The Bulletin of the Loudoun County Historical Society, Volume IV, 1965Various
History
The Bulletin of the Loudoun County Historical Society, Volume IV, 1965
Various
Loudoun County (Va.) -- History
According to the _Register of Pennsylvania_, edited by Samuel Hazard, in
Vol. VII, printed in 1831—About the year 1733, Amos Janney from Bucks
County, and soon after divers other Friends, settled about 40 miles
lower in Virginia than the Opeckon, who obtained leave to hold a meeting
for worship on first days, which was held at the said Amos Janney’s and
other Friends houses till the year 1741 when a piece of land was
purchased, and a meeting-house built thereon called Fairfax, whose
meetings have since been held twice a week.
Janney’s _History of Friends_ notes in a memorial concerning his wife
Mary Janney, “he (Amos) is mentioned as a valuable Friend and true
helper Zion ward; and she is described as a devoted Christian, whose
meekness, gentleness, and kindness rendered her company truly agreeable
and instructive.
“When they came to Virginia, the neighborhood where they settled was
almost uninhabited, but other Friends soon coming after and settling
near them, a meeting for worship was held in their house.”
At first, in 1733, Amos Janney was authorized to hold an “Indulged
Meeting” by East Nottingham Monthly Meeting; then the Waterford Meeting
was organized in 1735 as a Preparative Meeting, under the auspices of
Hopewell Meeting. Soon its membership increased and when the first
meeting house was built, probably of logs in 1741, the meeting applied
to Hopewell to be allowed to proceed as a monthly meeting. The
application was allowed, and in 1744 Fairfax Monthly Meeting was set up
along with Monocacy Preparative Meeting, just two years after Fairfax
County came into being. At the first Monthly Meeting six couples
requested permission to marry. Jane Hogue was clerk of Women’s Meeting
with Elizabeth Norton and Mary Janney as overseers; Samuel Harris and
Jacob Janney were overseers and Amos Janney clerk of the Men’s Meeting.
Monocacy Meeting was laid down in 1762; there is more of its history
following this date, but since it is out of our scope, we will leave it
where it lies.
Meanwhile the yeast of settlement was working, and about ten years from
the coming of the first settlers to Waterford we find them bringing in
their friends from up North and East. People were coming from Bucks and
Chester Counties in Pennsylvania, from New Jersey, Calvert County,
Maryland, and direct from England and Wales. Pressing out at the
southwest they found unclaimed land, some which, even that indefatigable
amasser of Loudoun County land, George Slater, had missed; rich and
valuable, between the North and Beaverdam Forks of Goose Creek. Here
they established themselves in settlements called Harmony, now Hamilton,
and Goose Creek, now Lincoln.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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