Page 45 - History of Rockingham Co
P. 45
A HISTORY OF
some adventurous trader fared westward upon the heels of
the hope it engendered.
In 1716 Governor Spotswood made his famous expedition
into the Valley, coming across the Blue Ridge, as we judge,
at Swift Run Gap, and finding a land of "seek-no-farther" in
Wethe broad river plains about or above Elkton. generally
look upon Spotswood as doing for the Virginians, in respect
to the Valley, what Caesar did for the Romans, in respect to
Britain: as discovering it for them: and even as it was a cen-
tury before the Romans followed Caesar westward, so it was
at least a decade before the Virginians began to follow Spots-
wood. In the meantime Germans occasionally came in from
the northeast. More of Spotswood and his knights at another
place.
In 1722 Michael Wohlfarth, a German sectarian, is re-
ported to have passed down through the Valley of Virginia
going from Pennsylvania to North Carolina ;2 Dr. J. A. Wad-
dell, after investigating various sources of information, is
satisfied that in or about the year 1726 John Sailing and John
Mackey explored the Valley, both settling therein later ;3 and
it is likely that other white men, Germans, Scotch-Irish, and
English, at other times before as well as after, walked in this
great highway of nature from north to south.
We are now coming to the time of permanent settlement,
which v/e are able to fix some five years earlier than 1732,
the date so long accepted as marking the beginnings in the
Valley. In 1732 Jost Hite, with a number of other Germans,
settled in the section now marked by Winchester; and in the
same year John Lewis, with a number of other Scotch-Irish,
located at or near the place where Staunton now stands; but
it appears that as early as 1727 Adam Miller, a German, per-
haps with a few others of his own nationality, was staking
out claims on the south fork of the Shenandoah River, on or
near the line that now divides Rockingham County from Page.
2- Sachse's German Sectarians, Vol. II, page 332.
3. Waddell's Annals of Augusta, edition 1902, page 24.
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some adventurous trader fared westward upon the heels of
the hope it engendered.
In 1716 Governor Spotswood made his famous expedition
into the Valley, coming across the Blue Ridge, as we judge,
at Swift Run Gap, and finding a land of "seek-no-farther" in
Wethe broad river plains about or above Elkton. generally
look upon Spotswood as doing for the Virginians, in respect
to the Valley, what Caesar did for the Romans, in respect to
Britain: as discovering it for them: and even as it was a cen-
tury before the Romans followed Caesar westward, so it was
at least a decade before the Virginians began to follow Spots-
wood. In the meantime Germans occasionally came in from
the northeast. More of Spotswood and his knights at another
place.
In 1722 Michael Wohlfarth, a German sectarian, is re-
ported to have passed down through the Valley of Virginia
going from Pennsylvania to North Carolina ;2 Dr. J. A. Wad-
dell, after investigating various sources of information, is
satisfied that in or about the year 1726 John Sailing and John
Mackey explored the Valley, both settling therein later ;3 and
it is likely that other white men, Germans, Scotch-Irish, and
English, at other times before as well as after, walked in this
great highway of nature from north to south.
We are now coming to the time of permanent settlement,
which v/e are able to fix some five years earlier than 1732,
the date so long accepted as marking the beginnings in the
Valley. In 1732 Jost Hite, with a number of other Germans,
settled in the section now marked by Winchester; and in the
same year John Lewis, with a number of other Scotch-Irish,
located at or near the place where Staunton now stands; but
it appears that as early as 1727 Adam Miller, a German, per-
haps with a few others of his own nationality, was staking
out claims on the south fork of the Shenandoah River, on or
near the line that now divides Rockingham County from Page.
2- Sachse's German Sectarians, Vol. II, page 332.
3. Waddell's Annals of Augusta, edition 1902, page 24.
-34-
