That out of every hundred pounds of tobacco, paid in
discharge of quit rents, secretary's, clerk's, sheriff's,
surveyor's, or other officers fees, and so proportionably for
a greater or lesser quantity, there shall be made the
following abatements or allowances to the payer, that is to
say: For tobacco due in the county of Fairfax ten pounds of
tobacco, and for tobacco due in the county of Loudoun twenty
pounds of tobacco; and that so much of the act of the
assembly, intituled, An Act for amending the Staple of
Tobacco, and preventing frauds in his Majesty's customs, as
relates to anything within the purview of this act, shall be,
and is hereby repealed and made void.
DERIVATION OF NAME.
Loudoun County was named in honor of Lord Loudoun, a representative peer
of Scotland, who, the year before its establishment, and during the
French and Indian war, had been appointed captain-general and
governor-in-chief of the province of Virginia, and commander-in-chief of
the British military forces in the Colonies.
His military avocations, however, prevented him from entering upon the
duties of the gubernatorial office, and it is believed that he never
visited the colony of Virginia. Dinwiddie continued in the control of
its affairs, while Loudoun turned his attention to military matters,
in which his indolence, indecision, and general inefficiency were most
conspicuous and disastrous. Franklin said of him: "He is like little
St. George on the sign-boards; always on horseback, but never goes
forward."
Until his early recall to England, contemporaneous writers and brother
officers mercilessly criticised Loudoun "whom a child might outwit, or
terrify with a pop-gun."
Hardesty's Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia contains the
following succinct account of the public services rendered by this
noted Scotchman:
"John Campbell, son of Hugh, Earl of Loudoun, was born in
1705, and succeeded his father in the title in November,
1731. In July, 1756, he arrived in New York with the
appointment of governor-in-chief of Virginia, and also with
the commission of commander-in-chief of the British forces in
America, but, proving inefficient, returned to England in
1757. He was made Lieutenant-General in 1758, and General in
1770. He died April 27, 1782, and was succeeded by Norborne
Berkeley, Baron de Botetourt, as governor of Virginia, in
1768."
SETTLEMENT AND PERSONNEL.
The permanent settlement of Loudoun began between the years 1725 and
1730 while the County was yet a part of Prince William and the
property of Lord Fairfax, the immigrants securing ninety-nine-year
leases on the land at the rate of two shillings sterling per 100
acres. The above-noted interim saw a steady influx of the fine old
English Cavalier[18] stock, the settlers occupying large tracts of
land in the eastern and southern portions of the County or most of the
territory extending from the Potomac River southward to Middleburg and
from the Catoctin and Bull Run mountains eastward to the eastern
border of the County. It is more to this noble and chivalric strain
than to any other that Loudoun owes her present unrivalled social
eminence.
[Footnote 18: This stock was the first to introduce and foster slavery
in the County.--Goodhart's _History of the Loudoun Rangers_.]
John Esten Cooke's faithful and eloquent delineation of Virginia
character is peculiarly applicable to this Cavalier element of Loudoun
society. Some conception of that author's grandiose style and intimate
knowledge of his subject may be gained from the following passage:
"The Virginian of the present time has ingrained in his
character the cordial instincts and spirit of courtesy and
hospitality which marked his ancestors. He has the English
preference for the life of the country to the life of the
city; is more at home among green fields and rural scenes
than in streets; loves horses and dogs, breeds of cattle, the
sport of fox-hunting, wood-fires, Christmas festivities, the
society of old neighbors, political discussions, traditions
of this or that local celebrity, and to entertain everybody
to the extent of, and even beyond, his limited means. Many of
these proclivities have been laughed at, and the people have
been criticised as provincial and narrow-minded; but after
all it is good to love one's native soil, and to cherish the
home traditions which give character to a race. Of the
Virginians it may be said that they have objected in all
times to being rubbed down to a uniformity with all the rest
of the world, and that they have generally retained the
traits which characterized their ancestors."
The northwestern part of the County, known as the "German Settlement,"
a section of about 125 square miles, extending from Catoctin Mountain
westward to the Short Hill Mountains and from the Potomac River
southward to near Wheatland, was originally settled by a sturdy and
vigorous race of Germans,[19] principally from Pennsylvania, but a few
from New York, in which two colonies they had settled on their
arrival, only a few years before, from the Palatine states of Germany.
They came to Loudoun between the years 1730 and 1735,[20] about the
time of the Cavalier settlements.
These German settlers were a patient, God-fearing people, naturally
rugged, and very tenacious in the preservation of their language,
religion, customs and habits. Every stage in their development has
been marked by a peaceable and orderly deportment--a perfect
submission to the restraints of civil authority.
[Footnote 19: The first sheep were brought to the County by these
settlers.--_History of the Loudoun Rangers._]
[Footnote 20: 1732 was most likely the year in which the earliest of
these German settlers arrived in Loudoun.]
The earliest of these German arrivals, with native foresight and a
proper appreciation of the dangers incident to border settlement in
that day of bloody Indian atrocities, came to Loudoun in an organized
body, embracing sixty or more families.
Many of the males were artisans of no mean ability, and plied
their respective trades as conscientiously and assiduously as
others, in the rude manner of the times, tilled their newly-acquired
acres.
In this way, a congenial, stable, and self-sustaining colony, founded
on considerations of common safety and economic expediency, was
established amongst these storied hills of frontier Virginia.
Almost simultaneously with these settlements came other emigrants from
Pennsylvania and the then neighboring colonies, among them many
members of the Society of Friends or Quakers.[21] Not a few of this
faith came direct from England and Ireland, attracted by the genial
climate, fertile soils and bountiful harvests, accounts of which had
early gained wide-spread circulation. They chose homes in the central
portion of the County, southwest of Waterford and west of Lessburg,
that section being generally known as the "Quaker Settlement."
Each summer brought them new accessions of prosperity and devout
brethren to swell their numbers; and soon they had caused the
wilderness to blossom as the rose. Here they found freedom of
religious and moral thought, a temperate climate, and the wholesome
society of earnest compatriots.
Then, as now, a plain, serious people, they have left the
impress of their character--thrifty, industrious, and conspicuously
honest--upon the whole of the surrounding district.
[Footnote 21: The term Quaker, originally given in reproach, has been
so often used, by friend as well as foe, that it is no longer a term
of derision, but is the generally accepted designation of a member of
the Society of Friends.--_Loudoun Rangers._]
No concerted violence, it is believed, was offered these settlers by
the Indians who seem to have accredited them with the same qualities
of honesty, virtue, and benevolence, by the exercise of which William
Penn, the founder of the faith in Pennsylvania, had won their lasting
confidence and esteem.
The Quaker is a type with which all the world is familiar and needs no
particular portrayal in this work. The Quakers of Loudoun have at all
times remained faithful adherents of the creed, their peculiar
character, manners, and tenets differing to no considerable extent
from those of other like colonies, wherever implanted.
It is doubtful if any race has done more to stimulate and direct real
progress, and to develop the vast resources of Loudoun, than that
portion of our earlier population known as the Scotch-Irish. Their
remarkable energy, thrift, staidness, and fixed religious views made
their settlements the centers of civilization and improvement in
Colonial times; that their descendants proved sturdy props of the
great cause that culminated in the independence of the United States
is a matter of history.
EARLY HABITS, CUSTOMS, AND DRESS.
HABITS.
The earliest permanent settlements of Loudoun having been separately
noted in the foregoing paragraphs a generalized description of the
habits, customs, and dress of these settlers, as well as their
unorganized pioneer predecessors and the steady promiscuous stream of
home-seekers that poured into the County until long after the
Revolution, will now be attempted.
The early settlers, with but one class exception, had no costly tastes
to gratify, no expensive habits to indulge, and neither possessed nor
cared for luxuries. Their subsistence, such as they required, cost but
little of either time or labor. The corn from which they made their
bread came forth from the prolific soil almost at the touch of their
rude plows. Their cattle and hogs found abundant sustenance in the
broad pastures which, in the summer, yielded the richest grass, and in
the woods where, in the fall, the ground was strewn with acorns and
other like provender.
The pioneer lived roughly; the German from the Palatinate kept house
like the true peasant that he was; the planter lived somewhat more
sumptuously and luxuriously; but, in nearly every case, the table was
liberally supplied. Hominy, milk, corn-bread, and smoked or jerked
meats seem to have been most popular with the humbler classes.
Ice was not stored for summer use, fruits were few and not choice, and
the vegetables limited; our ancestors, at that time, having no
acquaintance with the tomato, cauliflower, egg-plant, red-pepper,
okra, and certain other staple vegetables of today. The Indians had
schooled them in the preparation of succotash with the beans grown
among the corn, and they raised melons, squashes, and pumpkins in
abundance.
Corn for bread was broken in a mortar and ground in a grater or
hand-mill. Mills, in the early days, were few and far apart, some of
the back-settlers being compelled to travel many miles for their
grist. This condition gave origin to the adage "first come first
served," and frequently carried the late arrivals over night and, at
times, prolonged the trip to procure a few bushels of meal three or
four days. "Band-mills," run by horses, and small water mills, where
the situation permitted, came into use to supply the demand of larger
ones. The building of a good mill, it must be confessed, was hailed
with greater satisfaction than the erection of a church.
The more primitive of these peoples ate from wooden trenchers and
platters; sat upon three-legged stools or wooden blocks; used bear's
grease in lieu of lard and butter, and cut their foods with the same
sheath-knives used in disembowelling and skinning the deer killed by
their rifles. They had no money and their scant furniture was
essentially crude, sometimes including a few pewter dishes and plates
and spoons, but usually nothing beyond wooden bowls, trenchers, and
noggins, with gourds and squashes daintily cut. The horse trough
served as a wash-basin, and water buckets were seldom seen. The family
owning an iron pot and a kitchen table were esteemed rich and
extravagant, and china and crockery ware were at once practically
unknown and uncraved. Feather-beds and bedsteads were equally
eschewed, these hardy men who had conquered the wilderness not
disdaining, when night came, to sleep upon a dirt floor with a
bear-skin for covering.
With muscles of iron and hearts of oak, they united a tenderness for
the weak and a capability for self-sacrifice worthy of an ideal knight
of chivalry; and their indomitable will, which recognized no obstacle
as insuperable, was equalled only by their rugged integrity which
regarded dishonesty as an offense as contemptible as cowardice. For
many years they dwelt beyond the pale of governmental restraint, nor
did they need the presence of either courts or constables. Crimes
against person, property, or public order were of so infrequent
occurrence as to be practically unheard of. In moral endowments--even
if not in mental attainments--these sturdy pioneers of Loudoun were,
it must be admitted, vastly superior to many of those who followed
them when better facilities for transportation rendered the County
more accessible.
Society before and for many years after the Revolution was easy,
agreeable, and somewhat refined. Traveling was slow, difficult, and
expensive. For society, the inhabitants were mainly dependent upon
themselves; the ties of social life were closely drawn. Books,
newspapers, and magazines were rare; men and women read less, but
talked more, and wrote longer and more elaborate letters than now.
"Cheap postage has spoiled letter writing." Much time was spent in
social visits; tea parties, and supper parties were common. The
gentlemen had their clubs and exclusive social gatherings, sometimes
too convivial in their character, and occasionally a youth of promise
fell a victim to the temptations of a mistaken hospitality. "Gaming
was more common among respectable people than at the present day."
CUSTOMS.
Of leisure, all classes at all times had a superabundance, and it was
cheerfully devoted to mutual assistance without thought of recompense,
except in kind. If anyone fell behind through sickness or other
misfortune, his neighbors would cheerfully proffer their services,
often making of the occasion a frolic and mingling labor with
amusement.
On days set apart for the pulling of flax and wheat-cutting, the
neighbors and their children assembled in happy mood and as cheerfully
applied themselves to their gratuitous tasks. While the men were
pulling the flax or reaping and shocking the wheat, the women at the
house were preparing the harvest-noon feast. The rough table, for
which the side and bottom boards of a wagon were frequently used, was
placed when practicable under the shade of a spreading tree in the
yard. The visitors contributed from their meagre store such additional
dishes, knives, forks, and spoons as were needed. Around the table,
seated on benches, stools, or splint-bottom chairs, with such
appetites as could only be gained from honest toil in the open field,
the company partook of the bounties set before them. These consisted,
in addition to the never-failing corn-bread and bacon, of bear and
deer meat, turkey, or other game in season, and an abundance of
vegetables which they called "roughness." The bread, styled
"jonny-cake," was baked on journey or "jonny" boards, about two feet
long and eight inches wide. The dough was spread over the boards which
were then placed before the fire; after one side was browned, the cake
was reversed and the unbaked side turned toward the flames.
However strictly it might be abstained from at other times, a harvest
without whisky was like a dance without a fiddle. It was partaken of
by all--each one, male and female, drinking from the bottle and
passing it to his or her nearest neighbor. Drinking vessels were
dispensed with as mere idle superfluities.
Dinner over, the company scattered, the elders withdrawing in a body
and seating or stretching themselves upon the ground.
After the filling and lighting of the inevitable pipe, conversation
would become general. The news of the day--not always, as may be
imagined, very recent--was commented upon, and then, as now, political
questions were sagely and earnestly discussed. Stories, mainly of
adventure, were told; hairbreadth escapes from Indian massacre
recounted and the battles of late wars fought again beneath the
spreading branches of the trees. Meanwhile, the boys and girls
wandered off in separate and smaller groups, singing and playing and
making love much in the manner of today.
Another amusement of those days, and one that did not fall into
disfavor for many years thereafter, was what was known as "shucking
bees." To these gatherings were invited both old and young. Stacks of
corn in the husk were piled upon the ground near the crib where the
golden ears were finally to be stored. Upon the assemblage of the
guests, those with proud records as corn-huskers were appointed
leaders, they in turn filling the ranks of their respective parties by
selection from the company present, the choice going to each in
rotation. The corn was divided into approximately equal piles, one of
which was assigned to each party. The contest was then begun with much
gusto and the party first shucking its allotment declared the winner.
The lucky finder of a red ear was entitled to a kiss from the girls.
Supper always followed this exciting contest and after supper came the
dance. Stripped of dishes, the tables were quickly drawn aside and the
room swept by eager hands. Then came the struggle for partners and the
strife to be "first on the floor." Usually the violin furnished the
only music and the figures most in favor were the reel and the jig, in
which all participated with a zest and abandon unknown to the modern
ballroom. "They danced all night till broad daylight and went home
with the girls in the morning," some on foot and some on horseback,
practically the only means of getting there.
"Dreadful prodigality" does not too extravagantly describe the
drinking habits of the people of Virginia in the latter half of the
eighteenth century. They consumed an enormous quantity of liquors in
proportion to their numbers, and drank indiscriminately, at all hours
of the day and night. West India rum was the favorite drink of the
people, because the cheapest, and was bought by the puncheon. Most
every cellar, especially in the Cavalier settlements, had its barrel
of cider, Bordeaux and sherry and Madeira wines, French brandies,
delicate Holland gins, cordials, syrups, and every sort of ale and
beer. Drunkenness was so common as to excite no comment, and drinking
after dinner and at parties was always hard, prolonged, and desperate,
so that none but the most seasoned old topers--the judges, squires,
and parsons of six-bottle capacity--ever escaped with their sea-legs
in an insurable condition.
While a large proportion of the home-seekers that had settled in the
County immediately after the Revolution had received a rudimentary
education, and had lived among communities which may be said to have
been comparatively cultured, most of them were hardy, rough,
uncultivated back-woodsmen, accustomed only to the ways of the
frontier and camp. Many of them had served in the war of the
Revolution and all of them in the border wars with the Indians. Though
brave, hospitable and generous, they were more at ease beneath the
forest bivouac than in the "living-room" of the log-cabin, and to
swing a woodman's axe among the lofty trees of the primeval forest was
a pursuit far more congenial to their rough nature and active
temperament than to mingle with society in settled communities. Their
habits and manners were plain, simple, and unostentatious. Their
clothing was generally made of the dressed skins of the deer, wolf, or
fox, while those of the buffalo and elk supplied them with covering
for their feet and heads. Their log-cabins were destitute of glass,
nails, hinges, or locks.
Education during the early settlements received but little attention
in Loudoun, and school-houses, always of logs, were scarcely to be
seen. Schools were sometimes opened at private houses or at the
residence of the teacher; but "book larnin" was considered too
impracticable to be of much value.
While the standard of morality, commercial as well as social, was of a
high order, few of these settlers were members of any church. Many of
them, however, had been reared in religious communities by Christian
parents; had been taught to regard the Sabbath as a day of worship,
and had been early impressed with a sense of the necessity of
religious faith and practice. Some of the prominent citizens
encouraged these views by occasionally holding meetings in their
cabins, at which the scriptures and sometimes sermons were read and
hymns sung, but no prayers were offered. The restraining and molding
influence of these early Christian efforts upon the habits and morals
of the people was in every respect wholesome and beneficial. The
attention of the people was arrested and turned to the study and
investigation of moral and religious questions, and direction was
given to the contemplation of higher thoughts and the pursuit of a
better life.
In the meantime, other elements were introduced which effected a
radical change in the habits of the people for both good and evil. The
first settlers lived in the country, in the woods and wilds, whose
"clearings" were far apart. Not one in ten of them had dwelt in any
town, or even visited one having as many as a thousand inhabitants.
And now there came the merchant, the lawyer, the doctor, and the
mechanic, who resided in the towns which began to grow and to take on
new life. Most of these had enjoyed superior advantages, so far as
related to education and that worldly wisdom which comes from
experience in older communities. Some of them had come from across the
ocean and others from the large American cities, bringing with them
manners, customs, furniture, and wares, of which the like had never
been seen by the oldest inhabitant.
And thus were gradually introduced the methods and appliances of a
more advanced civilization. The pioneer and his wife, hearing of these
things, would occasionally "go to town" to "see the sights," and would
there discover that there were many useful and convenient articles for
the farm and kitchen which might be procured in exchange for their
corn, bacon, eggs, honey, and hides; and although the shrewd merchant
was careful to exact his cent per cent, the prices asked were little
heeded by the purchaser who was as ignorant of the value of the
commodities offered as he was delighted with their novelty and
apparent usefulness.
DRESS.
The subject of dress is approached with reluctance and its description
diffidently essayed. But the task has seemed mandatory as the manners
of a people can not otherwise be fully understood. The stately,
ceremonious intercourse of the sexes, the stiff and elaborate walk of
Loudoun men and women of Colonial and post-Revolutionary times is
traceable almost solely to the costuming of that period. How could
ladies dance anything but the stately minuet, when their heads were
veritable pyramids of pasted hair surmounted by turbans, when their
jeweled stomachers and tight-laced stays held their bodies as tightly
as would a vise, when their high-heeled shoes were as unyielding as if
made of wood, and their trails of taffeta, often as much as fifteen
yards long, and great feathered head-dresses compelled them to turn
round as slowly as strutting peacocks? How could the men, with their
buckram-stiffened coat-shirts, execute any other dance, when their
elaborate powdered wigs compelled them to carry their hats under their
arms, and their swords concurrently required dexterous management for
the avoidance of tripping and mortifying falls?