Posted on 03/27/2010 6:35:38 AM PDT by jay1949
One of the more durable contributions of the German settlers of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley are the stone houses, barns, and other buildings which they construction during Colonial times. Typically made of cut limestone blocks, these sturdy buildings sometimes were designed to serve as 'forts' during Indian attacks. Thus in many Shenandoah Valley communities there is, or at least was, an 'Old Stone Fort' which had been built by Pennsylvania Germans.
(Excerpt) Read more at backcountrynotes.com ...
My ancestors spread westward. They included some of the original settlers in Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., and then moved into Ohio, Illinois, and Texas. During the Civil War, they fought on both sides.
Somehow, my mother’s branch of the family was cut off from the others, and she was unaware of her ancestry. Her relatives speculated that the family name might be of German, Swedish, or Greek origin, but through the Internet, I finally discovered our history.
No, we know we're German; It's everyone else who incorrectly call us Pennsylvania Dutch.
Jay, in researching early settlements in VA I come across references to a “Manor House”. I understand it’s not a reference to a single particular structure as I’ve seen references to a “Manor House” in several communities.
So how does a structure come to be known as a “Manor House”?
A “manor” was usually thousands of acres owned by one family...
The “masor” house wasw usually the family hose...
In Albany, the Livingston Manor covered several sq miles of land...
Just one poor yung man arrived about 1700 and within 20 years had built himmself an empire...
My Irish ancestors arrived as indentured servants about 1720 and worked at the Livinston Manor...
Another one was the Cordlandt Manor which took up a lot of Westchester County...
The “manor” house was usually the family house...
“Manor house” had a specific meaning in Great Britain — i.e., the house (usually stone, often fortified) of a noble located on his estate. In this country, the gentry/planters often referred to their houses as “manor houses” or “mansion houses.” It came to mean simply a big house located on a tract of land.
Yes, they were German (came over in 1717) but intermarried with the Scotch-Irish Boone family while living in the Forks of the Yadkin in N.C. They then settled in Pendleton County, V.A. in 1763 where they built a stone blockhouse fort.
Pendleton County has some beautiful, rugged mountains. Boreal forest in the highest country — red spruce, snowshoe hares and such. Interesting place.
Thanks for the replies.
I know my last ancestor to have died in Virginia before their migration to West Virginia did so in Giles county “at the Manor House”. Course I had always thought too that it was the family home and the above really does nothing to contradict that. But the context of some other references led me down a path of thinking it was possibly an inn of some sort, or indeed the largest house of the largest landowner in the area.
Jay, I’m sure my ancestor had a farm right along Sinking Creek not too far from that Link Farm covered bridge you showed us last week. Plus there is a plaque out front of the courthouse in Pearisburg that lists about 50 militia that were called out to fight at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. His name is on it which confirms he lived in Giles County!
I’m in the right area for where his homestead was, I just need to clinch it :-)
Oh, it gets more tangled up than that, lol. My "German" ancestors came from Alsace-Lorraine, Canton Basel Switzerland and Bohemia, as well as various locations within the modern nation of Germany, which did not exist at the time.
The only safe way to say it without error would be that they were German speaking.
The blockhouse that everybody fled to during frequent Cherokee raids, in my direct paternal line, was Major Joseph Winston’s, he being of King’s Mountain and Guilford Courthouse fame.
Winston was a cousin of Patrick Henry, and my fifth great grandfather’s next door neighbor on the Town Fork Creek, in what was then Surry County, NC. Winston’s body was moved from there and reinterred at Guilford Battleground National Military Park, with a large monument to himself and the Surry County Militia under his command.
Small world. One of my sixth-great grandfathers, John Penn, is also buried on the grounds, at the Signers’ Monument. Neighbors, almost. (Why two NC Signers we re-interred at Guilford CH is difficult to fathom, since neither was there for the battle.) The Town of Winston — next to the town of Salem — was named in honor of Major Joseph Winston.
Might be a challenge. Giles County was formed in 1806 from parts of several other counties. See http://www.myvirginiagenealogy.com/va-county-giles.html#eh
So that’s when the records start — http://www.myvirginiagenealogy.com/va-county-giles.html#court
As of 1774, what is now Giles County was contained in Fincastle and Botetourt Counties. As of 1770, it was part of Botetourt County; before then, it was part of Augusta County, which was huge. See http://www.familyhistory101.com/maps/va_cf.html
If you know when your ancestor homesteaded, you know where to look for the records. The Augusta County land records start in 1745; Botetourt County land records start in 1770.
Ah, yes it is :-)
The original homestead was further north, up near Staunton I believe. It was part of the original Borden land grant. I have a few names with cemetery hits all around the area - North Mountain, Tinkling Springs, Stover - but nothing that actually says LOOK HERE. I knew Giles county was carved out of Augusta county but for some reason checking Staunton for land records escaped me. Heck, I was even there looking for a house my great-uncle used to own.
I've been to the historical society in Pearisburg and they were very helpful. Odd hours though :) Guess my next stop after Mountain Lake is Staunton this year!
I am fascinated by (and envious of) your casually-mentioned references to ancestors coming to America in the early 1800s, participating in historic battles, establishing 1,000-acre farmsteads (plantations?), being re-interred, etc.
You folks are, of course, conservatives. But I wonder how anyone else with blood like that coursing through their veins (and an understanding of how their forebears conquered a continent) could be anything but conservative, patriotic, and individualistic?
Regards,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.