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Adam Dickenson in "Annals of Bath County Virginia"

Excerts from the book by Oren F. Morton, B.Lit.; The McLure Co, Inc, Staunton, VA, 1917.

Excerpts from Annals of Bath County Virginia, by Oren F. Morton, B.Lit.; The McLure Co, Inc, Staunton, VA, 1917.

Full text at http://ia801407.us.archive.org/4/items/annalsofbathcoun00mort/
[I do not know who did the excerpting. I believe that it was once posted (without attribution) on Ancestry.com, but I can no longer find it. - Robin]

Chap II "Discovery and Settlement", p.16, 17 - If, as is probable, no settlers had appeared in the Bath area before 1743, this will explain why the surveying did not begin in earnest until nearly two years had elapsed. September 26, 1745, the Lewises appeared on the Cowpasture, just above Nimrod Hall, and surveyed 1080 acres for Adam Dickenson. ... During the last week in April, [1746], the surveyors were busy on Jackson's River. Their largest tract was for William Jackson. Immediately below was a second large tract for Adam Dickenson, who took a third a little lower down.

Chap III "The Lewis Land Grant", p.32 (paraphrased) - 875 Acres, Dunlap Creek, Patent date 1750 - Adam Dickenson

Chap IV "Areas of Settlement", p.38-39 - Adam Dickenson, the leading pioneer on the lower Cowpasture, was in 1733 living at Hanover, New Jersey. In 1742 he was an ironworker in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but seems to have moved in the same year to Prince George County, Maryland. It was at this date that he entered into a bond in favor of Thomas Lindsay, whereby he was to patent 1,000 acres on Clover Creek, "otherwise ye Cow Pasture"; and place two families on the tract. Four years later, he brought suit against Roger Hunt, Lindsay's assignee, for a failure to comply with the contract. He must have come to the Cowpasture himself by 1744. When Augusta was organized, at the close of 1745, he alone, of the 21 justices in the first county court, represented the portion of the county west of Shenandoah Mountain. His grist-mill was evidently the first in this region, and the church built on his homestead was undoubtedly the first house of worship among the southern Alleghanies. Dickenson acquired at least 3321 acres of choice hind. He died intestate about 1760. His personal property was appraised by his neighbors, James Gillespie, James McCay, John Young, and Andrew Sitlington, at almost $1,000, easily the equivalent of $5,000 today. The estate included two slaves, 33 cattle, and a wagon valued at $23.33. The only book was a large Bible. Abigail, a daughter, married William McClung. Another daughter was Mary Davis.

John, the only son of Adam Dickenson, was almost an exact contemporary to George Washington. He was born in 1731 and died in 1799. At the age of 22 he was a captain of horse, and during the next 25 years he saw very much military service on the frontier. After being wounded in at least two skirmishes with the Indians, he received a severe hurt in the shoulder at the battle of Point Pleasant...

Chapter VI "Early Political History"

p.52 The earliest mill license seems to be the one issued to Adam Dickenson February 12, 1747. It must have been a new mill that was built on the Dickenson plantation by William Hamilton about 1763. In that year the labor that had been put into the new building was pronounced ;by David Davis and Samuel Vance as worth four pounds ;cash, or $13.33. The Hamilton mill was doubtless to replace one burned by the Indians.

p.53 - Until local government was organized in Augusta, which was not until the close of 1745, its settlers had to go to Orange to attend court, a distance from Fort Lewis of over 100 miles. The first justices from its own territory were John Lewis and James Patron. The former seems to have been commissioned in 1739. There was no resident justice in the Bath area until Adam Dickenson was appointed in 1745. John Dickenson was chosen in 1756.

p.54 - The first lawsuit pertaining to the Bath area and recorded in Augusta, was that of Adam Dickenson against John Potts, called February 11, 1746. A gray mare was ordered sold to satisfy a debt of five pounds ($16.67).

Chap 7 "Roads and Road Builders", p.58 - Meanwhile, the Dickenson settlement was moving for an outlet. A petition by Adam Dickenson, for a road from the "lower end of the Cowpasture to Carter's mill" on the Calfpasture was rejected in February, 1748, but granted a month later

. The signers were John Cartmill, Hugh Coffey, Adam Dickenson, John Donally, William Daugherty, William Gillespie, James Mayse, William Hugh ( ?) Ralph Laverty, Alexander Millroy, James McCay, John Mitchell, John Moore, Andrew Muldrock, James Scott, James Simpson, and James Stuart. These people were living above and below Fort Dickenson, and on Stuart's Creek. Whether this road was to go through "Painter's Gap" is not clear. We do not find definite mention of that passage in road orders until 1762.

In 1748, also, a view was ordered from Peter Wright's to Adam Dickenson's. Wright lived where Covington now stands. An order of 1751 calls for a road from Wright's mill to the Cowpasture near Hughart or Knox. This would bring it up the river to the vicinity of the bridge on the Harrisonburg pike. The work was entrusted to Adam Dickenson, David Davis, Peter Wright and Joseph Carpenter. On the same date, a road, apparently below the Rath line, was ordered from the Cowpasture to Borden's grant. The builders designated were James Frame, William Gillespie, Hugh Mc- Donald, Robert and James Montgomery, William McMurray, James and John Scott, and James Simpson.

Just a year later, a petition by Cowpasture settlers led to an order for another eastward road. This was to go from "Patrick Davis to the road leading to Beverly's big meadows." Adam Dickenson was to lay off the precincts for the two overseers, John Dickenson and James Mayse.

Chap 8 "Life in the Pioneer Days"

p 64 (date not made clear) - And Adam Dickenson was the founder of the settlement on the lower Cowpasture.

p 72,73 - Money was computed, as in England, in pounds, shillings, and pence. But on this side of the Atlantic, these words applied to val- ues and not to coins. The Virginia pound was worth almost onethird less than the pound sterling, and for this reason English money did not circulate in the colony. In Virginia currency, the pound was worth $3.33, the shilling 16 2-3 cents, and the penny a little more than 1 and 1-3 cents. The hard money in actual use came from the West Indies, and was of Spanish, French, and Portuguese mintage. Thus we read frequently of the pistole, the doubloon, and the "loodore," which were gold coins worth, respectively, $3.92, $5.00, and $3.96. It was thus that the Americans became acquainted with the "piece of eight," or Mexican dollar. The former name was because it was divided into eight reals, the real being a silver coin of the value of nine pence, or 12H cents. The earliest mention of the dollar by name is in 1752, when Adam Dickenson thus acknowledges a payment on a note: "Rec'd of the within 28 dollars."

Chap XXV "The Families of Greater Bath" p. 201 - James Waddell bargained for his survey on the Cowpasture in 1743. He fell into debt to a number of people and betook himself to Pennsylvania in 1747. Robert Bratton attached a mare. Laverty was his security to John Scott on a note of $21.86. Scott brought suit, and Laverty petitioned that he might be allowed to patent Waddell's survey, the face of the note and the purchase price of the land being nearly the same. This was granted, and a valuation of the improvements was made by McCay, Cartmill, Stuart, and Adam Dickenson.



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