Page 143 - WPA Book
P. 143
Works Project Administration – Articles from Rockingham County
HOUSES
Robert Cravens Home
Page Two
Robert Cravens was a brother-in-law of Thomas Harrison, founder of the town of Harrisonburg, Virginia,
having married his sister, Mary Harrison, probably at or near the Maiden Plantation, the home place of Mary’s
father. His first land patent is dated in 1744. In all, he and his sons were granted some two thousand five
hundred thirteen acres of land in ten patents – on Cook’s Creek, Smith’s Creek, Linville Creek, and purchases
from McKay, Hite, Duff, and Green, the greater part being located on the waters of Cook’s Creek. Robert and
his brother-in-law Thomas Harrison, settled as near neighbors; their first patents were granted on the same day
and their lands were practically adjacent.
The greater part of Robert’s land being located on Cook’s Cree, or its water, it was in that direction that he
settled. His home was on the Great Road, today’s Long Grey Trail, better known as the Valley Pike or Route 11
and was probably within a mile or two of the present southern limits of Harrisonburg. On April 14th, 1746, he
was granted a “License to keep Ordinary at his house” with John Lewis and Robert Pickens, Gentlemen, as
sureties. Robert Cravens was intimately and actively identified with the affairs of Augusta County, both in a
civil and a military way, as were also his sons in Augusta and in what later became Rockingham. At the
organization of Augusta County in 1745, he became one of the first Justices to be appointed, as was also Peter
Scholl, the two representing the northern end of the county, now Rockingham, their homes being in the region
of “Thomas Harrison’s.” He was one of the first “Surveyors and Overseers” to blaze and lay off the old Indian
Road, the first authorized road up the Valley and the forerunner of the Valley Turnpike.
I have not been able to come in touch with much of Robert’s military service. It was, of course, confined to
operations either in defense or against the Indians on the northeast frontier. In July 1743, at a court held at
Orange, he took the oath prescribed and was sworn into his military commission as captain of horses.
As an appraiser of land values, Robert was highly regarded, the court often appointing him to act as such. In
many of his services to Augusta, he was associated with his brothers-in-law, the Harrisons and Alexander
Herring. The children of Robert Cravens and Mary Harrison, his wife, were nine in number, four boys and five
girls, namely John (1722-1778), Joseph (d 1763), William (b 1730), Robert (1733-1784), Margaret (1724-
1800), Maggie (b – d), Mary (d 1801), Agnes (b – d),and Elizabeth (b – d). Captain Robert Cravens, the pioneer
and Justice of the first Court of Augusta County, died as revealed by the proving of his will in the spring of
1762, during the French and Indian War. In the previous autumn when he signed his will, he was failing in
health from which he never rallied. By his passing old Augusta lost one of her noble company of first settlers,
whose descendants were to add further luster to her name and whose children’s children like so many others
were to go forth from Virginia to help “make other States great.”
Robert Cravens Will
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, October Ye Second in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
sixty one viz. 1761 and I Robert Cravens of the County of Augusta and Colony of Virginia being sick and weak
in body but of perfect mind and memory blessed be God for it and calling to mind the mortality of my body and
knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain and appoint this my last Will and
Testament that is to say first and principally of all I give and Humbly recommed my soul to God who gave it
and my body to the earth to be buried in a Christian like and decent manner at the direction of my loving wife
and son John who I do make and appoint my whole and sole Executors in this my last Will and Testament and
as touching such worldly estate as it has pleased God to bless me in this life with which I give, devise, and
dispose of the same in the following manner:
Page 142 of 482
HOUSES
Robert Cravens Home
Page Two
Robert Cravens was a brother-in-law of Thomas Harrison, founder of the town of Harrisonburg, Virginia,
having married his sister, Mary Harrison, probably at or near the Maiden Plantation, the home place of Mary’s
father. His first land patent is dated in 1744. In all, he and his sons were granted some two thousand five
hundred thirteen acres of land in ten patents – on Cook’s Creek, Smith’s Creek, Linville Creek, and purchases
from McKay, Hite, Duff, and Green, the greater part being located on the waters of Cook’s Creek. Robert and
his brother-in-law Thomas Harrison, settled as near neighbors; their first patents were granted on the same day
and their lands were practically adjacent.
The greater part of Robert’s land being located on Cook’s Cree, or its water, it was in that direction that he
settled. His home was on the Great Road, today’s Long Grey Trail, better known as the Valley Pike or Route 11
and was probably within a mile or two of the present southern limits of Harrisonburg. On April 14th, 1746, he
was granted a “License to keep Ordinary at his house” with John Lewis and Robert Pickens, Gentlemen, as
sureties. Robert Cravens was intimately and actively identified with the affairs of Augusta County, both in a
civil and a military way, as were also his sons in Augusta and in what later became Rockingham. At the
organization of Augusta County in 1745, he became one of the first Justices to be appointed, as was also Peter
Scholl, the two representing the northern end of the county, now Rockingham, their homes being in the region
of “Thomas Harrison’s.” He was one of the first “Surveyors and Overseers” to blaze and lay off the old Indian
Road, the first authorized road up the Valley and the forerunner of the Valley Turnpike.
I have not been able to come in touch with much of Robert’s military service. It was, of course, confined to
operations either in defense or against the Indians on the northeast frontier. In July 1743, at a court held at
Orange, he took the oath prescribed and was sworn into his military commission as captain of horses.
As an appraiser of land values, Robert was highly regarded, the court often appointing him to act as such. In
many of his services to Augusta, he was associated with his brothers-in-law, the Harrisons and Alexander
Herring. The children of Robert Cravens and Mary Harrison, his wife, were nine in number, four boys and five
girls, namely John (1722-1778), Joseph (d 1763), William (b 1730), Robert (1733-1784), Margaret (1724-
1800), Maggie (b – d), Mary (d 1801), Agnes (b – d),and Elizabeth (b – d). Captain Robert Cravens, the pioneer
and Justice of the first Court of Augusta County, died as revealed by the proving of his will in the spring of
1762, during the French and Indian War. In the previous autumn when he signed his will, he was failing in
health from which he never rallied. By his passing old Augusta lost one of her noble company of first settlers,
whose descendants were to add further luster to her name and whose children’s children like so many others
were to go forth from Virginia to help “make other States great.”
Robert Cravens Will
IN THE NAME OF GOD AMEN, October Ye Second in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and
sixty one viz. 1761 and I Robert Cravens of the County of Augusta and Colony of Virginia being sick and weak
in body but of perfect mind and memory blessed be God for it and calling to mind the mortality of my body and
knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain and appoint this my last Will and
Testament that is to say first and principally of all I give and Humbly recommed my soul to God who gave it
and my body to the earth to be buried in a Christian like and decent manner at the direction of my loving wife
and son John who I do make and appoint my whole and sole Executors in this my last Will and Testament and
as touching such worldly estate as it has pleased God to bless me in this life with which I give, devise, and
dispose of the same in the following manner:
Page 142 of 482
