Page 62 - History of Rockingham Co
P. 62
ROCKINGHAM COUNTY

the district. An unmarried man, H. Reder, took us through the river.
He told us that eight weeks before he had visited Bethlehem, lo

On their tour through Virginia in the fall and winter

of 1749, to which reference has just been made, Breth-
ren Schnell and Brandmueller made out a table of dis-
tances over which they travelled, beginning at Bethlehem,

Pa., crossing Maryland into what is now West Virginia, fol-
lowing up the South Branch of the Potomac through what
are now the counties of Hardy and Pendleton, and going be-

yond, even to the valleys of the James and New River, then

returning to Pennsylvania through the Shenandoah Valley.
Beginning about Staunton, the following distances show the
route taken through Rockingham and Shenandoah:

[From N. Bell] To Franciscus at the Soud Schanathor, 30
To Matthias Schaub, 4
8
To Adam Mueller and back again across the river, 16
To Philip Lung and Mesanothen,
20^^
To Captain John Funk,

In the autumn of 1753 a colony of the Moravian Brethren
migrated from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. Their way
led up through the Valley. In their record they mention the
Narrow Passage and Stony Creek (in Shenandoah County),
and speak of camping alongside the "Shanidore Creek," at a
place that must now be located between Hawkinstown and
Red Banks. Five miles further on they crossed the "Shani-
dore," and camped close to the bank to observe Sunday (Oc-
tober 21, 1753). They were now in the famous Meem's Bot-

toms, between Mt. Jackson and New Market. Brethren

Loesch and Kalberland were bled, because they were not well,
and all gave themselves a treat by drinking tea. The next
day, coming on up the Valley, they found, in the vicinity of

New Market or Tenth Legion, a tavern-keeper named Severe.

This was evidently Valentine Severe, father of General John
Sevier, and a relative of Francis Xavier. The next part

10. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, October, 1903, pp.

126-128.

11. Idem, July, 1904, page 82.

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