Elim, A Fry Family Home in Virginia

And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? . . . And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.  Exodus 15: 24 and 27

The Biblical Elim was an oasis in the desert, a place where God showed his compassion to the thirsty refugees traveling out of Egypt, toward the Promised Land.  When the Fry family built their home in what was then Orange, or perhaps Culpeper county Virginia, they may have been looking toward God’s provision in an oasis. 

Two plantations are attributed to Joshua Fry in the beautiful countryside surrounding the city of Charlottesville Virginia.  Elim, located near the community of Locust Dale is about thirty-five miles north and east of Charlottesville, while Viewmont is ten miles south of Charlottesville.  Viewmont was probably built and occupied by the Joshua Fry family about 1744, when they moved west from Essex county Virginia to Albemarle county Virginia.  Elim was constructed sometime between 1745 and 1766.  Opinions differ on whether it was the home of Joshua Fry, or his son Henry Fry (my 5x great-grandfather). 

Henry Fry was married to Susan “Sukey” Walker in 1764, and Elim was the home where they raised their large family.  The home remained in the hands of descendants (the Lightfoot family) into the early 1900s.

Today Elim operates as an upscale Virginia Wine Country Bed and Breakfast - The Inn at Meander Plantation.  Online reviews are highly complementary.  Ten guest rooms are provided, including the lovely Colonel Fry’s Suite.

The Inn’s website gives this brief historical context:

The plantation was patented in 1726 by Col. Joshua Fry, a member of the House of Burgesses and professor at William and Mary. Col. Fry and his partner Peter Jefferson, father of Thomas Jefferson, surveyed and drew the first official map of the area known as Virginia. Fry commanded the Virginia Militia at the start of the French and Indian War, with George Washington as his second in command. After Col. Fry died [1754] from injuries sustained in travel to battle, Washington assumed command of the forces and “locals” say Washington encamped here [Elim] for about a month to pay tribute to Fry’s widow and children.

Originally named Elim, the manor was enlarged in 1766 by Joshua’s son, Henry Fry. (He is buried in the family cemetery located in the field behind the house.) His lifelong friend, Thomas Jefferson, visited here often, as did General Lafayette.  William Wirt, famous 18th Century American lawyer and counsel for the prosecution against Aaron Burr in 1807, spent much of his youth here. At that time, the plantation encompassed more than 3,000 acres.

During the Civil War, the mansion housed a Union official, Col. Baynard.  Numerous important Civil War battles were fought near the property, which is only 4 miles from Cedar Mountain, site of one of the war’s largest and fiercest cavalry battles.  Local historians believe the Battle of Cedar Mountain actually began at Meander’s front gates.

The property name was changed to Meander in the early 1900s by owner George Shearer, who maintained the property as an estate for his daughters, Judith and Julia. They lived their entire adult lives here, and as noted breeders of horses, cattle and dogs, the colorful, locally-storied sisters are credited with introducing Whippets to America. The Meander Whippet still sets the breed standard.

Suzie Blanchard and Suzanne Thomas bought the property in 1991 with the specific intentions of converting it to its current status as a 10-room Virginia wine country inn. A working agricultural property thoughout its history, the land continues to be farmed for hay, corn and soybeans, as well as a small vineyard producing cabernet franc, petite manseng and cabernet-norton hybrid wine grapes.


For more details on Joshua Fry or his son Henry Fry, visit their individual pages at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.
And, be sure to visit The Inn at Meander Plantation website.

Moving Back In Time:  Albert Luther Clarkson 1901 > Aubin Mildred Fry 1878 > Reuben Macon Fry 1847 > Philip Slaughter Fry 1801 > Reuben Fry 1766 > Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry 1700.

Valentine’s Day 1850 – James Jones married Phebe Mouser

Esther Howland Valentine, circa 1850: 

"Weddings now are all the go, 

Will you marry me or no"?

James Jones married Phebe Mouser on the 14th of February 1850.  We don’t know anything about the wedding ceremony, but it may have taken place in the Mouser home, near Rocky Mound in Hempstead county Arkansas.  The little community where the Mousers lived no longer appears on modern maps.  But, in its day, Rocky Mound sat about four miles east of the town of Hope in the southwestern corner of Arkansas.  

Did the young couple purposefully choose a Valentine’s Day wedding?   In 1850, the 14th of February fell on a Thursday.  It was not uncommon during this period to have a “weekday” wedding.  In the mid-nineteenth century wedding traditions were shifting from a church ceremony, to a more intimate gathering in the bride’s family home.  Weddings were often held in the morning, and were followed by a breakfast for the guests. 

But, what of the Valentine’s Day connection?   The origin of Valentine’s Day is probably related to a St Valentine who was celebrated on the Catholic liturgical calendar on the 14th of February.  In the fourteenth century, Geoffrey Chaucer was the first to link the Christian feast day to romantic love, by the writing of a poem.  Gradually the practice of exchanging cards and gifts grew up around the feast day.  By the 18th century, traditions of homemade cards with lace, ribbons, cupids, and hearts were popular in England.  America followed after. 

Only a few years before the Jones and Mouser wedding a new epoch in Valentine’s Day celebrations had begun.  In 1847, Esther Howland, a young woman in Worcester Massachusetts, began a business of mass producing Valentine cards.  The story goes that Esther, inspired by a lovely valentine card she had received from England, began a “cottage industry”.  Her father, a prominent stationer in Worcester, was able to import supplies of paper lace, ribbon and decorations, and her brother was her first salesman.  The business, under her direction for almost thirty-five years, proved wildly successful. 

It is satisfying to think that James and Phoebe chose the “traditional day of romance” for their wedding.  The surging popularity of the holiday around 1850, suggests this as a real possibility.  But, whether true or not, the day was likely filled with wishes for love and happiness from their family and friends. 


For more details on James Jones and Phoebe Mouser, visit their individual pages at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com. 

Moving back in time:  Edith W Tanner 1902 (wife of Robert Hutchison) > Mary Lula Smith 1879 > Eliza Alice Jones 1859 > James Jones 1824 (married Phoebe Mouser)

Joshua Fry at William and Mary College

When Joshua Fry removed from England to America in the 1720s, he settled himself in the bustling town of Williamsburg Virginia.  In short order he took up the position of Master of the Grammar School at the College of William and Mary.  Whether he came to Virginia for that specific purpose, or received the appointment after his arrival is unknown.  For a single young man in his twenties, with considerable energy and industry, this was an opportunity.  Eighteenth century teachers were noted with respect in a community.

The College of William and Mary

 

The College of William and Mary had been opened in 1694, after years of dreaming and preparation by its founders.  The Rev James Blair held the position of President, from the founding until his death in 1743. The initial plans for the college called for “a college president and six masters or professors”.   Five of the masters would lead classes in Greek and Latin (the grammar school), mathematics, moral philosophy, and divinity.  The sixth master would head a separate school  “for the instruction and conversion of the Indians”.  For the first thirty-five years, the grammar school was the center of the college, usually serving from twenty to forty students.  The upper divisions of the college were spare in both students and faculty. 

The year 1729 was pivotal in the life of William and Mary College.  By former agreement, the direction of the college was transferred from the hands of eighteen trustees to the faculty itself.  A full faculty was functioning by that time, and, according to the record, “Joshua Fry, a gentleman of Williamsburg, was appointed master of the grammar school, which was early established ‘for the immediate education of the youth of the colony in the Latin and Greek tongues.’”  We know, by a deed of 1726, that Joshua Fry was already serving as master at the college at that time, so it is likely that he headed the grammar school for at least five years, until 1731. 

The chief aim of the grammar school was to instruct young boys in Latin and Greek, in preparation for entrance into the School of Philosophy.  A proficiency in Latin and Greek was necessary, as most textbooks of the day were written in those ancient languages.  As the eighteenth century moved towards its mid-point, more texts were being developed in English. 

The Grammar School Classroom

Before entering the grammar school at about age twelve, a boy had to be able to read, write, and understand simple arithmetic, and the basics of language.  If the number of students was large, the schoolmaster was assisted by an usher (under-teacher).  The grammar school course was studied over a term of three or four years, and besides languages, included mathematics, writing, and exercises in logic.  The school master also gave regular instruction in the catechism of the established church, and attended twice daily chapel, and all meals with his students.

An earlier William and Mary Grammar School master, Mungo Ingles, described a typical day in the classroom, in a letter of 1704: 

It is nothing to be (all ye year long except in ye breaking up) Confin'd to College from 7 to 11 in the morning; & from 2 to 6 in the afternoon, and to be all day long spending ones Lungs upon a Compa. of children, who (many of them) must be taught ye same things many times over.

Today, Colonial Williamsburg preserves several rooms of the old Wren Building at William and Mary College in their colonial appearance.  The Grammar School classroom, which sits just to the north of the main entrance, is one of those rooms.  I had the opportunity to visit the room in the 1990’s.  What fun to sit upon one of the classroom benches, and imagine my great-grandfather at the head of the class!

In 1731, Joshua Fry left the Grammar School to become the college’s Master of Natural Philosophy.  This likely suited him well.  In basic form, Natural Philosophy was the study of the “workings of nature”.  Individuals had long studied the natural world, but in the mid eighteenth century, it was still a fairly new topic of study in the classroom.  At William and Mary College it probably included physics, astronomy, and mathematics. 

One of Fry’s predecessors at the college, Rev Hugh Jones, had proposed in 1722, that William and Mary College serve as a “training school for the civil service of the colony.”  This was a revolutionary idea.  He suggested that county clerks, assessors, and surveyors might be trained, and then appointed by the college.  It is not clear that such a plan was adopted by the college at that time, but it seems reasonable that Joshua Fry, during his time at William and Mary College, trained many young men in the craft of surveying.  By the latter half of the eighteenth century county surveyors were appointed by the governor, “after a candidate had been examined and approved by the faculty of the College of William & Mary.”

It is not certain exactly what year Joshua Fry left his work at the college to pursue new things.  It was probably sometime between 1732 – 1737.  He had led a bachelor’s life for many years, and at about the age of thirty-five, he was ready for a wife and family.  Sometime between 1734-1736, he married Mary Micou, the daughter of Dr Paul Micou, and the wealthy widow of Leonard Hill.  Joshua Fry, in the twenty years that followed, accomplished extraordinary things. 

As surveyor, map-maker, explorer, husband, father, burgess, and head of the Virginia forces during the French and Indian War, he demonstrated that his years as schoolmaster at William and Mary College could be practically applied to a rich and full life.


For more details on Joshua Fry, visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.

Moving Back In Time:  Albert Luther Clarkson 1901 > Aubin Mildred Fry 1878 > Reuben Macon Fry 1847 > Philip Slaughter Fry 1801 > Reuben Fry 1766 > Henry Fry 1738 > Joshua Fry 1700.

Further Reading:
Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series – The College of William and Mary, by Mary Goodwin, 1967.
The Development of a Curriculum in the Early American Colleges; Joe W Kraus; published in the History of Education Quarterly, Vol 1, No 2, June 1961.

Markham of Chesterfield, A new website

After a generous year’s work, I finally have a new genealogy website up and running – Markham of Chesterfield.  It is a project that has been long on my heart.  It tells the story of my 6xgreat-grandfather, John Markham of Chesterfield county Virginia, his ancestors and descendants.  John Markham was born in county Kilkenny Ireland, just after the opening of the Eighteenth Century.  As a young man, about 1730 – 1735, he immigrated to America, settling first in Orange county New York, and eventually moving his large family to Chesterfield county Virginia.  I have been researching and gathering stories on the Markham family for thirty-five years. 

In December 2013 I determined to set aside work on the Family Stories website and blog until I could complete my Markham project, and get it up onto the web.  I hoped for a four to six month hiatus.  But, as those things go – here I am, almost fourteen months later – ready to return to my Family Stories project.  I look forward to picking up where I left off – with some accounts of my Fry and Tanner families.   

Coming soon  – Joshua Fry at William and Mary College

I would love to have you visit at my new Markham of Chesterfield website.  I have also made some recent additions on the Van Lear family at the Family Stories, pamgarrett.com website.  To help place the Van Lears on the family tree - Jane Van Lear and her husband Archibald Robinson are the grandparents of Elizabeth Robinson Clarkson.


Moving back in time:  Albert Luther Clarkson 1901 > Aubin M Fry 1878 > Eliza Brooks Hutchins 1844 > Aubin M Markham 1817 > John Markham 1770 > Bernard Markham 1737 > John Markham of Chesterfield, abt 1700.

Moving back in time:  Albert Luther Clarkson 1901 > Samuel Edwin Clarkson 1875 > Elizabeth Jane Robinson 1848 > Preston McGready Robinson > Jane Van Lear 1795 > John Van Lear 1747 > Jacob Van Lear 1710.

Edmund Anderson, Promoting Charlottesville Virginia

Edmund Anderson was born in 1785 in Virginia, near the close of the revolutionary era.  He is likely to be the son of Richard Anderson and his second wife Mildred “Milly” Thomson.  I like to think of this 4xgreat-grandfather of mine as a “visionary”.  But, “dreamer” might be closer to the truth. 

Charlottesville Virginia, Downtown Mall, 2009; wikimediacommons

Edmund Anderson grew up in Louisa and Albemarle counties in Virginia, and as a young man, he looked to his future in Charlottesville, Albemarle’s county seat.  The town of Charlottesville was established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1762.  It is of particular interest to our family, that the land was donated by another of our grandfather’s, Dr Thomas Walker of Castle Hill.  It has been told that Thomas Walker drew up the earliest deeds and offered prizes to encourage settlement of the new town.  The original plan set aside fifty acres of land for lots and streets, with the courthouse sitting outside of the town to the north.  Growth for the new town was slow.    Almost fifty years later, in 1810, the town had only grown to “forty five houses, a courthouse, a jail, and an academy.“ 

By that 1810 date, one of those forty-five Charlottesville houses may have been the home of Edmund Anderson, or he may have lived outside the town proper.  Others in the household were his wife, Frances Moore, and infant children, Pamelia Mildred Anderson (my 3xgreat-grandmother) and John Mortimer Anderson.  A few years later, in 1813, Edmond Anderson purchased sixty acres, near the courthouse and established his “Anderson Addition”.  He had plans to be a part of Charlottesville’s further growth!

Author, Edgar Wood, in his “History of Albemarle County Virginia”, 1901, tells us:
In 1813, Edmund [Anderson] purchased from Clifton Rodes, Executor of John Jouett, sixty acres of land lying east and north of Charlottesville, and extending from the present Ninth Street east to the hill overlooking Schenk's Branch, and laid it out in town lots. This tract was known as Anderson's Addition. He sold a number of lots, chiefly on East Jefferson and Park Streets, during the decade of 1820 . . .

The property Edmund Anderson purchased outside of Charlottesville had some interesting history.  As indicated above, he purchased it from the estate of John Jouett who had died in 1802.  Jouett had acquired the property as part of a one hundred acre purchase from John Moore in 1773.   It included Jouett’s Tavern (also called Swan Tavern) which had been erected by John Jouett to serve the Charlottesville community and travelers through the area.  It sat directly across from the courthouse, and its claim to fame arrived during the Revolutionary years. 

The Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society website tells the story this way:
The Swan tavern resided at 300 Park Street, where a brick townhouse now stands. Jack Jouett, whose father owned The Swan, made the tavern famous. In 1781, Jefferson and Virginia’s  government quit Richmond under threat of capture by the British, and reconvened in Charlottesville. Jouett rode through the night on back roads from Louisa County to warn Governor Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee and other members of the General Assembly of the approach of British forces under the command of Colonel Banastre Tarleton. Eluding capture, most legislators fled to safety in Staunton. Tarleton’s men destroyed some court records and military stores, but spared the town from destruction . .

Not long after Edmond Anderson’s 1813 purchase of the Jouett property, he removed his family to Richmond Virginia.  His wife Frances Moore Anderson died around this same time, and he was secondly married to Nancy Cole.  He took up other pursuits in Richmond Virginia, but continued to manage his Albemarle county property.  In 1818 the property was annexed to the town of Charlottesville.  This was about the same time that Thomas Jefferson’s Central College was established in Charlottesville.  Over time, Central College grew into the University of Virginia, and ensured the continued growth of the town. 

But, as Charlottesville’s prospects improved, Edmond Anderson’s vision faded.  It seems that his endeavors in Richmond were draining his pockets.  “The History of Albemarle . . “ gives this clue:
[speaking of Edmund Anderson] . . he removed to Richmond, and entered into business under the firms of Anderson & Woodson . . , but the business failing, he transferred all his property in Albemarle to John R. Jones as trustee, who in 1829 sold it for the payment of his debts.

Edmund Anderson struggled on in Richmond, investing in other properties, operating several businesses, and even serving as the city’s postmaster.  But, the few available records do not suggest that his “visions” ever brought financial success.   When he died of “old age” in 1861, his Charlottesville years were long behind him.  I like to think his “dreams”, and his willingness to invest, made a worthwhile contribution to a lovely and enduring community. 


For more details on Edmund Anderson, visit his page at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.

Moving back in time:  Albert Luther Clarkson 1901 > Aubin Mildred Fry 1878 > Reuben Macon Fry 1847 > Pamelia Mildred Anderson 1810 > Edmund Anderson 1785.


Further Reading: 
Bio for Edmund Anderson, by Pam Garrett, at Family Stories, pamgarrett.com.
History of Albemarle County Virginia, by Rev. Edgar Woods, 1901.  Look for this as a scanned ebook on the internet.  Details about the Anderson Family are found on page 139.
From Cuckoo to Charlottesville: Jack Jouett’s Overnight Ride, by Rick Britton, 5 Mar 2013; at the Journal of the American Revolution website.
Charlottesville and the Albemarle County Courthouse Historic District; National Register of Historic Places Inventory.