Page 10 - History of Rockingham Co
P. 10
particular interests and activities that have given the county
its distinctive character and influence; (3) to find and pre-
serve some treasures lost, or nearly lost, in the lapse of time
and the obscuring din of busy days.
Inasmuch as Rockingham is a great county, mine has
been a great task. How well it has been performed, the
intelligent reader must judge. No one more than the author
will realize the lacks and deficiencies in the result, but he
hopes and beheves that all will at least credit him with a
sincere purpose and an earnest effort. No opinion, however
adverse, and no criticism, however sharp, can take from him
the joy that he has found in the work. To him it has been
indeed a labor of love. The splendid achievements and re-
sources of the county have been appreciated as never before,
and things in her history have been found— often by seeming
chance or rare good fortune— that were before undreamed of.
At the laying of the corner stone for the new Court
House in 1896, Judge John Paul delivered an address that
contains much valuable information concerning the courts and
civil officials of Rockingham. This address has been found
very helpful by the author of this book. In 1885 Mr. George
F. Compton, now of Charlottesville, Va., published an ex-
tended and interesting series of historical articles on the county
in the Rockingham Register; in 1900 Mr. John H. Floyd of Day-
ton wrote a series of ten historical papers concerning Rock-
ingham, and published them in the Harrisonburg Free Press;
in addition, many historical pieces, in books, magazines, and
newspapers have appeared from time to time. To all these,
so many as he has seen, the author makes due and grateful,
acknowledgement; all that he has found published, in any
available form, he has fisted, and in many cases described, in
the appended Bibliography; at the same time he begs leave
to state that the bulk of the matter presented in this volume
has been collected and prepared by himself, with the gen-
erous aid of many friends, from sources that may in a large
measure be termed original. It would of course be impossible
to enumerate all the sources from which materials have been
obtained; but some of the more important ones are herewith
indicated.
vi
its distinctive character and influence; (3) to find and pre-
serve some treasures lost, or nearly lost, in the lapse of time
and the obscuring din of busy days.
Inasmuch as Rockingham is a great county, mine has
been a great task. How well it has been performed, the
intelligent reader must judge. No one more than the author
will realize the lacks and deficiencies in the result, but he
hopes and beheves that all will at least credit him with a
sincere purpose and an earnest effort. No opinion, however
adverse, and no criticism, however sharp, can take from him
the joy that he has found in the work. To him it has been
indeed a labor of love. The splendid achievements and re-
sources of the county have been appreciated as never before,
and things in her history have been found— often by seeming
chance or rare good fortune— that were before undreamed of.
At the laying of the corner stone for the new Court
House in 1896, Judge John Paul delivered an address that
contains much valuable information concerning the courts and
civil officials of Rockingham. This address has been found
very helpful by the author of this book. In 1885 Mr. George
F. Compton, now of Charlottesville, Va., published an ex-
tended and interesting series of historical articles on the county
in the Rockingham Register; in 1900 Mr. John H. Floyd of Day-
ton wrote a series of ten historical papers concerning Rock-
ingham, and published them in the Harrisonburg Free Press;
in addition, many historical pieces, in books, magazines, and
newspapers have appeared from time to time. To all these,
so many as he has seen, the author makes due and grateful,
acknowledgement; all that he has found published, in any
available form, he has fisted, and in many cases described, in
the appended Bibliography; at the same time he begs leave
to state that the bulk of the matter presented in this volume
has been collected and prepared by himself, with the gen-
erous aid of many friends, from sources that may in a large
measure be termed original. It would of course be impossible
to enumerate all the sources from which materials have been
obtained; but some of the more important ones are herewith
indicated.
vi
