Brunswick County, VA - Work Projects Administration, The Virginia Historical Records Survey INVENTORY OF COUNTY ARCHIVES OF VIRGINIA NO. 13. BRUNSWICK COUNTY (LAWRENCEVILLE) Prepared by The Virginia Historical Records Survey Service Division Work Projects Administration Sponsored by The Virginia Conservation Commission Richmond, Virginia The Virginia Historical Records Survey January 1943 FOREWARD The "Inventory of the County Archives of Virginia" is one of a number of guides to historical materials prepared throughout the United States by workers on Historical Records Survey projects of the Work Projects Administration. The publication herewith presented, an inventory of the archives of Brunswick, is number 13 of the Virginia series. The Historical Records Survey program was undertaken in the winter of 1935-36 for the purpose of providing useful emplyment to needy unemployed historians, lawyers, teachers, and research and clerical workers. In carrying out this objective, the project was organized to compile inventories of historical materials, particularly the unpublished government documents and records which are basic in the administration of local governments, and which provide invaluable data for students of political, economic, and social history. The archival guide herewith presented is intended to meet the requirements of the day-to-day administration by the officials of the county, and also the needs of lawyers, businessmen, and other citizens who require facts from the public records for the proper conduct of their affairs. The volume is so designed that it can be used by the historian in his research in unprinted sources in the same way he uses the library card catalog for printed sources. The inventories produced by Historical Records Survey projects attempt to do more than give merely a list of records - they attemp further to sketch in the historical background of the county or other unit of government, and to describe precisely and in detail the organization and functions of the government agencies whose records they list. The county, town, and other local inventories for the entire country will, when completed, constitute an encyclopedia of local government as well as a bibliography of local archives. The successful conclusion of the work of Historical Records Survey projects, even in a single county, would not be possible without the support of public officials, historical and legal specialists, and many other groups in the community. Their cooperation is gratefully acknow- ledged. The Survey program was organized by Luthor H. Evans, who served as Director until March 1, 1940, when he was succeeded by Sargent B. Child. The survey operates as a Nation-wide series of locally sponsored projects in the Division of Community Service Programs, of which Mrs. Florence Korr, Assistant Commissioner is in charge. George H. Field Deputy Commissioner Works Project Administration ----------------- PREFACE ----------------- (First entry, p. 45) I. HISTORICAL SKETCH Brunswick County is one of the series of Virginia counties whose southern limits coincide with the State boundary between Virginia and North Carolina, and it is situated half way between the Atlantic Coast and the Blue Ridge Mountains within the easternmost quarter of the four-hundred-mile line that markes the extreme east-and-west dimensions of the State. The northern boundary of the county is the Nottway River, which separates Brunswick from Nottoway and Dinwiddie. Lunenburg and Mecklenburg extend to the west, and Greensville to the east. Bounded thus on three sides by the straight lines of the surveyor's instruments, the county forms approximately a rectangle, extending 20 miles east and west and, as an average, about 30 miles north and south. The total area is 557 square miles, and the popu- lation is 19,575.(1) Enjoying the mild climate of its location between 30-degrees 32' and 36-degrees 56' north latitude, the ocunty is also well watered and is well drained - on the north by the Nottway River and on the south by the Roanoke, which crosses the county only in the extreme southwest corner. Most of the area is in the basin of the Meherrin River which flows eastward across the county not much south of the middle line.(2) It is to be noted that the three main rivers flow towards North Carolina and Albemarle Sound rather than through the older parts of Virginia. During the period when water transportation determined the course of development in any region, this factor was very important to retarding settlement. It also tended to build up social and economic relations to the southward. The whole of Brunswick County lies west of the fall line, and it is on the slightly elevated plateau that is characteristic of the part of Virginia to the west of the fall line but east of the Piedmont Hills. The eastern part of the county is fairly level and broken only oc- casionally by gentle hills. Farther west as the plateau rises steadily in the center of the county, the land becomes increasingly hilly, especially around Lawrenceville and in the western part, though it never becomes rugged.(3) The soil in the eastern part of the county is a whitish loam, and in the west it is the dark red earth that is characteristic of much of the Virginia countryside. The Richmond-Petersburg granite formation, which extends to the south and southwest from Hanover County across Henrico, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, western Greensville, and into North Carolina, also reaches across most of ------------- 1. "Rand McNally Commercial Atas and Marketing Guide, p. 409." 2. United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, "State of Virginia," Lawrenceville, McKenney, White Plains, and Emporia Quadrangles. 3. "Ibid.": there is, however, no Federal survey of the westernmost strip of the county. 4. "Virginia As She Is," p. 36. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 45) Brunswick County. In several places in the county, quarries have been created to provide granite of excellent quality for monumental and general building purposes and for some kinds of street work, but at present none of these are operating.(1) In the county there are unde- veloped beds of marl, some little copper, soapstone, and limestone, and, especially near Lawrenceville, good clays for making brick.(2) Early History The area that is now Brunswick County began early to figure in Virginia history. Before a single English generation had lived and died in Virginia, white men began to find their way across what is now Brunswick County. In 1650 Abraham Wood and Edward Bland traveled through the distric on their journey of exploration to Occanoochi Island, which is the middle one of the three islands in the Roanoke River just west of where Clarksville now stands.(3) Within the next 10 years the route came to be traveled regularly. In 1673 James Nodham and Gabriel Arthur went this way on their journey to explore the route leadong further south and up into the southern mountains.(4) As the fur trade prospered between Fort Wood, near what is now Petersburg in Dinwiddie County, and the Indians of the southern mountains, this path, usually called the Occanoochi Path or the Trading Path, became one of the world's highways of commerce. During the last quarter of the seventeenth century and the early years of the eighteenth, loads of fur were brought year after year over the Trading Path for sale in the great world markets of Leipsic, Amsterdam, Paris, Vienna, and London.(5) This path led in a fairly direct line from the falls of the Appomattox River to Occanoochi Island and then southward through North Carolina. Like many other paths used by the white men, this one seems to have been well taveled by the Indians in thier many comings and goings before the white man arrived on the continent. Apparently, too, like other such paths, the original track through the wilderness was marked out by the feet of the herds of buffalo that had made their way into this region long before the landing of the early settlers.(6) ------------------------------------ 1. William McGill, "Outline of the Mineral Resources of Virginia", pp. 14-15. 2. "Ibid.", p. 13 3. For journal of this exploration see Clarence Walworth Alvord and Lee Bidgood, "The First Exploration of the Trans-Allegheny Region by the Virginians, 1650-1674", pp. 109-130; see sketch of Abraham Wood in "Dictionary of American Biography." 4. "Ibid." pp. 56, 79; for jouranl of expedition, "ibid.", pp. 211-226. 5. For the development of the fur trade see Beckles Willson, "The Great Company (1667- 1871) Being a History of the Honourable Company of Merchants-Adventurers Trading into Hudson's Bay, passim." 6. Frederick Webb Hodge, ed., "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico." [Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 30], esp. articles on Christanna Indians, Occanocchi, Saponi, and Tutolo. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 45) By 1715, before Brunswick County had entered into any legal existence of its own, the Virginia trade with the Indians had passed its peak of prosperity, but for many years it continued to be a factor in the economic life of Virginia. Direct participation of the county area in profits of the trade can not be traced, but the indirect effects of the constant travel through the region ought to be overlookd. It also made an important group of men aware of the desira- bility of obtaining patents of ownership in this plesantly situated district, and it helped to open the way to agricultural settlement because many of these men began to acquire land and stimulate settlement.(1) William Byrd's account of the survey of the boundary between North Carolina and Virginia in 1728, as well as such other writings as his "Journey to Eden," reflects this interest in the region for himself, and for others.(2) By 1728 families already settled and enjoying large holdings in the older parts of Prince George and of other counties had added new patents in the squarely settled part of Prince George that was cut off to make the present Brunwick County.(3) The process of settlement had already begun. It was at Christianna -- about 15 miles south of the Nottoway River near what is now Gholsonville in Brunswick County but then in Surry County -- that Gov. Alexander Spotswood settled friendly Indians from the Saponi, Tutlo, Occaroochi, and Stegaruki tribes. This was according to his general policy of undertaking the establishment of compact communities of friendly but fairly powerful Indian tribes in places where they would be a protection to white settlements and where they would be conveniently near for trade and missionary acti- vities. In 1714 he made Christianna the headquarters for the monopolistic Virginia Indian Company established the same year. Spotswood also subsidized an Indian school there, and in 1715 Charles Griffin was its teacher with a salary paid by Spotswood.(4) In 1720 the Virginia Assembly passed an act to create Brunswick County out of territory that had formerly been part of Prince George County, but left the actual definition of the boundaries to the Governor -------------------------------------------- 1. Verner W. Crane, "Southern Frontier, 1670-1732," p. 157. 2. William K. Boyd, ed., "William Byrd's Histories of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina, passim;" William Byrd, "Writings of Colonel William Byrd, of Westover in Virginia, Esqr.," edited by John Spencer Bassett. 3. For dates and descriptions of locations see Appendix to "Inventory of the County Archives of Virginia; Prince George County." 4. "Journal of John Fontaine," Ann Maury, "Memoirs of a Huguenot Family," pp. 272, 275-276; William Stevens Perry, "Historical Collections Relating to the American Colonial Church," I, 306; P. A. Brock, ed., "The Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood." The Collections of the Virginia Historical Society, II, 90; the record of the survey of 1063 acres for the Indian Company on Nov. 21, 1716, is in the Prince George County deed book, Deeds, Etc., 1713-1726, Archives Division, Virginia State Library. _________________________________________________________________________________ 4 Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 45) with the consent of the Council.(1) Like many other place names of the period, the name chosen for the new county was associated with the rulers of Great Britain. Brunswick County was named for the Duchy of Brunswick, one of the possessions of the House of Hanover that had become the ruling house of Great Britain when George I became King in 1714. Settlers in Brunswick and in Spotsylvania County, which was created by the same act, were to enjoy exemption from taxation for a period of 10 years beginning May 1, 1721, o.s. A fund of 1000 pounds was provided for arms and ammunition to be distributed among the settlers of both Brunswick and Spotsylvania, and another 500 pounds was set aside to pay for building church, courthouse, prison, and pillory and stocks for Brunswick.(2) Nevertheless, the newly created county was not actually organized at this time. By the terms of the act of creation in 1720, the county court of Prince George County was to continue to have jurisdiction over the affairs of Brunswick, and the sheriff of Prince George was to function in Brunswick also and to have double fees for this trouble. During the next few years Brunswick County developed less swiftly than seems to have ben expected. In 1722 the Council failed to recommend the election of burgeses for the county on the ground that it was "too thinly Inhabited" and that there were "neither courts nor officers of Justice" there.(4) At the end of the same year the colonial council was peti- tioning the British government in London to exempt inhabitants from the purchase rights and payment of quitrents in order to stimulate speedy settlement, and early in 1724 an order in council from London approved the petition and provided for the remission of quitrents for a period of 7 years beginning May 1, 1721.(5) At the same time the entry or survey of more than 1000 acres of land to any one person was forbidden in order to prevent the engrossment of large tracts by non-resident owners and to encourage actual settlement of relatively small parcels.(6) The roitoration of this denial of the right to take up more than 1000 acres indicates that there was some difficulty in enforcing this law; but on the whole the provision hold, and the area benefitted by an in- creasing number of actual settlers.(7) In 1723 the Council defined a portion of the boundaries for Brunswick. In that year the boundary between Brunswick and Surry County was ordered ----------------------------------- 1. William Waller, Honing, "The Statutos at Large, from the First Session of the Legislature in the Year 1619," IV, 77. 2. "Ibid.", pp. 77-78. 3. "Ibid.", p. 79. 4. Henry Read Mollwaino, ed., "Executive Journals of the Council of Virginia," IV, 9. 5. "Ibid.", pp. 28, 61. 6. "Ibid.", p. 62 7. "Ibid.", pp. 70, 88, 92, 94, "passim." _________________________________________________________________________________ (5) Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 45) to be surveyed at once and was to begin where the "upper line of Surry County crosses Nottoway River," thence in a straight line to the Meherrin at or near the mouth of "Reedy Creek or branch," and down the Meherrin to the lower part of Surry County and south to the North Carolina line. The northern boundary was to be from the mouth of the said Reedy branch up the north banch of the Nottoway to its head and thence by a northwest line "to the Mountains." The southern extent of the county was necessarily limited by the dividing line between North Carolina and Virginia, which was not finally fixed until after 1728, and the western limits of Brunswick were never fixed except by implications as other counties were formed.(1) By 1728 there seems to have been a relatively prosporous population in the county in spite of the fact that neither a courthouse nor a church, had as yet been erected,(2) and it is also evident that about half of the 500 pounds allowed in 1720 had not been spent distributing arms and ammunition among Brunswick settlers.(3) William Byrd's accounts of the region at this period are surprisingly clear in showing the general outlines of the county very much as it exists today, and the surviving land grants and surveys show a good deal of activity in real estate.(4) Moreover during those years several factors operated to relieve Indian pressure in the neighborhood. Chief among those were the success of the white men in their wars against the Indians of North and South Carolina and the treaty of 1722 at Albany between the Northern Indians and those of Virginia and the Carolinas. In 1722 also Spotswood was removed from the governorship of Virginia, and the Indians lost his support and that of the Virginia Indian Company when it was abandoned. Increasingly the Indian tribes around Christanna found it difficult to maintain themselves in the changing situation, and they loosened their hold over the region year by year, although they did not finally go North until 1740.(5) In 1732 the government of Brunswick County was actually organized. By April a courthouse had been built, and ten justices of the peace were appointed.(6) The commission for holding the first court in the county was issued on April 22. Probably the county court was organized with Drury Stith as clerk on May 4, o.s., which any Perpetual Calendar will show was the first Thursday in the month and the legal day for holding ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. _________________________________________________________________________________ (6) Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 45) the Brunswick Court. The earliest extant record is that of June 1.(1) In this year two representives were sent to the House of Burgesses.(2) About the same time the county court first sat - on May 5 or 6 - the General Assembly passed an act making the situation of Brunswick County much more favorable fr an organized political life.(3) Since, as the preamble to the act stated, the number of tithables in the area was still small and the burden of the poll taxes was very heavy, and also since some of the inhibitants of Surry County and Isle of Wight wee inconveniently removed from the couthouse and the church, the Assembly therefore added parts of the counties of Surry to the area that had been formed of Brunswick County in 1720.(4) The enlarged county included what is now Greensville County, which lies to the east and was made a separate county in 1781, as well as all that was already incorporated in Brunswick County by the provisions of 1720. The county seat in 1732 was located in what was then nearly the center of the inhabited parts of the country,[sic] probably approximately at the place known now as Cochran, six or seven miles northwest of the present county seat of Lawrenceville. Since that time its location has been changed twice in order to adjust to successive changes in the county's area. In 1735 a small part of Brunswick County was incorporated in Amelia County.(5) In 1746 all that part of Brunswick that lies west of the present county was cut off to make Lunenburg County,(6) which was later divided and subdivided into the following counties: Halifax in 1752, Bedford in 1754, Charlotte in 1765, Mecklenburg in 1765, Pittsylvania in 1767, Henry in 1777, Patrick in 1791, Campbell in 1782, Franklin in 1786. In 1845 Appomattox County was formed from parts of Charlotte, Campbell, Buckingham, and Prince Edward. In 1781 Greensville County was formed to the east out of the territory that had been Brunswick County.(7) These changes in area affected the location of the approximate center of the county and therefore the convenience of the location of the county seat and therefore the convenience of the location of the county seat. In 1746 the courthouse site was removed by court order of July 3, 1746 to the land of the clerk, Sterling Clack, which is usually ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. ___________________________________________________________________________________ 7 Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 45) believed to be some place about 8 miles east of where it has been, that is, probably along the present route 140 between Lawrenceville and Emporia at a place not far from the present Smoky Ordinary. The Virginia Railroad now follows the old Cumberland Road.(1) In 1783, the county seat was moved again, this time to Lawrenceville, where it has remained.(2) In 1814 the General Assembly provided for the establishment of the town of Lawrenceville on the 20 acres of land at the courthouse of Brunswick County.(3) It is now (1942) a pleasantly situated town of 1703 inhabitants.(4) It was incorporated by act of legislature in 1874,(5) and a new charter was granted in 1934.(6) The present courthouse was built in 1854.(7) Churches Since Brunswick County was organized during the period when there was an established church in Virginia, the General Assembly erected the new parish of St. Andrew in 1720 at the same time that it passed the act to organize the new county. Moreover the act provided for the building of a church by appropriating 500 pounds "for a church, courthouse, prison, piller and stocks.(8) About 1752 there seems to have been a good deal of controversy over issues tjhat are not at all clear today, and in 1755 the Assembly dissolved the entire vestry and provided for a new vestry; in 1762 the Assembly authorized the sale of old globe lands and the purchase of new; and at various other times the Assembly continued to execise control.(9) The difficulties of a frontier parish are constantly apparent in the records of those years, and at one time these difficulties are associated with the name of a great, though little known, Welsh poet, Goronwy Owen. In 1757 the conduct of the incumbent clergyman, the Rev. George Purdio, was called into serious question. The case was appealed to the Commissary, and although he acknowledged his neglect of duty and scandalous behavior, it was decided to try him for [ink mark] longer. Then the parish was finally relieved of the burden of his ministry in 1760, the parish received the Eelsh poet, Geronwy Owen, as its rector, but apparently the change did not improve conditions. It has been charged that Owen's talents as a writer of lofty poetry of the purest stain -- but in the Welsh language -- were hardly enough to effect the unfortunate difficulties of h is situation. He seems to have left his native cuontry under a cloud, and in America his love of alcoholic stimulation continued to -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. __________________________________________________________________________________________ (8) betray him. The Vestry Book of the Parish of Saint Andrew, however, does not itself contain any reference to dissatisfactin with his conduct, and he served as rector until his death sometime between July 3, 1769, and July 22 of that year.(1) The early years of the Presbyterian Church in Brunswick County are also associated with great names. John Caldwell, the great-grandfather of John Caldwell Calhoun of South Carolina and the father of James Caldwell, the celebrated Presbyterian clergyman and Revolutionary pa- triot,(2) was a leader of a group of Scotch Presbyterians who in 1739 obtained from the governor of Virginia, William Gooch, the promise to relax the laws requiring everyone to worship ac- cording to the rites of the established church.(3) Since the governor was eager to have the outlying parts of the colony settled as soon as possible, he was willing to grant special privileges to this hardy group. Not long before Lunenburg was cut off from Brunswick they settled themselves on Cub Creek in the part of Brunswick County that was a cut off to form Lunenburg County in 1746 and Charlotte County in 1765.(4) The Presbyterians settled down quickly, built churches, and became substantial members of the community. A series of deeds from Richard and William Kennon to three sons of John Caldwell is dated Jan. 1, 1745, and recorded in 1746, to William Caldwell 621 acres, to John Caldwell, son of John Caldwell, 1400 acres, and to David Caldwell 584 acres.(5) The older ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Vestry Book of the Parish of Saint Andrew, 1732, pp. 72, 74, 89, 125; his will is dated July 3, 1769, Will Book, vol. 4, pp. 8-9; see entries 413 and 169; sketch with discussion of his life in Wales and in England, and of his poetry in "Dictionary of National Biography"; Robert Jones, "The Poetical Works of the Rev. Goronwy Owen: with his Life and Correspondence"; the spelling of Goronwy follows that of DWB but the Brunswick County records have the spelling Gronow. 2. 3. 4. 5. Deed Book, vol. 4, pp. 58-60, 66-68, 70-73, "see" entry 36. _________________________________________________________________________________________ (9) Historical Sketch (First entry, p. 46) John Caldwell's will, dated Nov. 26, 1748, but not probated until Apr. 3, 1751, disposed of at least 2,600 acres of land.(1) (to be continued)