The Muse: August 2002

What’s Happening at the Amherst County Museum this Fall?

Antiques & Old Stuff: Value Your Treasures
Saturday, August 17th 10:00-1:00

Raid your attics and homes for your old stuff and join us at the Museum to have your items identified and valued. Bring grandma’s china or quilt, dad’s coin collection, or the doll you picked up at last week’s yard sale. Returning participants will include:

Betty Davidson - Estate Specialists
Lou Ogden - Lou’s Antiques

A new addition this year will be Ron Waddell - Coin Specialist. Those of you with coin collections are encouraged to bring them for identification and valuation.

Participants will evaluate a variety of items including: china, coins, collectibles, dolls, glass, linens, and quilts. Please no large furniture items.

Cost will be $5.00 per item.

Membership Luncheon
September 14th 11:30 AM

Join us at St. Mark’s Church in Clifford for a morning of good fellowship, food and even Door Prizes. This year’s annual meeting will be a short, but exciting affair followed by a scrumptious lunch prepared by the women of St. Mark’s Church.

Members are invited to find out where the Museum & Historical Society has been this past year and more importantly where we want to go. Hear about plans for next year that include a Spring Historic House tour in the Clifford and Amherst areas. Come to Clifford to see how you can be a part of this exciting experience.

At 12:00, we will adjourn to the parish hall for our lunch. We are suggesting a donation of $8.00 to cover the cost of lunch. If you wish, get together four people and we will reserve a table in your name for the group of you. Seating is limited, so make your reservations early. Invite a friend to become a member and bring them along. The final date to sign up is September 5. Call the Museum at 946-9068 today to reserve your seat!!

Get to Know Your County Tour
October 26th

Our most recent Get To Know Your County Tour was a great success. Participants explored Ebenezer and Oakdale Baptist Churches, wandered around Brightwell's and Galt's Mills, marveled at the Perrow House with its view of the James River, learned about Madison Heights, and deciphered the engravings on Stith Mead's Prayer Rock at Amelon Church.

The next tour will be October 26 and travel along the Buffalo Springs Turnpike to visit villages including Forks of Buffalo, Pera, Pleasant View and Pedlar Mills. Keep your eyes out for a reminder sometime in September.

Director’s Notes: A Busy Time

This summer and fall have turned into busy times here at the Museum. Our exhibit attendance is on the rise and our programs and activities have been in full swing.

Already this summer we have had several tours and groups visiting the exhibits. Many families have come through with their TimeTravelers passports to view the exhibits and Tyler Schoolhouse. At the same time, the genealogy room has been bustling with activity as visitors from across the country work here to trace their Amherst ancestors. The new genealogy group has already met three times to discuss Amherst genealogy topics.

After the hugely successful Yard Sale, the Activities Committee continued with full steam preparing the fall and spring’s slate of activities. With the Antiques & Old Stuff in August, followed by the Membership Luncheon and County Tour in September and October, our fall programs are taking shape. The Historic House Tour planned for next spring is already being planned.

With all this going on inside the Museum, we continue to take care of the exterior of the Kearfoot-Wood house. The Garden Club has brought us through the drought with a beautiful display of flowers surrounding the house. A new entrance sign has been installed directing visitors to the front door. As another grant season approaches, we are working to get bids on repointing the exterior brick. We have finally contracted to have the windows and side and back porches painted so we can install the storm windows before the cold weather hits us.

It is my hope that even more will happen this fall. New school programs are being designed to fit with the SOLs that should encourage more teachers to make use of the Museum’s educational resources. I am sure that as the days pass, even more activity will sprout up here at the Museum. I invite you to make sure you are all a part of it.

Meghan

New Exhibit: Madison Heights: A Photographic Journey

Madison Heights has seen many changes over the past century. This once-bustling community nestled between the James River & Rt. 29 is now a sleepy neighborhood flanked by a busy highway. Many of its historic buildings have already fallen victim to this sprawling road.

See photographs of Madison Heights dating back to 1929 and compare them to photos of the same sites today.

Our members who have old pictures of Madison Heights are invited to contribute them for a short time to add to this exhibit. If you feel you have some photographs which may be of interest, please contact Meghan Wallace at 946-9068.

Board Notes

The Museum Board is undergoing changes! Two long-time members, Clare Webb and Dolly Payne, recently resigned, and their services will be greatly missed. Two new members, Evelyn Harvey and Douglas MacLeod, have agreed to serve. Evelyn has worked diligently with our yard sales for several years, and Doug is a historical researcher and writer. We welcome them!

New officers began their terms in July:

• President, Kathryn Pixley
• Vice President, Leona Wilkins
• Secretary, Susan Mays
• Treasurer, Charles Hamble

We continue improvement of our building and programs. Our changing exhibits highlight different areas of the county and different interests. Come by often!

We appreciate your support and interest and would like to know what you'd like the organization to do. Let us know! The more involved you become, the more fun it is!

See you on September 14!

Continuing on with the Development of Bethel

In Acts of Assembly V. II 1792-1801 – p. 343 – Chap 41 – An Act to establish a town on the lands of Nicholas C. Davies and Thomas W, Cocke in the county of Amherst [passed December 31, 1801.]

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly that thirty acres of land, the property of Nicholas C. Davies and Thomas W. Cocke, lying at Davis’s lower ferry in the county of Amherst shall be and hereby vested in Thomas Moore, Reuben Pendleton, John Ellis, Nelson Crawford, Lewis Dawson, James Ware, and Richard Harrison, gentlemen trustees, to be by them, or a majority of them, laid off into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets and alleys, and established a town to be called and known by the name of Bethel.

2. And be it further enacted, that so soon as the said land shall be laid off as aforesaid, the said trustees, or a majority of them, shall proceed to sell the same at public auction, for the best price that can be had, on twelve months credit, the time & place of such sale being previously advertised for two months successively, in some one of the newspapers within this commonwealth, taking bond & security for the same, payable to the said Nicholas C. Davis and Thomas W. Cocke, their heirs and assigns, which bonds the said trustees, or a majority of them shall cause to be delivered to the said Davis or Cocke, and to convey the lots so sold to the purchasers in fee; subject to the condition of the building on each a dwelling house at least sixteen feet square, with a brick or stone chimney, to be finished fit for habitation within seven years from the day of such sale.

3. The said trustees, or a majority of them, are empowered to make such rules and orders for the regular building of houses in the said town, as to them shall seem best; and to settle and determine all disputes concerning the bounds of said lots. If the purchaser of any lot in the said town, should fail to build thereon within the time herein before limited, the trustees of the said town, or a majority of them, shall enter into such lot, and sell the same again, and apply the money arising from the sale towards the improvement of the streets, and other public purposes within the said town.

4. Vacancies by death or otherwise, of any one or more of the said trustees, shall be supplied by an election to be made by the remaining trustees, or a majority of them.

5. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the passing thereof.

Nicholas C. Davies of Amherst Co. [the son of Henry Landon] & Thomas W. Cocke of Lynchburg had come into possession of the land known as Bethel Tract by paying £1200 to Arthur Landon [ a brother?] and Elizabeth Whiting Davies for 403 acres on the north side of the Fluvanna or James River. This indenture was recorded on 10/2/1800 [Deed Bk. I, p. 201] and survey made by Samuel B. Davies. Boundaries began at the mouth of Crab Creek and generally ran west near McDonald’s Spring…etc… crossing Green Pond Branch where the tobacco rolling road crossed the same … to an old field … and big double creek … etc … the lands encompassed “all woods, under woods, ways, waters, water causes, all houses, edifices and improvements on the tract … also the warehouses for tobacco inspection at a place known as Bethel or Davies Lower Ferry … and the scale weights and other apparatus to warehouses … and also the ferry boat … kept at said place …”

In October 1806, several indentures were recorded at the Amherst Co. Courthouse regarding the sale of some lots at Bethel.. In Deed Book K, page 556, as listed the names of the trustees of the town of Bethel: Thomas Moore, Reuben Pendleton, John Ellis, Nelson Dawson and James Ware who conveyed to Moses Rucker three half-acre lots …#10, #11, and #16 for $66.25…current money of Virginia.

On the same day, October 18, 1806, Moorman Johnson of Lynchburg and Campbell Co. purchased four half-acre lots … #21, #22, #23 [only three listed] for $70.00.

Also on that day, a certain half-acre plot … known in the plan of said town as #17 sold to Charles Johnson of Lynchburg and Campbell Co. for $45.00.

And John Rucker, the same day, paid $50 for an half-acre lot … #8.

Two months later, in December 1806, [Deed Bo. K, p. 539], Thomas W. and Sally [Crawford of Lexington Parish] Cocke … sold their share of the 403 acre Bethel Tract to Nelson Crawford for £600 … a part of the other share of the tract would pass to Beverly Davies, a daughter of Nicholas C. Davies at a later time. Yet the Davies dynasty was letting go of its holdings in Bethel and Crawfords would take over in the next two decades.

[Editors Note: The Davis and Davies names are often confused in this historic setting. All references to Davis in the original legislation actually refer to Nicholas Davies.]

Query

Obediah Powell was born ca. 1756, Amherst Co. VA and died ca. 1803, VA. His wife, Mary, was said to be a Gutherie. I am a descendent from their son Samuel. Were there other children? I would like to exchange any information with anyone working on this line.
Fredwyn Schwendeman
Fredwyn2@juno.com

Looking for a copy of the book Little Lost Boy in Mountains of Virginia by J.B. Huffman. This short book tells the story of Ottie Cline Powell who died lost in the mountains of Amherst County.
John and Gina Hatcher
GLH5462@msn.com
(434) 525-6055

To Submit Queries:
Please use a 3x5 index card (one query per card). Try to be clear and concise. Your query may be edited to shorten it. Include name and address so that readers may contact you directly.
One free is permitted from members of the Museum. Additional queries appearing in the same issue are $1 per member. Queries from non-members are $2.

The Fair Oaks Farm Story

Fair Oaks is a historical property because of its longevity as a farm (1789 to present) and its continuity within one family (1789-1902). The circa 1830 house sites on 53 acres of the old Montpelier Plantation. Originally the land was part of a farm along Rutledge Creek purchased from Carter Braxton in 1786, by James Watson and then by James Franklin in 1789. From 1789 until 1813, the land on which Fair Oaks stands was the northern end of James Franklin’s Montpelier Plantation. Where Fair Oaks now stands then faced Higginbotham Grist Mill near the mouth of Rutledge Creek on the Buffalo River.

In 1813, Major Franklin died and Montpelier Plantation was broken up. The lands where Fair Oaks stands went to one of his daughters. The present house is believed to have been built by her in the 1830s. Upon her death, the property was willed to her nephew John Franklin Davies, the son of Dr. Henry Landon Davies and Ann Franklin. In 1847, John sold the 440 acres he inherited to his father and moved to Georgia. In 1859 a railroad was built through the property upon which Fair Oaks now stands. During the Civil War, John Franklin Davies returned to Virginia with the 14th Georgia Infantry and Regiment. Wounded at Richmond in 1862, he was hospitalized in Lynchburg and recuperated in Amherst. He returned to the 14th Georgia and fought until May 10, 1864. When he was released from prison in June 1865, he returned to Amherst and farmed the Fair Oaks lands. Another soldier with ties to the antebellum Fair Oaks property was Sergeant John Thompson Brown, Company E, 2nd Virginia Cavalry. He was raised by Dr. Davies and his second wife Rebecca Thompson-Davies. Following the Civil War he became a prominent Virginia Judge and Nelson County landowner.

Fair Oaks property passed from Franklin-Davies heirs in 1902 when purchased by R.H. Drummond. It was purchased by Leah Settle in 1909, Milton Floyd in 1942, and William and Claudine Latchford in 1976. In 1986 it became the home of Dr. Erika Kancler and her husband Dr. Pat Michaels. Its owners since 1989 are Robert J. Faught, Major USMC (retired) and his wife Hazel Clements Faught.

Having out-lasted all but one of its original large oaks, the farm house and its remaining 53 acres are still lasting reminders of old Amherst. The early owner John Franklin Davies, LtCol, CSA and his kin are buried in the Davies plot in Amherst Cemetery, and you may see the Davies stained glass memorial door in the Ascension Episcopal Church on Main Street in the Town of Amherst.

Perhaps Fair Oaks Farm will last long enough that someday people will again view the old house in its grove of beautiful old oak trees. That is our wish.

Welcome New Members

• Cora Anne Ferrara—Smithsburg, MD
• Kristy Payne—Virginin Beach, VA
• Fredwyn Schwendeman—Lexington, KY

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