Berkeley County, West Virginia Biography of AQUILA JANNEY This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 393-394 AQUILA JANNEY, who died March 25, 1922, was a Con- federate cavalryman during the Civil war, and spent the half century or more since the war chiefly as a farmer in Berkeley County. In the years of his retirement he enjoyed the comforts of an attractive rural home on Dry Run Pike, a mile from the Martinsburg conrthouse. Mr. Janney was born on a farm a mile and a half from the courthouse on December 1, 1836. His grandfather, also named Aquila Janney, was a native of Virginia, whose ancestors had come to America with William Penn and after living for some years in Pennsylvania, moved to Virginia. Aquila Janney was a miller by trade, and in 1800 was struck by lightning and killed while on a boat loaded with wheat which he had bought in Maryland and was trans- porting to his mill. During the Revolutionary war he was pressed into the service of the Colonial forces. Being a Quaker, he refused to carry a gun. One day while on parade General Washington noticed him without a gun, and riding up to question him recognized Mr. Janney as an old acquaintance. Knowing his scruples as a Quaker he imme- diately wrote out a discharge and told him to go home and remain there until he was needed. General Washington had been entertained at the Aquila Janney home, and the beau- tiful solid mahogany table used at that time and cus- tomarily in the dining room is still preserved in the home of Aquila Janney in Berkeley County. The grandfather married a Miss McPherson, of Scotch ancestry and she was later married to Mr. Mendenhall, and with him removed to Berkeley County and settled on Tuscarora Creek. Israel Janney, father of Aquila and son of the pioneer miller, was born on a farm located on the banks of the Potomac River, nine miles below Alexandria, March 1, 1800. the same year his father was killed. When he was about eight years of age he accompanied his mother to Berkeley County. He made the best of his opportunities to acquire an education, and as a young man served an apprenticeship in a drug store in Alexandria. He then went to New York and clerked for a while, but the climate not agreeing with him he went on West to Cleveland, Ohio, but soon returned to Virginia, and in 1831 married Mary Tabb. She was born on a farm near Martinsburg, daughter of John Tabb, who was born on a farm three miles northwest of Martinsburg and granddaughter of George Tabb, of English ancestry, who with his brothers John and Edward came from Glouces- ter, Virginia, to Berkeley County, and was a pioneer. George Tabb was a Baptist minister, and did much to extend the power of that church in Western Virginia. By each of two wives he had two sons, named John, George, Elliott and Bailey. John Tabb, maternal grandfather of Aquila Janney, was a successful farmer, owning and occupy- ing the farm known as Rural Hill. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church and died in 1847. He married a Miss Turner, a life-long resident of Berkeley County, who died in 1863. Israel Janney after his marriage engaged in the drug business for a time, and then turned his attention to a farm which he acquired a mile and a half from Martins- burg, and remained a resident there until his death in 1884. His wife passed away in 1864. They had five children: John, Arabella, Aquila, William Henry and Mary. Aquila Janney grew up in a time when there were no free schools, and his education was the result of attending subscription schools. As a youth he began assisting on his father's farm. and at the age of seventeen was performing the responsibilities of a regular hand. At the age of twenty-one he rented his father's farm, and worked it until the outbreak of the war. Mr. Janney enlisted in Company B, First Virginia Cavalry, and was under the command of General Stuart, and part of the time was attached to Stonewall Jackson's Division. He was in many battles and campaigns, and dur- ing the latter two years of the war was in the Quarter- master's Department. He was at the headquarters at Petersburg when the final surrender took place, and re- ceived his parole at Winchester. He reached home May 22d. After recuperating for a time he resumed farming. The old homestead had been overrun by both armies, fences and all other improvements except the dwelling house and smoke house destroyed, and for several years he was busily engaged in the labor of reconstruction and rehabilitation. He continued renting until 1874. when he bought a farm five miles north of Martinsburg. He remained in that locality growing general crops and livestock for twenty-nine years. At the end of this period he came to the niace where he spent his last days, near Martinsburg, on Dry Run Pike. The house here is an old landmark, having been constructed in 1808 of log timbers. The framework was at one time plastered and later was weatherboarded by Duncan Hamil- ton, who bought the property in 1872. It is a pleasantly located home on high ground, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding country. It was in this home that Mr. Janney married in 1874 Miss Mary Johnson Hamilton. She was born in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and both her grandfathers were Pennsylvanians who volunteered for service in the War of 1812 and did guard duty along the shores of Lake Erie at the time of the great naval battle in which Commodore Perry won his victory over the British fleet. Her father was Duncan Hamilton, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1801. Her paternal grandfather, John Hamilton, was a Scotchman living in Eastern Pennsylvania, and he married a Miss Torrence. Dnncan Hamilton was an early settler in Allegheny County, and in 1872 removed to Berkeley County, West Virginia, and bought the farm on Dry Run Pike, where he spent his last days. He married Agnes Mc- Keever, of Irish ancestry. Mrs. Janney is the only survivor of three children. She inherited a part of the homestead, and Mr. Janney subsequently bought the interests of the other two heirs.