"Bogota".
Ten miles southeast of Harrisonburg, Virginia, near Port Republic.
About 1751.
"Bogota: is a Colonial two-storied house with a two column double portico. The original house was frame and built in 1751 or 53. The present house is of brick built in 1847; it is L shape, of splendid masonry and is a little further back of the original house, which was directly in front of the present house.
The interior has a wide hall, and stairway running to the top; there are six lovely rooms on each floor, one of which is shown in the picture. Observe the mantel, the fireplace and old box stove, the communicating doors to the dining room.
See form 3686, attached.
History connected with this house centers chiefly around Gabriel Jones its first builder and occupant and where he lived with his wife, Margaret Morton, one of the Strother sisters before here first marriage, until his death in 1806. Gabriel Jones was born near Williamsburg, Virginia, May 17, 1724, the son of John and Elizabeth Jones, of North Wales. After his father’s death his mother returned to England and resided in London where Gabriel was educated. He studied law and was admitted to the bar. On the completion of his schooling he returned to Virginia and settled in Frederick County. In 1751 he purchased a part of the Jacob Stover tract, two hundred and forty-four acres, from Christopher Francisco, whereon he built "Bogota":, occupying it in 1753. He lived at "Bogota" fifty-three years and at his death his land holdings was nearly twelve hundred acres.
Gabriel Jones was the first "King’s Attorney" to become a resident of Augusta County, succeeding John Nicholas in this office May 1746. He represented Augusta county in the House of Burgesses in 1756, 1753 and in 1771. In 1788 he was a member of the Virginia Convention and zealously favored the adoption of the Federal Constitution. He had a well-selected library and was an outstanding lawyer of his day. He was known as "the lawyer" and built a "short cut read" to Thomas Harrison’s which is known today as the "lawyer’s read".
He was a small man, of great integrity and of explosive temper. It is related of him, that on one occasion when trying a case before the court, that the court after conferring with each other cautioned the opposing counsel "stop making Mr. Jones swear so".
Bogota
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Gabriel Jones and his wife had five children, four daughters and one son, born in 1756, who became a student at William and Mary college; a Captain in the Continental Army and later a colonel in the Militia.
Gabriel Jones became the first King’s Attorney, of Augusta County at the age of twenty-two years and was also the first Prosecuting Attorney for Rockingham County when it was organized in 1778 and held the office until 1795. He lived to a ripe old age, and all through the years was actively and intimately associated with the affairs and varied interests of both Augusta and Rockingham counties, always finding time to devote to the welfare of the public good at a time when the best minds of the communities were needed in their formative period.
Photograph.
Informant: Dr. A.S. Kemper, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Rockingham County Court Records.
Settlers on the Long Gray Trail by Houston Harrison.
History of Rockingham county by J. W, Wayland.
June 22, 1936 Geo. W. Fetzer
Harrisonburg, VA