The Foland Family of Scottsville: Part I
Bluefield, West Virginia. “Nature’s Air-Conditioned City.”
In the spring of 2018, Slate River Ramblings featured blog posts about the life of Peter Valentine Foland, great-grandson of Randolph Jefferson. Click here to revisit the five-part series: Peter V. Foland, Part I
Recently, I was contacted by a Foland descendant who shared a brief biography of Peter V. Foland’s son, Clarke Valentine Foland, published in The History of West Virginia, Old and New, Volume 2. Written by James Morton Callahan, this entry offers new insights into the Folands of Scottsville and the descendants of Randolph and Peter Field Jefferson. The biography begins:
CLARKE V. FOLAND as a boy learned the printer’s trade, and has been more or less continuously identified with the printing and newspaper business ever since. As a journeyman he became identified with Bluefield [Mercer County, West Virginia] some years ago, and is now president of the Foland Printing Company of that city. His citizenship is enthusiastic, and he is one of the forceful men who believe that Bluefield has not only achieved big things in the past but has a still greater future ahead of it.
Mr. Foland was born in Scottsville, Albemarle County Virginia, May 13, 1879. His grandfather, Valentine Foland, was one of a party of twelve members of the family who came to the United States from Germany. Valentine Foland was a cabinet maker, a very skilled worker in that line, and finally he and his family moved to East Tennessee and later he went to Indiana.
Previous research indicates that Valentine Foland, who married Frances Ann “Fanny” Jefferson in 1840, was born in Shenandoah, Virginia. His father, Jacob Foland, was also born in Virginia and lived with his large family in Rockingham County. Jacob’s ancestor emigrated from Germany.
Coming next: The Foland Family of Scottsville: Part II
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- The Foland Family of Scottsville: Part VI | slate river ramblings . . . .
- The Foland Family of Scottsville: Part V | slate river ramblings . . . .
- The Foland Family of Scottsville: Part IV | slate river ramblings . . . .
- The Foland Family of Scottsville: Part III | slate river ramblings . . . .
- The Foland Family of Scottsville: Part II | slate river ramblings . . . .
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Les,
What a terrific find! Continued good luck connecting your Scotts.
Thanks, too, for the tip about Hopkirk V. Bell (David Bell & heirs).
Joanne
I struck out in Knox county on finding the deposition as it could have been done by a regular justice of the peace without a clerk or notary, but I did find that much of the Hopkirk v. Bell (& heirs) case was done through the Fifth Circuit, Virginia District, and the archivists at the Library of Virginia are looking for the case records.
I was in error about David Bell’s patent by about 2000 acres, it was closer to 11,200 acres, not 13, but still a massive piece of land on which he had a good amount of debt. Between what the Library of Virginia and the National Archives has on Hopkirk v. Bell, it could be a goodly amount of information on Buckingham county residents.
Bell shared a property line with Joseph Scott in 1789, and I know that tax records show his widow Drucilla had land “adj. to Archibald Austin”, and it was Austin who bought all of Drucilla’s remaining land, 192 acres, in 1847.
Les,
Thanks, again, for adding to your comment about Hopkirk v. Bell (& heirs). While I haven’t studied David Bell’s life, I know he was a shaping force in early Buckingham County!
Joanne
I’ve been wondering who the Folands were. Valentine Foland (b. 1809), the Virginia-born cabinetmaker, seems to have gone to Indianapolis between 1860 and 1870 where he spent the rest of his life, dying of asthma on 31 Oct 1893 at age 83 and was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery.
In the 1880 US census of Marion county, Valentine Foland lived “next door” to the sons of Joseph Scott (1810-1884) of Buckingham Virginia, Harvey B. Scott and his brother Thomas J. Scott. Joseph Scott was also a cabinetmaker and he seems to have spent his time between Indianapolis, Fayetteville TN and Nashville TN, where he died 1884/85.
I still haven’t established a relationship between the Folands and Scotts, if it exists, but I have little doubt that the Scotts and Folands knew each other.
Les,
There was more than one Valentine Foland, however, I believe that the one you located in Indiana, who died in 1893, is the father of Peter V. Foland of Scottsville.
If you learn more about the Scott family who are living in Marion County, please let us know.
Joanne
Joanne:
I’m getting there slowly but surely. Until Monday of this week, I couldn’t connect the Silas Scott of Knoxville Tennessee (my line) to the Silas Scott of Buckingham county who was son of Joseph (1750-1793) Scott and his wife Drucilla (1753-1847ish), except circumstantially.
Monday, I found a legal notice in the Roanoke newspaper to a James Hopkirk, surviving partner of Alexander Spears (sic) & Co where Drucilla Scott informed Hopkirk that on 15 Feb 1820, she was going to Knoxville Tennessee to depose Silas Scott as a witness in a lawsuit in which Hopkirk was a plaintiff and Drucilla a defendant.
I suspect somehow Drucilla’s lawsuit was a result of the more famous (or infamous) Hopkirk V. Bell (David Bell & heirs) that actually ended up in the US Supreme Court in 1806, because Bell’s massive 13000 acre patent adjoined Joseph & Drucilla Scott’s land at one point. (Hopkirk v Bell might be a topic for a separate Slate River Ramblings because it involved David Bell)
Joseph Scott was a soldier of the Revolution who served from Buckingham County, and a possible son of Hugh Scott in whose household Joseph was listed as an additional tithe in early tax records. Other Buckingham soldiers mentioned in his pension application were Giles Davidson, Robert Smith and Robert Mitchell.
The Scott brothers living in Marion County Indiana near Valentine Foland were Harvey B., b. 1831 and Thomas J. b. 1841 in Walker county GA, the great grandsons of Joseph & Drucilla Scott of Buckingham VA.
Valentine Foland
I am part of that Foland line I believe. Michael Foland born in 1820 in Virginia moved to Grand River Iowa. Valentine would have been his grandfather.
Hi, My name is Michael Foland, somewhere there is a connection here. Valentine had a son Michael which passed away at an early age, and his son Michael went to Muncie Indiana for the winter, then settled in Grand River where is buried now. He built a school and a large house there. School is now in Kellerton Iowa. and a Becker who lives in the old farm house now.
Michael,
Thanks for commenting and sharing the information about Michael Foland. My research focused on Peter Valentine Foland who settled in Scottsville, Virginia after the Civil War. It’s good to learn more about the family.
Joanne