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.

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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.

***

Any Holman from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, or the Lord Fairfax controlled area of Virginia who wanted to go to North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, or the Ohio River Valley during the period 1730 to the Revolutionary War passed through the Shenandoah Valley.

***

Notes from "A History of Shenandoah County Virginia" by John W Wayland, Ph.D., 1927

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Key Dates
1716 Spotswood visit Valley
1720 Spotsylvania County formed
1725 John Van Meter in Valley on south branch of Potomac
1727 Adam Miller at Massanutten
1730 John and Isaac Van Meter granted land in lower valley
1730 Jacob Stover granted conditionally 10,000 acres in Massanutten country
1731 Jost Hite and others settle in lower valley
1732 John Lewis and others settle in the upper valley
1732 Wm Beverley applies for grant of "Massanutting Town"
1732 Wm Russell granted 20,000 in and about forks of Shenandoah
1733 Adam Miller and others petition against Beverley
1733 Jacob Stover's grants for 10,000 acres confirmed
1734 Orange County formed
1734 Jost Hite Appointed a Magistrate
1734 Benj Allen, Riley Moore, and Wm White settle at or near Mt Jackson
1738 Act creating Frederick and Augusta
1738 Anna Maria DuBois, Jost Hite's first wife, dies at Long Meadows
1739 Wm White gets patent for 989 acres near Mt. Jackson
1744 Act passed to survey the line between Frederick and Augusta
1746 Fairfax line surveyed
1748 George Washington hired by Lord Fairfax
1750 Squire Boone and family pass through the Valley towards Carolina
1752 Jacob Miller gets grant of 400 acres from Fairfax at Woodstock
1755 Defeat of Braddock near Pittsburgh
1755 Christian Funkhouser sells land to Henry Mire on Holman's Creek
1757 Indians fall upon the Valley settlements
1761 Woodstock (Millertown) established by law
1770 John Sevier moves to Woodstock
1773 John Sevier moves to E. Tenn from Woodstock

Area called "Massanutten" was settled around 1727. Mostly Germans from Pennsylvania. On south branch of Shenandoah River. East of Massanutten mountain. (now part of Page County)

Jost Hite, with a number of relatives and friends, settled a few miles south of the Shawnee Spring (Winchester) in 1731.

John Lewis and his followers founded Staunton in 1732.

George Bowman, son-in-law of Jost Hite, in 1731-32 located on Cedar Creek about two miles north of Strasburg. (now the dividing line between Shenandoah and Frederick Counties) [George Bowman married Jost Hite's oldest daughter, Mary, and had thirteen children: John, b. 1733; Jacob; Abraham, b. 1742; Joseph, b. 1752; Isaac.]
Paul Froman, son-in-law of Jost Hite, located northwest of George Bowman (up stream).
Nearby was Isaac Hite, favorite son of Jost Hite

In 1734 Benjamin Allen, Riley Moore, and William White came from the Monocracy Valley in Maryland to settle near Mt Jackson. (Benjamin Allen's Mill). William White's land near the mouth of Smith's Creek, near William Moore and Burr Harrison

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

Three Allen lines in Mt Jackson area
Benjamin from Maryland (Benjamin from Maryland grandson: Israel Allen)
Joseph T from Vermont
Robert from Scotland

Two Moore lines in Mt Jackson area
Riley Moore (grandson: Aaron)
Joseph Moore, early settler of Moore's Store [Son: Reuben's children: Frances (married John Allen), Joseph, John, Elizabeth (married Charles Wunder), Solomon K.]

[Note: Riley Moore had a son, Thomas Moore (1732-1797). He should not be confused with Thomas Moore (c1712-1790), the father of the Joseph Moore of Moore's Store.]

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Daniel Holman was among the first white settlers. Lived about one mile north of Quicksburg. Holman Creek was known as such prior to 1750. They had to clear the forest, build homes, plant crops, and defend themselves from Indians - with no help from outside world.

Until 1753, the start of French Indian War, there were no Indian problems
1754 Washington surrender at Fort Necessity
1755 Defeat of Gen Braddock
1757 beginning of Indian raids in Valley

Settlers from villages Quicksburg, Forestville, Mt. Clifton gathered in Holman's Fort (located near Rude's Hill). "The mouth of Holman's Creek is almost opposite the site of the fort, on the west side of the river."

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1750 grant in Shenandoah County to Peter Gartner mentions:
Thomas Holman
Archibald Ruddle

In 1757, Daniel Holman was the pilot in a survey with Thomas Moore for a land grant to the widow, Mary Hill.

In 1786, Daniel Holman lived next to the Neff family (Germans). The "Main Road" up and down the valley coincides with present Valley Pike (Route 11). Also, current River is not in same channel as it was then. There was a semi-circle to the west (across Daniel Holeman's land?).

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1772 justices of Dunmore County, includes Jacob Holeman (on Holman Creek)

Sept 1774 Dunmore County court. Justices present included Jacob Holeman
Burr Harrison, Joseph Pugh, and Frances Slaughter said to be fit to be sheriff. J. Holeman refused.

Nov 1774 Dunmore County court. Jacob Holeman not present
John Crum, Frederick Comer, Christian Comer, and Conrad Painter, or any three, appointed to appraise the estate of Christian Holderman, dec.

March 25, 1777 Dunmore County court
"Jacob Holman, Evin Dobbin, Mounce Bird, John Scoin (Seehorn?), or any three, were to appraise the estate of Mary Dust, dec'd."

August 27, 1778 Dunmore County court
Commission from Gov Patrick authoring following to qualify as justices; list included:
Burr Harrison
Taverner Beale
Frances Slaughter
John Tipton
Abram Bowman
Jacob Holeman (later learned that Jacob Holeman refused to quality)
Wm Miller, Sr
Thomas Allen
Abram Bird
Michael Reader (In 1748, Adam Rader, German, lived one mile west of Timberville, Rockingham County near Fairfax line)
Alex Hite

1761 Act creating town of Woodstock (Jacob Miller of Frederick Co set up 1200 acres for town)
Some of the trustees: Jacob Miller, Burr Harrison, Matthew Harrison
1782 Act creating additional trustees: Abraham Bird, Jacob Holdman, John Tipton, Thomas Allen, Alexander Hite

1771 took the oath to be vestrymen at Beckford Parish (Church of England)
Burr Harrison
John Tipton
Jacob Holdman
Frederick Stoner

1772 Pastor Muhlenberg arrived at Beckford Parish (Church of England) at Woodstock (formed 1769)
1774 Abraham Brewbaker, son-in-law of Jacob Miller, deed lots for church and cemetery to vestry men of the perish, including:
Burr Harrison
Tavener Beale (lived in Mt Airy above Mt Jackson)
John Tipton
Jacob Holeman (lived near Forestville)
Frederick Stoner

Were Church of England vestrymen picked because of social standing or church affiliation? Wayland suggests that Holeman was German.

1778 petition to appoint new vestrymen at Beckford Parish (Church of England) because old ones were neglecting the work of the church
signed by 31 men including:
John Tipton
Jacob Moore

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1783 Shenandoah County census:
Taverner Beale 17 blacks largest slave-owner in County
Jacob Holman 14 blacks second largest slave-owner in County

1785 Shenandoah County census

1785 census Evan Jones List (includes New Market, Quicksburg, Forestville, and Moore's Store)
Brock, John
Brock, Roudolph
Brock, Henry
Cathy, William Sr
Cathy, William Jr
Durst, Abraham
Durst, Daniel
Holeman, Mary
Miller, Daniel
Miller, Jacob
Moor, Joseph
Newman, Walter
Readen, George (Rader)
Seaborn, Nicholas

1785 census William A Booth list
Jameson, Robert

1785 census John Anderson list (around Woodstock)
Bowman, George
Hawkins, Joseph
Holeman, Christian
Huddle, John

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Rev Andrew Moffett, b 1744 (son of Henry Moffett, b. 1705, and Mary Anderson of Fauquier Co., Virginia):
* settled in vicinity of Mt Jackson and New Market (as early as 1782)
* pastor of the Smith Creek Baptist Church (50 years)
* married Barbara Hupp (daughter of Baptist Preacher Casper Hupp) who died 1848 at age 90 in Rockingham Co., Virginia
* he died 1835, age 88
* his daughter, Mary Moffett (1782-1872) married Samuel Newman (b. 1779)

Marriages

Mar 23, 1784     Roubin Moore     Mary Byrd     by A. Moffitt
Dec 14, 1784     William Carthrey     Marragit Holeman     by A. Moffitt
Aug 22, 1786     Christopher Haldiman     Mary Smith     by A. Moffitt
Aug 29, 1786     Cornelius Newman     Mary Byrd     by A. Moffitt
Sept 5, 1786       Jacob Pleasant     Elizabeth Barrott     by Anderson Moffitt
Sept 5, 1786       James Murphy     Magdalin Newlin     by A. Moffitt
Aug 7, 1787       Paul Dust     Sarah McCarly     by A. Moffitt
Aug 15, 1787     John Homan     Mary Holeman     by A. Moffitt
Jan 22, 1788      George Byrd     Hannah Allen     by A. Moffitt
Oct 23, 1789      John Martin     Rebekah Holeman     by A. Moffitt
April 26, 1790    John Hoop     Sarah Reader     by A. Moffitt
Nov 25, 1791     Andrew Holeman     Elizabeth Reader     by A. Moffitt
Mar 28, 1792     Wm. Campbell     Eliz Haldiman     by A. Moffitt
May 22, 1792     Wm. Thompson     Reuhamy Boone     by A. Moffitt
April 30, 1793    Jacob Brock     Elizabeth Miller     by A. Moffitt
Mar 18, 1794     Alexander Rader     Clere Ruddle     by A. Moffitt
April 1, 1794      Zachariah Hory (?)     Eliz. Newman     by A. Moffitt   [Could this be "Story"?]
April 10, 1797    Joseph Hawkins, Sr     Lydia Allen     by A. Moffitt
June 16, 1795     David Proffit     Mary Brite     by A. Moffitt
June 25, 1795     Ephraim Johnston     Mary Kingree     by A. Moffitt
Sept 1, 1795       Joseph Hawkins     Margaret Bird     by A. Moffitt
Dec 20, 1795     Mounce Bird     Hannah Pennybaker     by A. Moffitt
Sept 12, 1799     John Durst     Frany Overholtzer     by A. Moffitt

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Smith Creek Baptist
Samuel Newman and his wife Martha, came to valley about 1744. [Along with his brother Jonathan Newman.]
Samuel and Martha Newman were first Baptist in region. John Harrison (the one that went to Oyster Bay, New York to be baptized) was next.

Jonathan Newman had a son Walter Newman who lived on the Shenandoah River west of present day New Market, on the Shenandoah side of the Fairfax Line. (Across the River on the Rockingham side of the Fairfax line was the home of Rev Anderson Moffett.)

Walter Newman had three sons: John Newman (1781-1890), Walter Newman (1788-1867), and Samuel Newman (1779-1869).

John Newman (1781-1890) married 1810 to Mary Moore (1786-1848), the daughter of the Joseph Moore who died in 1819 and in his will mentions wife Phoebe and sons Reuben, George, and Strother and daughter Mary.
Children of John and Mary (Moore) Newman
Joseph, George, Walter, Catherine, Frances, Sarah Ann (married in 1815 to Richard S Rice), Phoebe Ann, John Strother

Samuel Newman (1779-1869):
* married Mary Moffett (daughter of Rev Anderson Moffett)
* had a son: Anderson M Newman, b 1810 in Shenandoah, who married Rebecca Dyer (daughter of Zebulon Dyer) and relocated to Pendleton Co., (West) Virginia
* had a daughter: Catherine Newman who married Jacob Sommers

Rev Moffett in 1786 married Cornelius Newman and Mary Byrd.
Cornelius Newman (1765-1823) was son of John Newman (b. 1742) and the grandson of Jonathan Newman.
Margaret Byrd (1758-1823) was the daughter of Mounce Byrd (1735-1793) and Clara "Clarissa" Ann Ruddell. (Andrew Byrd, the father of Mounce Byrd, patented land on Smith's Creek in Rockingham County.)

[Is this John Newman (b. 1742) be the same John Newman who was appointed guardian for three boys, orphans of William Holeman, decd? (Greene Co., Tennessee Guardian Records 1783-1870 - p. 4 - Aug. 1797)

***

Notes from
A history of Rockingham County, Virginia.
by Wayland, John Walter,
Ruebush-Elkins Co., Dayton, Va., 1912.

* The entire Shenandoah Valley, with much more territory west and southwest, was a part of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. In 1734 the Valley became part of the newly created Orange County. In 1738 it was cut off from Orange, and divided into two counties: Frederick and Augusta. In 1777 a large part of Augusta was cut off and became Rockingham County.

* In 1730, Jacob Stover, a native of Switzerland, was granted leave by the colonial council to take up 10,000 acres of land on the south fork of the Shenandoah. The conditions upon which Stover received his grant were that he should actually locate a family of settlers upon each thousand acres within two years. (In 1735, Jacob Stover sold two tracts of land to George Boone, from Oley, Pa., the said tracts containing 500 and 1000 acres respectively, and being situated "near the end of North Mountain" on a small branch of Shenandoah River.)

* In 1732 Jost Hite, with a number of other Germans, settled in the area near Winchester; and in the same year John Lewis, with a number of other Scotch-Irish, located near where Staunton now stands.

* By 1738, a large number of persons, Germans, Scotch-Irish, and others, had located in and about the present limits of Rockingham. The majority of these settlers had come up the Valley from Maryland and Pennsylvania, but a few had come across the Blue Ridge Mountains from eastern Virginia.

[Note: The Shenandoah Valley "opens" on the north end. The land closer to the opening is called the "lower" section and the land near the closed end of the valley is called the "upper" section. So, the lower section of the Shenandoah Valley is north end near the Potomac River.]

* Rockingham County is located just south of Shenandoah County. The area of Rockingham County closest to Shenandoah County is the Plains District. "In 1748, as the Augusta County records show, Daniel Holman and Peter Gartner became guardians for Julia, George, and Elsie Brock, orphans of Rudolph Brock, deceased."
[Note: The head waters of Holman Creek, including the property of Thomas Holman, is just across the line that became the border between the two counties. Lyman Chalkley's three-volume Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia Extracted from the Original Court Records of Augusta County, 1745-1800 (Rosslyn, Va., 1912-1913; reprint, 1965) Vol 3, Page 320, Deed Book No. 6 Page 19.--16th March, 1750.
"Robert Stapleton and Catherine to Charles Stapleton, 200 acres, part of tract granted to Thos. Holdman by Fairfax 3d February, 1749, and by Holdman to Stapleton. Cor. George Brock and Peter Gartner, Ruddle's line. Robert (his mark) Stapleton. Catherine (her mark) Stapleton."]

* In the spring of 1750, when Daniel Boone was 15 or 16, his parents left Pennsylvania for North Carolina. It was autumn, 1751, a year and a half later, before they reached their destination. Tradition says they tarried for a year or more in what is now Rockingham County, Va. - on Linville
Creek, six miles north of Harrisonburg. The Bryans were also early residents on Linville Creek, and the William Bryan who married Boone's sister probably went to North Carolina from this section.

* 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.

* The following list is compiled from the records in the Rockingham County Clerk's office.
Wm. Holeman Agness Shepherd April 14, 1780
[See "Other Holmans in the Valley"]

* Two letters written by Mrs. Ryland Todhunter of Lexington, Mo.
"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, Va."

* John Sevier, was born Sept. 23, 1745 in Rockingham County, son of Valentine Sevier and Joanna Goade. In 1761 he married Sarah Hawkins. In 1773 he relocated from the Valley to what is now East Tennessee. In 1777, he was a member of the North Carolina legislature. He later became Governor of the State of Franklin; six times Governor of Tennessee; and a member of the US Congress. He died Sept. 24, 1815, near Fort Decatur, Ga., while on a mission to the Creek Indians.

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***

Notes from:
The German Element of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
By
JOHN WALTER WAYLAND, B. A., Ph. D.

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Valley Geography:

Starting at the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry, the Shenandoah River goes south for about forty miles to present day town of Riverton. There, it forks into the the south branch (known as the main Shenandoah river) and the north branch (known as the "Little Shenandoah"). The two branches are divided by the Massanutten mountain range.

Further south four large streams enter the north branch of the Shenandoah River:
Stony Creek near Edinburg and Mill Creek near Mt. Jackson, both from the west;
Smiths Creek near Mt. Jackson and Linville Creek at Broadway, both from the east.

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 Luray.

In the early period of Valley development (especially if you were in the area of present day Elkton) the Massaimtten range was referred to as the "North Mountain" and the southern part of the Blue Ridge as the "South Mountain." With later development, "North Mountain" was the name applied to the mountain range on the northwestern border of the Valley.

It appears to be a well established fact that in early times much of the Valley was a prairie.

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Early Explorers

Some of the earliest explorers crossed the Blue Ridge too far south to actually be in the Valley. In 1654, Colonel Abraham Wood first discovered and named New River, going through the Blue Ridge probably by the way of "Wood's Gap," near the line between Virginia and North Carolina. Between 1666 and 1670, Captain Henry Batte started from Appomattox crossed the Blue Ridge and followed the New River for some distance.

John Lederer, once a Franciscan monk, was commissioned by Governor Sir William Berkeley, to make explorations; and under this commission he made, from March, 1669 to September, 1670, three distinct tours or "marches," on two of which he crossed the Valley

In 1705, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act encouraging trade with the Indians. It provided that any person who should make discovery of "any town or nation of Indians, situated or inhabiting to the westward of or between the Appalatian Mountains," should enjoy for the fourteen years the exclusive right to trade with them.

In 1716, Governor Alexander Spotswood, with a party of twenty or thirty horsemen, set out from Williamsburg, the capital of the Virginia colony, to see what lay west and north of the great "Blue Mountains." They crossed the Blue Ridge, probably by Swift Run Gap, into what is now the county of Rockingham.

There were German settlements in Virginia prior to the 1700s. Two old maps, one French, dated 1687, gives the location of a German settlement at the head waters of the Rappahannock; and one English of the same time period shows a German settlement at the head waters of the James.

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Early Settlements

The earliest settlements in the Valley were along the Potomac River; and along the south branch of the Shenandoah River, between the Blue Ridge and Massanutten mountain ranges.

The lower (northern) Valley

About 1725, John Van Meter, a Dutchman from New York, was in the valley of the South Branch of the Potomac. He was a trader, and spent much of his time among the Delaware Indians in Pennsylvania. He also journeyed far to the south to trade with the Cherokees and Catawbas. Later, upon his advice, his two sons, John and Isaac Van Meter, came to Virginia and secured large tracts of land, first along the Potomac in the Shenandoah Valley, then on the South Branch of the Potomac. In 1730 the younger Van Meters, John and Isaac, obtained their first grants of land. John got 10,000 acres in the forks of the Shenandoah, including the places called Cedar Lick, and Stony Lick, together with 20,000 acres lower down; Isaac got 10,000 acres in the lower (northern) valley. These grants, as most others of the time, were made upon the condition that within two years a family should be settled on each thousand acres. In 1731 the Van Meters sold portions of their tracts to Jost Hite, who, in 1732, settled in the Valley with his three sons-in-law, George Bowman, Jacob Chrisman, Paul Froman, and others. On June 12, 1734, patents were ordered to be issued to the "Several Masters of Families" residing on these lands, as well as on part of another tract granted conditionally to Hite, Robert Mackay, and others. These patents were issued upon proof that the required number of families had been brought in. This shows that, by the early part of 1734, some forty families were settled on and near the Opequon, east, south, and southwest of present day Winchester

Jost Hite was a native of Strasburg, in Alsace; his sons-in-law, Bowman, Chrisman, and Froman, and his friend Peter Stephens, as well as most of the others in the Opequon settlement, were also Germans; but with these were a number of Scotch-Irish, among whom were Robert McKay, William Dnff, and probably Robert Green. The Jost Hite group is no longer considered to be the first permanent settlers in the Shenandoah Valley.

In 1726 or 1727, Morgan ap Morgan, a Welshman, moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia. He settled within the present boundaries of Berkeley County, (West) Virginia and erected the "first cabin on the Virginia side of the Potomac, between the Blue Ridge and North Mountains." About the same time, a company of Germans crossed the Potomac at the old Packhorse Ford and founded a settlement in what is now Jefferson County, W. Virginia. 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, Thomas Shepherd. (From 1702 to 1727, between 40,000 and 50,000 Germans arrived at Philadelphia. In the year 1719, alone, 6,000 landed. Because the land prices were much lower in the Valley than in Pennsylvania, many German immigrants moved south.) Shepherdstown appears to be the oldest town in the Valley, having been settled by German immigrants about 1727.

The upper (southern) Valley

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, 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 this 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.

It appears that John Lewis, the Scotch-Irish pioneer of Augusta County, came from Pennsylvania to Virginia with Jost Hite and his party in 1732; but, jumped over a large segment of the lower (northern) and upper (southern) Valley to establish his settlement near present day Staunton. (No explanation is given for this location.)

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Grants

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 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 Warren County and a considerable portion of Clarke County. This large grant, secured in this section by Robert Carter at this early date, will explain the fact that the people of Clarke County are chiefly English. Only a few Germans got into that section of the Valley. [Lord Fairfax built a home here and his neighbors were eastern Virginia plantation owners.]

On June 17, 1730, John Van Meter was assigned 10,000 acres in the fork of the Shenandoah, including the places called Cedar Lick and Stony Lick, and "twenty thousand acres of land not already taken up by Robert Carter & Mann Page, Esqrs., or any other lying in the fork between the Sd River Sherrando and the River, Cahongaroota [Potomac?], & extending thence to Opeckon & up the South Branch thereof," for "himself & eleven children, & also that divers of his Relations & friends living in the Government of New York." This was some of the land secured a little later by Jost Hite. [Cedar Creek empties into the north branch of the Shenandoah River just east of present day Strasburg.]

On June 17, 1730, Isaac Van Meter, brother to John, obtained a grant of 10,000 acres lying between Carter's land, the River, and the Opequon Creek. Hite and his colony probably got this tract also.

On June 17, 1730, Jacob Stover, of Switzerland, got his first two grants, each of 5,000 acres, one in the Massanutten district, the other farther up the Shenandoah River, in the present county of Rockingham. (It appears that Stover sold more acres than his grant covered.)

On October 28, 1730, Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan, of Pennsylvania, were granted 100,000 acres in the vicinity of Winchester, between the Opequon Creek and the North Mountain (Allegheny), upon which they settled a colony of Friends.

On June 10, 1731, William Beverley, Joseph Smith, Joseph Clapham, Thomas Watkins, and Simeon Jeffries obtained a grant of 20,000 acres on the western side of the lower (northern) Valley, in Frederick and Shenandoah County, between Cedar Creek and Lost River

On June 10, 1731, John Fishback, Jacob Holtzclow, Henry Settler, Jacob Sengaback, Peter Reid, Michael Shower, John Vandehouse, George Wolf, William Carpenter, and John Richlu, "in behalf of themselves and other German Protestants," obtained a grant of 50,000 acres between the Blue
Ridge and the Shenandoah River, in the present counties of Warren and Page. These men were from east of the Blue Ridge, and some belonged to the Germanna families.

On October 21, 1731, Robert McKay and "Joost Heyd," of Pennsylvania, were assigned 100,000 acres in several tracts. (unclaimed land between other claims)

Very early in his career in the Valley, Jost Hite came into conflict with Thomas Lord Fairfax. The latter claimed the land within Hite's early grants, and the case was in the law courts for fifty years. This contention over titles caused many settlers, following Hite into the Valley, to pass by his section and seek land further further south. [Note: Daniel Holman probably purchased his land prior to the dispute between Lord Fairfax and Jost Hite.]

The county deed books of Orange, Frederick, and Augusta contain almost innumerable records of land sales by Jost Hite. Hite and Robert McKay seem to have entered into a partnership in the land business with William Duff and Robert Green - the last being from 1736 to 1740 a member of the Virginia Colonial Assembly from Orange County, and later sheriff. One of the best known grants secured by Hite, 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.

William Lenivell bought in 1746 of Hite, McKay, and Green, 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 Jost Hite.

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County Records

County Establishment: Spottsylvania (1721), Orange (1734), Frederick (1743), Augusta (1745), Shenandoah (1772), Rockingham (1778).

1748.
From the Records of Augusta and Frederick.
Feb. 18: - Daniel Holman and Peter Gartner, with Abraham Strickler and William Anderson, sureties, become guardians for Julia, George, and Elsie Brock, orphans of Rudolph Brock, dec'd. - AC WB 1 - 107.

1749.
From the Records of Augusta and Frederick.
June 16:—Inventory made by Daniel Stover, Jacob Burner, and John Holdman of the estate of Martin Kauffman, dec': total amount of the invoice, £236 7s. 9d, - AC WB 1 - 195-197. - Kauffmann's will is recorded in the same book, p. 125.

1755.
Dec. 29, 30:—Christian Funkhouser and Christinah his wife sell to Henry Mire (Meyer?) for £34 200 A. on Holmans Creek "a Branch of the North River of Shanando" - the said 200 A. being part of 444 A. granted by Fairfax to Ch. Funkhouser, Mar. 2, 1752.—Witnesses, Abram Denton, Caleb
Odell. - FC DB 4 - 83.

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Population Distribution

The population from the Potomac River south to Winchester appear to be dominated by English plantation owners from Eastern Virginia (the Fairfax group). The wealthy Pennsylvania Germans (the Hite Group) settled the area around Winchester.

The area from Winchester and Staunton became German strongholds. (It appears that the Irish pioneers were there first, then the German settlers moved in.)

From the fork in the Shenandoah River south:
* the German pioneers followed the main branch of the Shenandoah River - that is, the south branch - south to the Massanutting country.
* the English and/or Irish pioneers followed the north branch of the Shenandoah River (and the main road) south to present day Mt. Jackson.

Among the first to locate near the present day Mt. Jackson were Benjamin Allen, Riley Moore, and William White, who came from Maryland in 1734.
The Germans followed them into this area and settled a little further west, along what after awhile came to be the ''Middle Road," through Timberville, Forestville, Rinkerton, Hamburg, and Lantz's Mill; and the "Back Road," through Moore's Store, Conicville, and Columbia Furnace.

In 1732, John Lewis, the Scotch-Irish pioneer of Augusta County established his settlement further south near present day Staunton.

[Note: This may explain why John Lewis, the Scotch-Irish pioneer of Augusta County, jumped over a large segment of the Valley to establish 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."]

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