Page 48 - History of Rockingham Co
P. 48
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY
that William Beverly had an earlier or better claim than
Stover. They had learned that Beverly w^as bringing suit
against Stover for the land in question.
On May 5, 1732, William Beverly, son of Robert Beverly
the historian of Virginia, had received a grant of 15,000
acres on the Shenandoah River, including "a place called the
Massanutting Town," provided the same did not interfere
with any previous grants made in that section. Obviously
sheim, Germany, the native place of Alexander Mack, about the year
1700. He came early in life to Lancaster County, Pa., with his wife and
an unmarried sister. Later, going to Williamsburg, Va. , he heard of the
beautiful valley between the mountains from some Spotswood knights,
and followed their path westward, crossing the Blue Ridge at Swift Run
Gap. Having seen and desired the goodly land in the river plain below,
he brought his family thither. He secured first the "uppermost of the
Massanutten lots," near the present Page County line, but probably in
Rockingham; in 1741 he purchased 820 acres, including the great lithia
spring near Elkton, and was living thereon in 1764 when he sold 280 acres
thereof to his son-in-law, Jacob Bear. Here Adam Miller lived till he
died about 1780, and here the Bear family still resides, the spring being
known as Bear Lithia Spring. He was a soldier in the French and Indian
War, as shown by the military schedule for 1758 in Hening's Statutes.
In religion he was a Lutheran, and was probably buried at St. Peter's
Church, four miles north of Elkton. Among his descendants are the Mil-
lers, Bears, Kempers, Yanceys, Gibbons, Hopkins, Mauzys, Harnsberg-
ers, and other prominent families of East Rockingham. A descendant,
Hon. Chas. E. Kemper of Washington City, deserves special mention for
his valuable publications regarding the pioneer.
9. Mathias Selzer of "Missinotty" is referred to by Gottschalk, a Mo-
ravian missionary, in his journal of 1748 as "the son-in-law of Jacob Bey-
erly, of Lancaster"; as rich, generous, and respected in the whole region,
but as bitter against the Moravians. He was evidently a Lutheran. In 1751
he was one of the justices of Augusta County (Summers' History of
Southwestern Virginia, p. 821), a fact which shows that he lived south-
west of the Fairfax line.
10- Hans Rood (John Rhodes) was doubtless the Mennonite preacher
visited at Massanutten by Gottschalk in 1748, and, with his family, mas-
sacred by Indians in 1766. See Virginia Magazine of History and Biog-
raphy, July, 1904, page 69, and Kercheval's History of the Valley of Vir-
ginia, reprint of 1902, pp. 101, 102. It is likely that Abram Strickler and
Michael Kaufman were also Mennonites.
—37—
that William Beverly had an earlier or better claim than
Stover. They had learned that Beverly w^as bringing suit
against Stover for the land in question.
On May 5, 1732, William Beverly, son of Robert Beverly
the historian of Virginia, had received a grant of 15,000
acres on the Shenandoah River, including "a place called the
Massanutting Town," provided the same did not interfere
with any previous grants made in that section. Obviously
sheim, Germany, the native place of Alexander Mack, about the year
1700. He came early in life to Lancaster County, Pa., with his wife and
an unmarried sister. Later, going to Williamsburg, Va. , he heard of the
beautiful valley between the mountains from some Spotswood knights,
and followed their path westward, crossing the Blue Ridge at Swift Run
Gap. Having seen and desired the goodly land in the river plain below,
he brought his family thither. He secured first the "uppermost of the
Massanutten lots," near the present Page County line, but probably in
Rockingham; in 1741 he purchased 820 acres, including the great lithia
spring near Elkton, and was living thereon in 1764 when he sold 280 acres
thereof to his son-in-law, Jacob Bear. Here Adam Miller lived till he
died about 1780, and here the Bear family still resides, the spring being
known as Bear Lithia Spring. He was a soldier in the French and Indian
War, as shown by the military schedule for 1758 in Hening's Statutes.
In religion he was a Lutheran, and was probably buried at St. Peter's
Church, four miles north of Elkton. Among his descendants are the Mil-
lers, Bears, Kempers, Yanceys, Gibbons, Hopkins, Mauzys, Harnsberg-
ers, and other prominent families of East Rockingham. A descendant,
Hon. Chas. E. Kemper of Washington City, deserves special mention for
his valuable publications regarding the pioneer.
9. Mathias Selzer of "Missinotty" is referred to by Gottschalk, a Mo-
ravian missionary, in his journal of 1748 as "the son-in-law of Jacob Bey-
erly, of Lancaster"; as rich, generous, and respected in the whole region,
but as bitter against the Moravians. He was evidently a Lutheran. In 1751
he was one of the justices of Augusta County (Summers' History of
Southwestern Virginia, p. 821), a fact which shows that he lived south-
west of the Fairfax line.
10- Hans Rood (John Rhodes) was doubtless the Mennonite preacher
visited at Massanutten by Gottschalk in 1748, and, with his family, mas-
sacred by Indians in 1766. See Virginia Magazine of History and Biog-
raphy, July, 1904, page 69, and Kercheval's History of the Valley of Vir-
ginia, reprint of 1902, pp. 101, 102. It is likely that Abram Strickler and
Michael Kaufman were also Mennonites.
—37—
