In the spring of 1900, the Farmville Herald reported the following Buckingham County wedding:
Holman—Hooper
Arcanum, April 18, 1900.
On Tuesday the 17th, at 9:30 a.m., Mr. Henry Smith Holman, of Cartersville, and Eleanor Powell, eldest daughter of the late Mr. Powell Hooper, were united in wedlock by the Rev. W. A. Dabney. It was a pretty, unassuming spectacle, the young bride being surrounded by many of her friends and neighbors who have known and loved her all her life. Ellie is a pure, sweet girl, and in her life and character reflects great credit on the training of the mother, who, though widowed long years since, has been unceasing in her efforts to train up her children in the way they should go, and in this whole community there is no lady more respected and esteemed than Mrs. Hooper. Her loss is Mr. Holman’s gain. May he prove worthy of his fair young bride.
H of B.
Rich Bottom. Courtesy Historic Buckingham.
In 1936, when Rosa G. Williams surveyed the Buckingham County property, “Rich Bottom,” she neglected a description of the dwelling house, focusing on a remarkable grave marker preserved in the family cemetery, describing it as follows:
The cemetery is in a body of oak woods, only one marker, there are other graves, but they are supposed to be slaves of the Langhorne family. This is a very large marble slab with the inscription on the back. Although this slab has been up about one hundred years, it is in perfect condition, and it is as secure in the ground as it ever was.
The inscription on the marker reads:
Sacred
to the memory of
Elizabeth J.
Consort of
John R. Bennett
and daughter of
Rev. Mariace [sic] M. and Ann Langhorne
Born July 29, 1810
Died December 26, 1837.
She embraced religion in her ninth year and joined the Methodist E. Church in her thirteenth year in which she lived a faithful member and devout follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep, from which none ever wakes to weep,
A calm and undisturbed repose, unbroken by the last of foes.
The informants for the survey included: Miss Fletcher Smith and Mrs. Garnett Smith, both of Dillwyn, and “an old slave of the Smith family” named Ned Payne.
Recognize Ned Payne? Please comment below.
In 1936, Rosa G. Williams (a. k. a. Garnett Agee Williams) surveyed a Buckingham County property with the unusual name of “Rich Bottom” for the Virginia Historical Inventory. She described the location as “2 miles east of Dillwyn, Virginia on Route #629, cemetery about .3 of a mile west of highway.”
Mrs. Williams did not provide a deed history for the property, however, she described a series of owners as follows:
A Mr. Brown was the first owner (known), next a Mr. Langhorne owned it about 1830 and lived there until about 1840 when the place was sold to Moses Smith. It has remained in the family of the Smiths since that time. It passed from Moses Smith to his sons: William, Emmette, Wesley and Robert. It is now owned by Garnett Smith, a son of Robert, who inherited his father’s share and bought the other heirs out in 1911. He lives here with his family.
Mrs. Williams added that the dwelling house at Rich Bottom “must have been built in the early 1800s.” At that time, the property consisted of 1,000 acres. The Smith family retained about 600 acres.
Coming next: Buckingham County Houses: Rich Bottom, Part II
The Spring 2019 issue of Central Virginia Heritage, published by the Central Virginia Genealogical Association, is now available and includes my article “Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way: Dissecting Last Wishes in Three Buckingham County.” In it, I expand on the Slate River Ramblings series “Buckingham County Notables “The Allens of Hunts Creek.”
The essay opens, “The patriarch of this Allen line, Capt. William Allen (1692–1751/1752), born in eastern Virginia, was destined to become one of the founders of the newly formed Albemarle County. Sometime after the spring of 1720 and following the death of his first wife, Hannah, Allen left New Kent County, Virginia, and moved westward to Fine Creek in Goochland County. There, his neighbor was Peter Jefferson, the father of President Thomas Jefferson. Together, Allen and Jefferson served the county as Gentleman Justices. . . .”
Print copies are now available at Amazon: Central Virginia Heritage, Spring 2019
Oakland, WPA Survey. Courtesy Library of Virginia.
In 1937, Elizabeth McCraw surveyed the Holman dwelling house at “Oakland” for the Virginia Historical Inventory. She described its location as “.8 mile west of Andersonville, Va., on Route #640; thence north on Route #642 2.9 miles. East side of the highway.” She went on to note that Tandy Holman was the owner in 1832, followed by Mrs. Mary L. Jones (1877), and M. T. Jones (1899, present owner in 1937).
Mrs. McGraw’s description of the house emphasized features:
The yard of this home with its large oak trees, extends to the highway. The house with heart pine beaded weatherboarding which has never been painted, is built in three parts—one part a story, one part a story and a half, and the other part two stories high. It was all built about the same time. One part was built new, another part was moved about one-quarter of a mile just as it is, and added, and the other was originally Tandy Holman’s father’s house. It was torn down and rebuilt into this house. The heavy timbers with mortised ends, shop-made nails and wooden pegs are noticeable here. A one story porch leads into the front hall.
A winding, partly cased-in stairway leads from the hall to the second floor. Under this stairway another one-flight stairway leads to the basement. The basement is really a ground floor, but is walled up with brick and has a brick floor. These brick walls are whitewashed. A few of the original locks are still on some of the doors. On one of the basement doors is a large wooden lock. Several inside doors are fashioned with hand-made wooden buttons, and one is still fastened with the peg attached to a leather strap. One room has a wide wainscoting made of three very wide planks, all fitted together without a nail. The other rooms have a baseboard and chair-rail. There are nine rooms, each with a fireplace, there being three large brick chimneys to the house. The floors are on different levels, uneven, with one or two steps between each room.
Significantly, Elizabeth McCraw added the house had always remained in the family: “members of the third, fourth, and fifth generation from the original owner are living here at present.”
Now that’s Buckingham County continuity!
Chestnut Grove Baptist Church. Courtesy Historic Buckingham.
In 1937, when Rosa G. Williams surveyed a surviving record book from the Baptist Association, she summarized the minutes concerning a meeting that took place in 1832:
This meeting or association was held on Sat. Oct. 1832 and continued through Monday Morning at 9 o’clock with constitution and rules of decorum and the meeting was adjourned to meet with Agola Baptist Church in Browns Meeting House in Cumberland County on 27th, 28th, 29th of July 1833 Sat. Sun. and Mon. here at Agola (now long extinct as a church) began the function of what we still call the James River Baptist Association and here in the script of a hand long since rested from its labors we read the delegates names as well as the churches they represent. The meeting was adjourned to meet the third session at Chestnut Grove church 3 miles above New Store in Buckingham. A motion was made for a Union Meeting to be held each year at a place selected by the Association.
The first Union meeting was held at Mulberry Grove.
Buckingham Baptist Church. Photo by Joanne Yeck.
Typically, surveys created for the Depression-era Virginia Historical Inventory are of structures—dwelling houses, churches, mills, etc. Occasionally, researchers documented an artifact. Such was the case in 1937 when Rosa G. Williams wrote about the “Records of the Baptist Association.”
Buckingham County historian Lulie Patteson and her sister, Ann, were in possession of an “old book,” dated 1832. It was a minutes book which documented several early Baptist churches and their representatives. Rosa Williams noted:
Buckingham [Baptist Church] — Ed. Poindexter and James T. Smith
Chestnut Grove — Elder Thomas Saunders and Hobson Gilliam
Mt. Tabo [sic] — Silas Melton and Nathan Garrett
Mulberry Grove — Elder William Moore and A. Alston
Mrs. Williams added, “There were only four Baptist churches in Buckingham at the time (1832). Buckingham Church was sixty years old at that time.”
In 1832, Buckingham County was considerably larger than it is today, including much of what is now Appomattox County.
For more about Rev. Poindexter Smith, click here: Buckingham Notables: Rev. Poindexter Patteson Smith
Coming next: Buckingham Churches: Records of the Baptist Association, Part II
Glenmore Methodist Church. Photo by Jeremy Winfrey.
In late 1903, Rev. Bullard joined Rev. T. Hugo Lacey at Glenmore Methodist Church. The Appomattox and Buckingham Times reported:
Our new Methodist Church at Glenmore has been completed, and it is one of the prettiest churches in the county. Our people are particularly blessed in having to such splendid ministers as the Reverend T. Hugo Lacey and Mr. Bullard. The new minister, Mr. Bullard is a widower, and is fat, fair and forty,” and it will be singular if he is not captured by some fair, beautiful Buckingham maiden before he leaves the circuit, for our girls are all pretty and attractive.
Visit Find A Grave to search for graves in the Glenmore United Methodist Church Cemetery.
On December 23, 1903 the Appomattox and Buckingham Times reported the following nuptial in Glenmore, Buckingham County:
The marriage bells have wrung again in Glenmore, and on the 16th inst. Miss Mary Miles, the daughter of our chief magistrate, Mr. E. M. Miles, was married to Mr. John Purvis. The ceremony was performed by Mr. Bullard, our new Methodist Minister, who is winning golden opinions among the people. Miss Mary Miles is one of our belles, and was much admired. Her husband is a very handsome and intelligent young gentleman. The marriage was largely attended, many people from Hinton, W. Va., being present.
Coming next: Glenmore Methodist Church
Henry Wesley Sprouse and Family. Courtesy Vanessa Crews.
Front Row (left to right): Frank, Mary and Jane. Second row (left to right): Martha, Peggy (second wife), Edmund, Henry Wesley Sprouse, Fitzhugh and William. Back row (left to right): Thomas, Pocahontas, Nannie Belle, Charles, James, Elbon Booney, and John Josiah.
Henry Wesley Sprouse of Buckingham County was born on August 1826 and died on February 11, 1901. The Richmond Dispatch reported:
“Mr. H. W. Sprouce, an old and respected citizen, was buried at his home yesterday.”
Many thanks to Vanessa Crews for sharing this beautiful photo of the Sprouse family. Vanessa’s husband, Jesse Crews, has deep roots in Buckingham County. Learn more at her website:
Cultivating Family: Discovering the ancestors of Jesse and Vanessa Sykes Crews
slate river ramblings . . . . 