Farm History :: Part 2

Recently, the kids and I (and my cousin and her family) visited the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia. The FCM is a living history museum, with exhibits that showcase the lives pre-Americans were living in Africa, Germany, England and Ireland. You can visit an African village made of clay, an English smallholding complete with a small herd of Cotswald sheep, an Irish village with a forge, linen loom and pigs, and finally, a rather large German estate with Red Devon cattle. Then, through the magic of modern technology, you are transported to a village made up of early American settlements, including one representing the Eastern Woodland Indians (not a specific tribe). I am eager to explore the 1740’s American settlement more as it is likely similar to what was built on our land when Rockbridge County was first settled in the mid-1700’s.

I started my search for the history of the farm at the county’s government website and found this:

Rockbridge County was formed in 1778 and named after the Natural Bridge of Virginia, a natural historic wonder located in the southern part of the County. Two-thirds of the County’s 607 square miles came from Botetourt County to the south and the remainder from Augusta County to the north.

The inducement to settle the Rockbridge/Augusta area was provided in 1736, when Benjamin Borden received a Crown Grant of 100,000 acres with the stipulation that he would settle a hundred families [here]. Scotch-Irish [sic] and German pioneers soon migrated south along the Indian Road from Pennsylvania to settle in the area. Read more…

I did some more digging and was excited to learn the Logan family was a part of the initial Borden Grant filing. Unfortunately, the land {John} Logan settled in 1752 was a bit north of here, in the Walker’s Creek area. And while it appears his brother, David Logan, was already here as early as 1740, I have not found a map or any details showing that land. I have found evidence that his son, future General Benjamin Logan sold “800 acres on Kerr Creek” at some point. Our farm is not far from Kerrs Creek, but 800 acres…? If it was sold, then who bought it?

There is a large homestead between ours and Kerrs Creek which I believe to be the site of the Kerrs Creek Massacres, during which a Jane “Jennie” {Logan} McKee was killed, but I haven’t been able to connect her to either John or David Logan. Jane was born in 1713. John in 1703, David in 1706, and their third brother William was born in 1710. That would make her a cousin {?} but so far I have not been able to trace her family tree.

The previous owner of this home was able to trace the deed records back to 1825, so my hope is that between those records, the history of the county moving forward from 1740, and a conversation with a Logan still living nearby, I can figure out who and when this land was settled. Stay tuned! {OvO}