authorities, upon investigation, had granted him a pardon and absolved him from all blame in the killing of his landlord before he left Ireland. These Scotch-Irish, like their German neighbors, did not have very much trouble from the Indians for several years.

      Thomas, a son of John Lewis, studied and went to represent his county in the House of Burgesses. He was a man of sound judgment and voted for Patrick Henry's celebrated resolutions.

      Andrew, another son, was a soldier, and made his home in Botetourt County. During the Indian Wars, he was made a General but not until he had proved his СКАЧАТЬ