Page 47 - History of Rockingham Co
P. 47
A HISTORY OF
Elkton and Port Republic. '^ The conditions upon which
Stover received his grant were that he should actually locate
a family of settlers upon each thousand acres within two
years. These were the conditions usually imposed upon those
receiving large grants of land at that time. Upon satisfactory
proof that these conditions had been discharged, a permanent
title was given.
The names of the eight petitioners of 1733, who had
bought land in Massanutten of Jacob Stover in 1729 or 1730,
were as follows:
Adam Miller^ Philip Long Hans Rood^^
Abram Strickler Paul Lopg Michael Kaufman
Mathias Selzer^ Michael Rhinehart
The family names of all these men, with perhaps one or
two exceptions, are to-day familiar and widely distributed,
not only in the counties of Rockingham, Page, and Shenan-
doah, but also in many quarters beyond the limits of Virginia.
It is quite probable that Adam Miller at first pre-empted
his claim on the Shenandoah by squatter right, later meet-
ing properly the requirements of advancing governmental
authority. It is possible, moreover, that the enterprising
Stover sold him and his friends the Massanutten tract before
the said Stover himself had a grant for it, since, as we have
seen, the latter did not receive his grant until June 17, 1730.
The alarm of the eight petitioners of 1733 arose from fear
securing grants of land were worthy of Machiavelli. See Kercheval's
History of the Valley of Virginia, reprint of 1902, page 46.
7. Mr. Chas. E. Kemper fixes the location of Stover's lower tract of
5000 acres, likely the same purchashed by Adam Miller and others in 1729.
between Bear Lithia Spring, two miles below Elkton, in Rockingham
County, and Newport, a village 12 miles further down the river, in Page
County. See Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, January,
1906, pp. 295-297. It should be stated, however, that the little vale and
the village that still retain the name of Massanutten are a few miles far-
ther northeast, beyond Newport.
8. Adam Miller, who appears to have been the first settler of Rock-
ingham and adjacent sections of the Valley, was born probably at Schrei-
-36—
Elkton and Port Republic. '^ The conditions upon which
Stover received his grant were that he should actually locate
a family of settlers upon each thousand acres within two
years. These were the conditions usually imposed upon those
receiving large grants of land at that time. Upon satisfactory
proof that these conditions had been discharged, a permanent
title was given.
The names of the eight petitioners of 1733, who had
bought land in Massanutten of Jacob Stover in 1729 or 1730,
were as follows:
Adam Miller^ Philip Long Hans Rood^^
Abram Strickler Paul Lopg Michael Kaufman
Mathias Selzer^ Michael Rhinehart
The family names of all these men, with perhaps one or
two exceptions, are to-day familiar and widely distributed,
not only in the counties of Rockingham, Page, and Shenan-
doah, but also in many quarters beyond the limits of Virginia.
It is quite probable that Adam Miller at first pre-empted
his claim on the Shenandoah by squatter right, later meet-
ing properly the requirements of advancing governmental
authority. It is possible, moreover, that the enterprising
Stover sold him and his friends the Massanutten tract before
the said Stover himself had a grant for it, since, as we have
seen, the latter did not receive his grant until June 17, 1730.
The alarm of the eight petitioners of 1733 arose from fear
securing grants of land were worthy of Machiavelli. See Kercheval's
History of the Valley of Virginia, reprint of 1902, page 46.
7. Mr. Chas. E. Kemper fixes the location of Stover's lower tract of
5000 acres, likely the same purchashed by Adam Miller and others in 1729.
between Bear Lithia Spring, two miles below Elkton, in Rockingham
County, and Newport, a village 12 miles further down the river, in Page
County. See Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, January,
1906, pp. 295-297. It should be stated, however, that the little vale and
the village that still retain the name of Massanutten are a few miles far-
ther northeast, beyond Newport.
8. Adam Miller, who appears to have been the first settler of Rock-
ingham and adjacent sections of the Valley, was born probably at Schrei-
-36—
