Carson in Florida

The Carson Family

From Washington County, Virginia
To Rockcastle County, Kentucky
To Jellico, Tennessee
To Davie, Broward County, Florida

James Holman (Holdman, Holeman)
Born: about 1814 in Madison County, Kentucky
Died: about 1886 in Crab Orchard, Lincoln County, Kentucky

James Holman (Holdman, Holeman) was born about 1814 in Madison County, Kentucky. He lived in the area of Brodhead and Crab Orchard, Kentucky, which are on the border of three Kentucky counties: Lincoln, Garrard, and Rockcastle.

On June 4, 1835 in Garrard County, Kentucky, James Holman was married to Martha Ramsey, the daughter of Alexander Ramsey, by Baptist minister Benjamin Polston.

***

The results of the DNA tests show that the descendant of James Holeman, b. 1814 is:

"very tightly related" to the descendant of the Daniel Holman who was born about 1787 in North Carolina, had children in Tennessee, and homesteaded in Douglas, Missouri;

"very tightly related" to the descendant of the Kenneth Holeman who died in 1871 in Upperfreehold, Monmouth Co., New Jersey who is thought to be a descendant of Robert Holeman, died 1709 in New Jersey;

"related" to a descendant of the Elias Holeman (1759 - 1827, Burlington County, New Jersey); and

"related" to the descendants of Thomas Holeman, born about 1723, who moved from the Shenandoah Valley to North Carolina in 1752.

***

For More Information on the history of the Shenandoah Valley see:

Shenandoah Valley Pioneers and their Descendants, A History of Frederick County, Virginia by T.K. Cartmell [Also, "TRACING THE HISTORY OF THE DESCENDANTS OF PAUL FROMAN Sr. AND ELIZABETH HITE" by Christopher L. Coleman.]

Settlers By The Long Grey Trail by J. Houston Harrison

John Walter Wayland
A History of Shenandoah County Virginia
A History of Rockingham County, Virginia
The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia

Annals of Augusta County, Virginia by Jos. A Waddell

Life Along Holman's Creek by J. Flood Wine, Stephens City, Virginia, 1985

English Duplicates of Lost Virginia Records compiled by Louis des Cognets, Jr.

A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F Morton

Other Sources:

Old Tenth Legion Marriages, Marriages in Rockingham County, Virginia from 1778-1816 taken from the marriage bonds, compiled by Harry M Strickler

"Records of Rev. John Casper Stoever Baptismal and Marriage 1730 - 1779" Harrisburg, PA

The ancestry of Grafton Johnson: with its four branches, the Johnson, the Holman, the Keen, the Morris by Damaris Knobe

History of the Lower Shenandoah Valley Counties of Frederick, Berkeley, Jefferson and Clarke: their early settlement and progress to the present time, geological features, a description of their historic and interesting localities, cities, towns and villages, portraits of some of the prominent men, and biographies of many of the representative citizens. By J.E Norris

The Friendly Virginians: America's First Quakers
by Jay Worrall, Jr., clerk of three Friends' Meetings in Virginia

Old Daniel Holman of Holman Creek in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

All Holman/Holeman/Holdman family researchers should be thankful that Holman Family Researcher, Georgia Kinney Bopp took the time, effort, and expense to secure the work of a professional genealogist.

Click here for information from Holman Family Researcher, Georgia Kinney Bopp (from the GKBopp Database on RootsWeb WorldConnect) regarding Shenandoah County, Virginia: Information from JOHN FREDERICK DORMAN, Genealogical Research, regarding HOLEMAN-HOLMAN-HOLDMAN in Shenandoah County, Virginia

Early Residents of Holman Creek (The Forest)

Other Holmans in the Shenandoah Valley

***

Prior to 1716, when Virginia Governor Spotswood lead a party through the Blue Ridge Mountains at Swift Run Gap, these mountains were treated as the western boundary of the Colony of Virginia.

The un-inhabited region west of the Blue Ridge mountains was first a part of the Virginia county of Spotsylvania, then Orange. In 1738, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act establishing the counties of Frederick (in the north end of the valley) and Augusta (in the south). The southern portion of Frederick county was taken in 1772 to form Dunmore County. It was originally named Dunmore County for Virginia Governor John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore. Dunmore was forced from office during the American Revolution. During the war, in 1778, rebels renamed the county as Shenandoah. The 1738 act provided that the two new counties should remain part of the county of Orange until there was "a sufficient number of inhabitants for appointing justices of the peace and other officers, and erecting courts therein."

Shenandoah County, Virginia
Bounded on northwest by Alleghenies and on southeast by Massanutten range
1720 to 1734 part of Spotsylvania County, Virginia
1734 to 1738 part of Orange County, Virginia
1738 part of Orange County west of Blue Ridge became Frederick and Augusta counties.
1738 to 1753 some of area that became Shenandoah County was part in Frederick and part in Augusta, then completely in Frederick when boundary moved.
1772 Dunmore county (later renamed Shenandoah) county created out of Frederick County.

***

The Potomac River is the dividing line between Virginia and Maryland. Settlers coming from the north into the Valley needed to cross it (Packhorse Ford in 1732 and Harper's Ferry in 1736).
The Shenandoah River empties into the Potomac River at present day Harpers Ferry.
Mecklenberg/Shepherdstown (old Packhorse Ford) is on the Potomac River north of Harper's Ferry.
The mouth of Opequon Creek is on Potomac River north of Mecklenberg/Shepherdstown and runs south down to present day Winchester.

Near present day Front Royal, the Shenandoah River divides into the north and south branches. (The south branch was also known as the "main" Shenandoah, and the north branch as the "little" Shenandoah.)

The south branch of the Shenandoah River goes south between the Massanutten and Blue Ridge mountains to present day Port Republic (Rockingham County). One of the principal tributaries to the south branch of the Shenandoah River is the Hawksbill Creek, flowing in from the Blue Ridge (eastern side), near present day Luray.
The south branch of the Shenandoah River (at present day Port Republic) divides into the North River and the South River. The Middle River empties into the North River, between the North River and the South River. (It was previously called Carthrae's River.) Christians Creek and Lewis' Creek empty into the Middle River.

There was also a "North River" and a "South River" associated with a branch of the James River. The James River starts in the Appalachian Mountains of western Virginia, from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson rivers, and flows through the Valley, by Richmond, into the Chesapeake Bay. In Rockbridge County, the Maury River (previously called North River) starts just below present day Goshen (in the mountains west of the Shenandoah Valley) and flows southward across the Valley until it joins the James River (near present day Glasgow). "Forks of the James" is the district between the Maury River and the James River. Buffalo Creek flows from the northwest into the Maury River. The Mary River flows south into the South River which then flows into the Maury River.

The north branch of the Shenandoah River, from present day Front Royal, continues west then turns south just east of present day Strasburg to follow the west side of the Massanutten Mountain through old Frederick County into old Augusta County.
Cedar Creek in old Frederick County empties into the north branch of the Shenandoah River just as it turns south.
Smith Creek joins the north branch of the Shenandoah River near Mt Jackson and runs south between the north branch of the Shenandoah River and the western slope of the Massanutten Mountain.
Linville Creek empties into the north branch of the Shenandoah River near Timberville (just south of the Fairfax line).

The Great Wagon Road began in Pennsylvania west of Philadelphia, passed through the Monocacy Valley in Maryland, crossed the Potomac River at Packhorse Ford, and ran south, along side the north branch of the Shenandoah River, through the Shenandoah Valley to Roanoke, Virginia. There, it branched south and east into the Carolinas and south and west into what is now Kentucky and East Tennessee. [Prior to Tennessee statehood in 1796, East Tennessee was part of North Carolina. It was not until the 1790’s that a wagon road connected Asheville, North Carolina to East Tennessee.]

Holman Creek is fifty miles south of Winchester.
Holman Creek is eighty-five mile south of Mecklenberg/Shepherstown.
Holman Creek is forty-five miles from Front Royal.

***

Early Settlement Areas

--

The Valley between the Massanutten and Blue Ridge mountains

Adam Miller, as a young man, came from Germany with his wife and an unmarried sister. They settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and then went down the Chesapeake Bay into Virginia. Near Williamsburg, Adam Miller learned from some of the members of "Spotswood's group" of the land west of the Blue Ridge. He went to the Valley, following Spotswood's route (Swift Run Gap), and then in 1726 or 1727 brought his family from Pennsylvania. He also induced some of his Pennsylvania friends and neighbors to settle near him on south branch of the Shenandoah River, near Massanutting. On June 17, 1730, Jacob Stover a native of Switzerland, obtained for himself and "divers Germans and Swiss Families, his Associates," from the Virginia Colonial Council a grant for 10,000 acres of land on the Shenandoah River, in such tracts as he should select, upon the condition that within two years he should settle upon it the required number of families. He succeeded, by methods fair or false, in getting this grant confirmed. Either shortly before or shortly after June 17, 1730, Miller and his friends bought a 5,000 acre tract (the Massanutting tract) from Stover for 400 pounds or more. William Beverley on May 5, 1732, was granted 15,000 acres on the northwest side of the river, "including a place called Massanutting Town, provided the same do not interfere with any of the Tracts already granted in that part of the Colony." Adam Miller and his group successfully argued that their land should be excluded from the Beverley grant.

From present day Front Royal, going south on the south branch of Shenandoah river were English, Scotch and Irish settlers (near present day Bentonville) until the Luray Valley (near present day Elkton) which was predominated by the Germans.

--

Along the Virginia side of the Potomac River

The area along the Virginia side of the Potomac River, west of the Blue Ridge, was the outer edge of Spotsylvania County. A group of Germans, crossed the Potomac River at Packhorse Ford and simply "squatted" on a tract at present day Shepherdstown. In 1726 or 1727, Morgan ap Morgan, a Welshman, moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia. When he, shortly after 1730, obtained his large grant from the colonial government, the "squatters" paid for their farms, or claims, and received titles from him. Thomas Shepherd then arrived, started purchasing land, and organizing a town. This settlement soon developed into a village known as New Mecklenburg; later, at the time of its legal establishment in 1762, called Mecklenburg; and, later still, called Shepherdstown after its founder. Shepherdstown appears to be the oldest town in the Valley. [From 1702 to 1727, between 40,000 and 50,000 Germans arrived at Philadelphia. (In just the year 1719 about 6,000 landed.) Because the land prices were much lower in the Shenandoah Valley than in Pennsylvania, many German immigrants moved south.]

Note: Thomas Shepherd (1705-1776) in 1733 married Elizabeth Van Meter (1715-1793), the daughter of John Van Meter and his second wife Margaret Mulinar. See Kentucky Surnames.

Note:
About 1734, Robert Stockton was one of the first settlers in then Mecklenburg, Berkeley County, Virginia (became Shepherd's Town, Virginia in 1798, Shepherd's Town, West Virginia in 1863, and now Shepherdstown, Jefferson County, West Virginia). Robert Stockton's son was Major George Stockton (1745-1818). Major George Stockton was one of the first settlers in what is now Fleming County, Kentucky (Stockton's Station was built in 1787 by Major George Stockton, who raised a crop there in 1786, while living at Strode's Station). In the Spring of 1787, George Stockton (and his wife Rachel Dorsey) along with the Barnes and Williams families traveled from southwest Pennsylvania down the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers to Fleming County, Kentucky. [Fleming County, Kentucky was formed in 1798 from a part of Mason County and entered as Kentucky's 26th County.] A Joshua Barnes, son (or grandson) of Robert Barnes and Lois Porter of Anna Arundel County, Maryland, was on the 1787 Bourbon County, Kentucky tax list (included Mason and Fleming Counties). A Lawrence Williams in his Revolutionary War pension application (1832) stated that he had been a resident of Fleming County, Kentucky since 1787. The Lawrence Williams (1758-1834) who married Mary "Polly" McGavic was the son of Basil Lee Williams (c1728-1799) and his wife, Phoebe Spiers. Basil Lee Williams (c1728-1799) also married Sarah Dorsey (1733-1804) and had a daughter, Delilah Williams (born 1768 in Washington County, Maryland) who married Joshua Barnes (c1853-1806).

--

The "Northern Neck"

When the Crown gave grants for the coastal area of the colony of Virginia they were for large geographic areas (Major Grants). King Charles II gave a grant to Lord Colepeper for the "Northern Neck" of Virginia, encompassing all the lands bounded by the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Thomas Fairfax, the father of Lord Fairfax, through marriage inherited this large tract with the rights to sell or lease land and to collect taxes. Lord Fairfax made his first trip to America in 1736, stayed three years (near Mount Vernon), then returned to England. He returned to America in 1748 and opened an office twelve miles southeast of present day Winchester. The western boundary for his grant was ill-defined. This created problems for the other land grantees, and for the Virginia Governor and Council who wanted to make additional grants in the Shenandoah Valley. There was confusion about the location the Fairfax Line. In 1738, the legislature clarified the location of the dividing line, but it was not actually surveyed until some time later. Residents and government officials were unsure of which county they were in - Frederick or Augusta. The exact location of the line was not determined until 1746. The surveyed straight line became the border between Shenandoah and Rockingham counties.

In 1729, Colonel Robert Carter ("King Carter") secured a grant of 50,000 acres of land, probably from the Proprietors of the Northern Neck, in the lower (northern) Valley, on the west bank of the Shenandoah River. [Robert Carter was a land agent for Lord Fairfax.] This tract, just southeast of Winchester, included part of the northeast end of present day Warren County and a considerable portion of present day Clarke County. There were no settlers on the tract; it was farmed by slaves and overseers of King Carter. [Lord Fairfax built a home here and his neighbors were eastern Virginia plantation owners.]

--

Along the Operkon River, from the Potomac River south to present day Winchester

Van Meter brothers: John and Isaac received "orders" from Council in June 17, 1730 and in May 1732, received "grants" to survey 40,000 acres on both sides of Shenandoah River.

Isaac Van Meter was living in Old Salem, New Jersey
Requested 10,000 acre grant west of Blue Ridge for him and other German families (total ten families) within two years. Said he (and brother) had viewed the land. Lying between the lands of Robert "King" Carter and the fork of the Shenandoah and the Operkon River. (The Shenandoah River forks into north and south branches near present day Fort Royal, Virginia)

John Van Meter was living on 200 acres granted by Lord Baltimore on Nov 3, 1726 (Monocacy Junction, near present day Frederick, Maryland) John born 1683 in New York, relocated to New Jersey, then to Maryland 1726, and then to the Valley in 1730, died 1745. Eleven children. Asked for grant of ten thousand acres within the fork of the Shenandoah. Condition, within two years, settle the Van Meter family plus twenty other families. John in 1727 was in Germania in old Spotsylvania County.

When Van Meters got their Virginia grant everyone assumed that the "Northern Neck" grant did not go west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lord Fairfax did not learn that his Northern Neck grant went beyond the Blue Ridge until 1736-1737. Because of his travels with the Indians into the valley (prior to 1725), the father of the Van Meter brothers may have known that the head waters of the Potomac River were located west of the Blue Ridge. The brothers may have avoided litigation with Lord Fairfax by assigning their "orders" to Joist Hite in order to have Hite sell them their properties. The Van Meters later moved west of the Valley to the south branch of the Potomac.

Joist Hite immigrated from Germany. His first wife was Ann Maria Mercklin, daughter of Abraham Mercklin.
In 1710 he was at Kingston, New York. Joist Hite relocated to New Jersey and was a fur trader. He knew the father of the Van Meter brothers (an Indian trader) in New Jersey. (Sara Elting, a niece of the Van Meter brothers married John Hite, son of Joist Hite.)
In 1717, Joist Hite settled near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Germantown). He was involved with land transactions (some with William Penn).
With support of Pennsylvania Governor Penn, he got a grant from Virginia Governor and Council in 1731 for 100,000 acres west of Blue Ridge on land not previously granted. In 1730, he organized a group in Philadelphia to travel to the Shenandoah Valley and resettle. Under his grant he needed forty families (late reduced to twenty, but he had only sixteen families).
They crossed Potomac River at old Packhorse Ford (near Shepherdstown). His group stayed near the Potomac River while they explored the Valley to pick tracts of land to claim. (The process was that Hite held the grant; specific tracts for each settler would be surveyed; then Hite would give each settler his certificate; then Council would ratify; and then settler would get deed.) The Hite group settled along the Operkon River, from the Potomac River south to present day Winchester. Joist Hite then proceeded to sell tracts of his grant and the Van Meter grants. In a few years Joist Hite and Lord Fairfax began their feud over property ownership.

Robert McCay was one of the original settlers in the Hite group (settled on Crooked Run, nine miles southeast of Stephensburg) and was a partner with Joist Hite in the land business. Robert Mackay, a Quaker, was born about 1680 and married first Anne Browne. The family moved from Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey to Cecil County, Maryland about 1723. They were in the vicinity of the East Nottingham Meeting near the Pennsylvania and Maryland border.

Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan, of Pennsylvania, on October 28, 1730 were granted 100,000 acres of un-granted or un-settled land (no conditions on minimums or time) in the vicinity of Winchester, between the Opequon Creek and the North Mountain (Allegheny), upon which they settled a colony of Friends (Quakers).

Notes from
MARYLAND QUAKER REC0RDS
Nottingham Monthly Meeting, Cecil County, Maryland
Alexander Ross, a Friend, migrated from Ireland, and settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Alexander & wife Katharine Chambers relocated to Nottingham and in 1730 became charter members of the of Nottingham Monthly Meeting. He was an active member of Nottingham MM
(Monthly Meeting), until 1732, when he made a public sale of his personal property to prepare for a move to Virginia. He and a number of Friends from Pennsylvania had procured from the Governor of Virginia a tract of 100,000 acres of land in the Shenandoah Valley, on which they were to establish some 70 Quaker families. This tract was on the river Opekon; a MM was established there which was later called Hopewell.

Notes from
The Nottingham Lots and the Early Quaker Families, A Paper Presented by Robert Warwick Day, Ph.D. (September 29, 2001, East Nottingham Monthly Meeting, Calvert, Cecil Co., Maryland).
This corner of Maryland was mostly part of southwestern Chester County, Pennsylvania, and represented the western frontier of Pennsylvania at that time. The area was claimed by both Maryland's Lord Baltimore (Catholic) and Pennsylvania's William Penn (Quaker). The original Quaker families of the Nottingham Lots were virtually a self-contained community and separate from other religious and ethnic groups in the region. Welsh Baptists had settled the Welsh Tract to the north. Scots-Irish Presbyterians had settled in western Cecil County and York County, Pennsylvania. German Reformed and Lutherans had settled to the northwest in Lancaster and northern York Counties in Pennsylvania. Some of these families moved to Prince George's County, Maryland, Northern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, central and south side Virginia, the central Carolinas and Georgia. They were among the first generation of pioneer families of the uplands region of the South. Hopewell Monthly Meeting near Winchester, Virginia, for example, had a good representation of Nottingham Friends who followed Alexander Ross to the Shenandoah Valley to settle 100,000 acres in the 1730's. This migration to the South continued until late in the 18th century. The Friends followed a similar migratory path down the Valley of Virginia as the Scots-Irish and Germans of Pennsylvania.

Note: Much of what is now Cecil County, Maryland was originally attached to Kent County until Baltimore County was created in 1659.

--

On the Main Road, parallel to the north branch of the Shenandoah River, between the Massanutten and Allegheny mountains.

The area between Mt Jackson on the north and present day New Market on the south was called "The Forest."

The Irish pioneers were the first to move south on the main road, next to the north branch of the Shenandoah River. In 1734, Benjamin Allen, Riley Moore, and William White came from the Monocracy Valley in Maryland to settle in the Shenandoah Valley near Mt Jackson. (Mill Creek empties into the north branch of the Shenandoah River at Mt Jackson - from the west. Going south on the north branch of the Shenandoah River, Daniel Holman's Creek is the next creek that empties from the west.)

This Irish pioneers in this area were soon followed by German settlers, and the area became a German stronghold.

--

The Area that became Harrisonburg

Sons and sons-in-law of Isaiah Harrison of Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York (John, Daniel, Thomas, and Jeremiah Harrison, Robert Cravens, and Alexander Herron (Herring) were pioneers in part of Orange County that became Augusta County and then Rockingham County, Virginia. In 1739, Daniel Harrison got a patent for 400 acres in the Valley (six years after settlements by John Lewis in the south Valley and Joist Hite in the north Valley). Soon the Harrison brothers and brothers-in-law acquired more than 17,400 acres in part of Orange County that became Rockingham County (from George II via Gov William Gooch)

John Smith of Augusta County (Rockingham) was also from Long Island and knew the Harrisons there. (Smith Creek empties into the north branch of the Shenandoah River at Mt Jackson - from the east.)

One of the best known grants secured by Joist Hite (and his partners: McKay, Duff, and Green) was obtained on March 26, 1739, and contained 7,009 acres - a tract that embraced much of the fertile Linville Creek valley, now in Rockingham County. In 1746, William Lenivell bought from Hite 1,500 acres about the headwaters of the stream that evidently was named after him - Lenivell's Creek, now Linville Creek. In 1746 and 1749 George Bowman bought two tracts, aggregating over a thousand acres, on Linville Creek: the first tract he bought of William Lenivell; the second, of Joist Hite. (George Bowman was a son-in-law of Joist Hite.)

--

The Upper (southern) Valley

The colonial government encouraged the settlement of the Valley as a means of protecting the area east of the Blue Ridge from Indian incursions. The settlers were almost exclusively of "the Scotch-Irish race, natives of the north of Ireland, but of Scottish ancestry." It is believed that all the earliest settlers came from Pennsylvania and up (south) the Valley of the Shenandoah. It was several years before any settlers entered the Valley from the east, and through the gaps in the Blue Ridge.

John Lewis (Scotch/Irish) immigrated from Ireland to Pennsylvania. (He was fleeing the law regarding a fight with a landlord.) Apparently, he came with (or followed) Joist Hite when he relocated from Pennsylvania to the Valley. In 1732, John Lewis followed the main road south through the Valley (between the Massanutten and Allegheny mountains). He settled on un-claimed public lands in present day Augusta County. He was soon followed by Scotch/Irish Pennsylvanians moving south through the Valley. (John Lewis first located on the left bank of Middle River, then called Carthrae's River. Then, he moved to Lewis' Creek, two miles east of present day Staunton, where he built a stone house, known as Fort Lewis.) No explanation is given for why John Lewis and his followers jumped over a large segment of the Valley (present day Rockingham County) to establish their settlement near present day Staunton.

[Note: This may explain why John Lewis established his settlement away from the Germans who settled in the northern part of the Valley.
"Historical Collections of Pennsylvania: A Copious Selection of the Most Interesting, Facts, Traditions, Biographical Sketches & Anecdotes" by Sherman Day.
"The Presbyterians from the north of Ireland came in at about the same time with the Germans, and occupied the townships of Donnegal and Paxton. Collisions afterwards occurring between them and the Germans concerning elections, bearing of arms, the treatment of Indians, &c., the
proprietaries instructed their agents, in 1755, that the Germans should be encouraged, and in a manner directed to settle along the southern boundary of the province, in Lancaster and York counties, while the Irish were to be located nearer to the Kittatinny mountain, in the region now
forming Dauphin and Cumberland counties. There was deeper policy in this than the mere separation of the two races. The Irish were a warlike people, and their services were needed in the defense of the frontier."]

New settlers from the north tried to avoid land in the Hite/Fairfax dispute. Many went to the land grants of Beverley and Borden.
William Beverley land (118,491 acres around Staunton in present day Augusta County)
Benjamin Borden land (92,100 acres bordered on the forks of the James River in Rockbridge County)
John Lewis was associated with both William Beverly and Benjamin Borden.
Tradition says that John Lewis met Benjamin Borden in Williamsburg in 1736 and invited him to visit his house in the Valley. However, Waddell believes that John Lewis met Benjamin Borden in 1734 through the Orange County Court while Borden was living in the Winchester area.
On February 21, 1738, William Beverly conveyed to John Lewis 2,071 acres, a part of the Beverley Manor grant in Orange county.

William Beverly (Augusta County)
In 1732, William Beverly was trying to get a grant from the Virginia Council for fifteen thousand acres on both sides of the Shenandoah River near the Massanutten mountain. Beverly believed that Pennsylvanians would buy the land because it was cheaper. Beverly and others secured a grant from Council in 1736 for 118,491 acres "in the county of Orange, between the great mountains, on the river Sherando." Beverly was very generous with the settlers already there. In 1738, William Beverly issued a deed to William Cathrey. In 1748, William Beverly laid out the town of Staunton.

Benjamin Borden (Rockbridge County)
Benjamin Borden, a native of New Jersey, in 1734, secured from Governor Gooch a large grant for land in the area of present day Rockbridge County. While on the way to locate the boundaries of his grant, he met the family of Ephraim McDowell (relatives of John Lewis). John McDowell, in exchange for 1,000 acres, agreed to locate and survey "The Borden Tract." Borden would secure 100,000 acres on the waters of James River, west of the Blue Ridge, as soon as he could settle a hundred families on the tract. Borden offered a tract of one hundred acres for anyone building a cabin within his grant. (Each settler earned Borden one thousand acres.) The patent to Borden was not issued until November 6, 1739. Based on the representation that a family had been located for every 1,000 acres of the grant, the number of actual settlements was ninety-one, exclusive of those by the McDowell party.

--

Carthrae's River

The south branch of the Shenandoah River goes south between the Massanutten and Blue Ridge mountains to present day Port Republic.
The south branch of the Shenandoah River (at present day Port Republic) divides into the North River and the South River.
The Middle River empties into the North River, between the North River and the South River. (It was previously called Carthrae's River.) Christians Creek and Lewis' Creek empty into the Middle River.

Who is Carthrae? Did he arrive with John Lewis?

In the "Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, from 1736 to 1871" Joseph A. Waddell mentions two men named Cathrey:

* William Beverley's deed to "William Cathrey, "the first of a long series of deeds by Beverley to various persons, was admitted to record September 28th, 1738.

* The military force of Augusta county in the fall of 1742, consisted of twelve companies of about fifty men each. The prominent officers were, William Beverley, County Lieutenant, James Patton, Colonel, and Captains John Smith, Andrew Lewis, John Buchanan, James Cathrey, John Christian, Samuel Gay, Peter Scholl, James Gill, John Willson, Hugh Thompson, George Robinson and John McDowell.

--

***

The Forest

--

The area between Mt Jackson on the north and present day New Market on the south was called "The Forest." (The majority of the Valley was large tracts of prairie.) Holman Creek runs through "The Forest" and empties into the northern branch of the Shenandoah River - from the west side.

Orange County records, March 1736
Joist Hite made forty-six conveyances for land located west of the Blue Ridge: some refer to his own grants (Jun 12 and Oct 3, 1734) and some refer to John Van Meter purchase (June 17, 1730)

Daniel Holman's March 26, 1736 patent for 319 acres on the north side of the north branch of the Shenandoah River was part of the John Van Meter grant (June 6, 1730) for 10,000 acres sold to Hite (Oct 1734). If this followed the usual process (Hite held the grant; specific tracts for each settler would be surveyed; then Hite would give each settler his certificate; then Council would ratify; and then settler would get deed) then Daniel Holman was in the this part of the Valley around 1734.

I believe that Daniel Holman along with Benjamin Allen, Riley Moore, and William White were associated with John Van Meter of the Monocracy Valley in Maryland. If this is correct, then Daniel Holman could have been in the Valley as early as 1734.

The southwestern part of Shenandoah county, called "The Forest," included the towns of Timberville, Timber Ridge, Forestville, Pine Woods, Pine Church, and Woodlawn. The first settlers, Scotch-Irish followed by Germans, were there long before they secured legal title.

I have not found any Van Meter/Hite land records for Thomas Holman, the older brother of Daniel Holman. Did Thomas come to the Valley after the beginning of the Hite/Fairfax dispute?

--

Why did Daniel Holman choose this location? There were large tracts of cleared land, including springs, located just to the south of him. The only advantages of his selection were: timber for building, and running water to power a mill.

--

Who were his traveling companions in 1734 (or earlier)?

* Daniel was married twice. Did his first wife come with him? From his first marriage he had a son Jacob, and possibly a son Isaac, both minors in 1734.
* Cathey, the family of his second wife, Elizabeth?
* Thomas Holman (b. 1686), his older brother?
* Isaac Johnson, a minor in 1734?
* Did he travel with Benjamin Allen, Riley Moore, and William White from the Monocracy Valley in Maryland?
* John Dobkins?
* Rudy Brock?
* Peter Gartner/Gortner?
* Mary, the widow of William Hill?
* James Guill, "Testes" at baptism of Isaac and Rebecca Hoolman?

--

The 1746 survey for the location of the Fairfax Line showed that about sixty settlers who bought land from Joist Hite were actually living on part of the claim of Lord Fairfax. (Holman Creek was in the disputed area.) These settlers had two choices: buy their land from Lord Fairfax, or move.
In 1749 and 1750, the Holmans (Daniel; his son, Jacob; and his older brother, Thomas) resolved any deed problems with Lord Fairfax. The original of the deeds appear to be boiler-plate with each saying "...Assigns Proprietors of the said Northern Neck Yearly and every Year on the Feast Day of St. Michael the Archangel the Fee rent of One Shilling Sterling Money for every Fifty Acres of land hereby granted..."

Apparently, after Thomas Holman (b. 1686) resolved any deed problems with Lord Fairfax, the land was sold to Robert Stapleton in 1749.

The two younger Holmans (Thomas Holman, born 1723 and Isaac Holman, died 1808) relocated to North Carolina. Were there other Holmans or Holman relatives living on Holman Creek, between 1736 and 1749, who chose to relocate rather than pay Lord Fairfax?

--

***

The Great Wagon Road began in Pennsylvania west of Philadelphia, passed through the Monocacy Valley, and ran south through the Shenandoah Valley, between the Massanutten and Allegheny mountains, to Roanoke, Virginia. There it branched south and east into the Carolinas and south and west into what is now Kentucky and East Tennessee. [Prior to Tennessee statehood in 1796, East Tennessee was part of North Carolina. It was not until the 1790’s that a wagon road connected East Tennessee to Asheville, North Carolina.]

There were major outflows from the Valley during the French and Indian War (Indian raids), and following the Revolutionary War (when veterans received land grants for their service).
Until 1753 no Indian problems
Start of French Indian War.
1754 Washington surrender at Fort Necessity
1755 Defeat of Gen Braddock
1757 beginning of Indian raids in Valley

The war with the French and Indians began in 1754, and continued till 1763. During this time Indian raids into the Valley from the west were frequent, particularly in the two or three years following the defeat of General Braddock. Writing in 1756, the Reverend James Maury makes this observation: "Such numbers of people have lately transported themselves into the more Southerly governments as must appear incredible to any except such as have had an opportunity of knowing it. By Bedford courthouse in one week, tis said, and I believe, truly said, near 300 inhabitants of this Colony past on their way to Carolina. From all the upper counties, even those on this side of the Blue Hills, great numbers are daily following." (A history of Rockbridge County, Virginia by Oren F Morton) A second interruption in growth in the Valley occurred following the Revolutionary War, when cheap land and military grants became available in the part of Virginia that became Kentucky.

During the French and Indian war settlers from villages Quicksburg, Forestville, Mt. Clifton gathered in Holman's Fort (located near Rude's Hill) in Shenandoah County, Virginia

Two letters written by Mrs. Ryland Todhunter of Lexington, Missouri ("A history of Rockingham County, Virginia" by John Walter Wayland)
"Under date of August 26, 1911, she says: Almost the entire settlement of Madison County, Kentucky, was made up by a concourse of people who left Augusta, Albemarle, and Rockingham County in a body for that new country about 1785-91."
"Again, under date of September 12, 1911, she writes: In 1810 there were 100 families who came at one time from Madison County, Kentucky to settle in the new Missouri Territory. They were almost without exception the same names and children of the men who left Augusta and Rockingham County, Virginia."

--

***

Click here to go to Virginia

Click here to go to Next Steps

Click here to return to James Holman Where to Look

Click here to return to James Holman

Click here to return to Claudia Lung Carson

Click here to return to Judge John Evans Carson

Click here to return to Joseph Carson, born 1777

Click here to return to David Carson, born 1741

Click here to return to WAM Founders home page

Click here to return to Nose4BS.com home page

Copying or Publishing this information strictly prohibited without written permission from the author.