Page 118 - WPA Book
P. 118
Works Project Administration – Articles from Rockingham County
HOUSES
Bowman-Sellers Place
Page Two
Their children were Margaret, who married ____Taulman; Jacob Smith, and Andrew Jackson, born 1816, who
married first, Ann Welsh, and second, Sarah Miller See. Andrew, as a youth, aged about sixteen, following the
death of his father, removed to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and later, to Centerville, Tennessee, where his mother
made her home with him. The three children were born on Smith’s Creek, and Jacob the elder of the two boys,
continued to live there, and it may well be that it was he who built the present brick house, especially as his
name is popularly connected with it as the builder, though if such is the case, it must have been sometime later
than 1816.
The original ownership of the land probably dates back to Zebulon Harrison, Sr., who owned lands in this
neighborhood and at Lacey or Big Spring not far distant, either by grantor by purchase from others. It is
difficult to trace back these old places to their original ownership. The most authentic and reliable source of
information is to be found in the Court House Records, so many of which were destroyed during the War
Between the States and in almost every case the recorded deed which would throw most light on the subject is
the very one the record of which is not recorded because the record was either totally destroyed or very greatly
mutilated.
The Bowmans and the Sellers too, were prominent, thrifty and highly respected people of the community, good
farmers, charitable and kind hearted, one of the Bowman family being especially generous to Bridgewater
College, in his last Will and Testament.
7. ART:
Photograph.
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
Rockingham County Court Records
Settlers by the Long Grey Trail by Houston Harrison.
December 11, 2024 George W. Fetzer
Harrisonburg, VA
Page 117 of 482
HOUSES
Bowman-Sellers Place
Page Two
Their children were Margaret, who married ____Taulman; Jacob Smith, and Andrew Jackson, born 1816, who
married first, Ann Welsh, and second, Sarah Miller See. Andrew, as a youth, aged about sixteen, following the
death of his father, removed to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and later, to Centerville, Tennessee, where his mother
made her home with him. The three children were born on Smith’s Creek, and Jacob the elder of the two boys,
continued to live there, and it may well be that it was he who built the present brick house, especially as his
name is popularly connected with it as the builder, though if such is the case, it must have been sometime later
than 1816.
The original ownership of the land probably dates back to Zebulon Harrison, Sr., who owned lands in this
neighborhood and at Lacey or Big Spring not far distant, either by grantor by purchase from others. It is
difficult to trace back these old places to their original ownership. The most authentic and reliable source of
information is to be found in the Court House Records, so many of which were destroyed during the War
Between the States and in almost every case the recorded deed which would throw most light on the subject is
the very one the record of which is not recorded because the record was either totally destroyed or very greatly
mutilated.
The Bowmans and the Sellers too, were prominent, thrifty and highly respected people of the community, good
farmers, charitable and kind hearted, one of the Bowman family being especially generous to Bridgewater
College, in his last Will and Testament.
7. ART:
Photograph.
8. SOURCES OF INFORMATION:
Rockingham County Court Records
Settlers by the Long Grey Trail by Houston Harrison.
December 11, 2024 George W. Fetzer
Harrisonburg, VA
Page 117 of 482
