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
It is interesting to see how the land was granted to these later
settlers; for instance, the three earliest grants in the Harmony, Goose
Creek, Philomont, so called “Quaker Settlement” area were as follows:
William Diggs, of Diggs Valley (of which Clarence Case’s farm was a
part) acquired 1,074 acres on August 27, 1731, William Bowell, 602 acres
on August 27, 1731, and George Atwood, 1,092 acres on September 24,
1737. Diggs and Bowell obtained their grants the last year Robert (King)
Carter acted as agent for Fairfax, as Carter died in 1732, and Fairfax
was having no more of the high handed manner in which Carter had handled
the business; so, the office was closed until Lord Fairfax came over
himself and issued a few grants in 1737, when the above George Atwood
must have gotten his. The office was not again opened until William
Fairfax, acting as agent for Fairfax, was ready for business in 1739,
when the Quakers stepped in and got theirs.
Around 1745, or sooner, Jacob Janney, his wife Hannah and others came
down from Bucks County and settled in the Goose Creek neighborhood. In
going over the certificates of removals granted persons leaving the
northern meetings and repairing to Virginia and comparing these
certificates with the dates of their grants, we see that several, but
not all, had been down to Virginia, taken a grant, and gone home for
wife and family, for instance: On third month 2nd, 1741, Joseph
Hollingsworth and wife obtained a certificate from Newark or Kennet
Meeting; his grant is dated April 20th, 1742.
In the minutes of the Falls Meeting: “Abel Janney was reported at the
Pertomock” on 10th Mo. 1st, 1742; his grant was dated March 17th, 1741.
George Gregg had a certificate on 5th Mo. 4th, 1740 from Newark and a
grant of June 3rd, 1744. (Wonder where he was the four years).
Isaac Nichols, a certificate on 9th Mo., 1743, for wife and Herman Cox
from Kennet and a grant for 560 acres on March 25th, 1743.
Jacob Janney received a certificate from the Falls Meeting of 8th Mo.,
the 5th, 1743, and a grant of 690 acres on June 20th, 1743. Jacob
married in 1742, if he came to Virginia in 1745 as historians claim,
where was he from the date of his grant in 1744 and the date of his
certificate, 1743?
Some of the grants were quite large: Ames Janney—2,345 acres, John Mead
1,289 acres, Gidney Clark 3,000 acres. Four Janney families got 4,843
acres, and more too, which was possible as Amos was a surveyor for
Fairfax and knew where all the “waste and ungranted lands” were.
Hannah Janney, the wife of Jacob, must have been a very strong character
as shown by a memorial in the minutes of Goose Creek Meeting of 1818,
the year of her death at the age of 93. It is stated that soon after
their establishment in their new home she went regularly twice a week to
a log in the forest where she set up an altar to her God by spending
some time in silent devotion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account