HALL-L Archives

From:
Subject: [HALL] Wm. Hall bur. Catawba Hall Cemetery
Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:16:00 EDT

Rena,

Thanks for your response, but that Wm. Hall who that marker was placed
there for is not buried in the Hall Cemetery in Catawba. That comes from the
bogus story that George von Kromer wrote and is included in the book, Places
Near the Mountains, by Helen R. Prillaman.
That William Hall who died in 1773 is the Wm. Hall of what is now
present day Lexington, Rockbridge Co., VA. That Wm. Hall lived his entire life
around the Whistle Creek area and was instrumental in the formation of Hall's
Meeting House, which was the forerunner of the Old Monmouth Church. Wm. Hall
and his sons and sons in law were very prominent men of their day in this area
- not in Catawba. This Wm. Hall was buried in one of 2 cemeteries in the
Lexington area, not in the Hall Cemetery in Catawba.
Kromer mingled the Whistle Creek Hall's with Wm. Hall who died by
11-1849 in Catawba. This Wm. is probably the first Hall to be buried in this
cemetery.
I don't believe that I can copy the Kromer story to this list because of
copyright. However, anyone that is using the story by Kromer that is in the
book, Places Near the Mountains...here's the corrections to that story:

Corrections to the Cabin-Fort Story by Kromer"

Story: "The story began in 1707. After a tempestuous journey of 60
days...'on the 13th of May 1707, three ships...' "
Correction: These 3 ships, the Sarah Constant, the Godspeed and the
Discovery, landed at Jamestown on May 13, 1607. No Hall's or any variation of that
surname are on any of the 3 passenger lists. Even if Thomas Hall was on one
of these ships, this would put the story off 100 years to begin with. In May
of 1707, neither myself or the librarian/professional genealogist at the
Main Library in Roanoke City could find any ships with those names sailing or
landing in VA. We even checked for a variation of the name of the ship
Godspeed - as possibly Goodspeed, as well as another variation of the surname Hall.
Nothing found.

Story: "...they were awed by 'perceiving one paradise after another,' and
finally located a few miles beyond 'ye mountain that luks like ye nose.'
(McAfee's Knob)
Correction: It was Geo. Washington, himself, who made this statement
regarding McAfee's Knob...not Thomas Hall, as Kromer would lead you to believe.
You can find this statement in Washington's Diaries.

Story: Daniel Mitchell - Kromer gives him the title of Rev. and states that
he performed the marriage ceremony for his daughter Jean to Wm. Hall.
Kromer also states that this marriage took place in the Spring of 1722.
Correction: No records for any Daniel Mitchell can be found. There are
several records for a David Mitchell, both Sr. & Jr. Transcription error? Yes,
could be, but David seems to be too prevalent in records for it to be
misconstrued with the name Daniel. Also note that neither David Mitchell, Sr. or
Jr. were Reverends. Also, the Spring of 1722, this area was still in
Spottsylvania County, VA. I have asked for several "look-up" requests from
Spottsylvania volunteers and there is no marriage record for a Wm. Hall to a Jean
Mitchell (or any variation thereof). I have also checked with Orange Co., VA
"look-up" volunteers for a marriage record for this couple, but have come up
empty handed as well. Through accessing the internet, I found a
Ledgerwood-Mitchell connection, but have not found a Hall-Mitchell connection for this early
time.
David Mitchell (according to Chalkley's Chronicles, p. 45) states that he
was among the importations from Ireland to Philadelphis thence to Orange (Co.)
in 1740. That makes, at least, an 18 year gap. So this same David Mitchell,
Sr. could not be mistaken for a Daniel Mitchell in the 1720's time period.
David Mitchell was listed on the importation with the following members of
his family: Martha, Sarah, Jane & Elizabeth. No daughter named Jean.

Story: Kromer states that, "It must be remembered that at that time this
was the most westernly frontier in VA."
Correction: Richard Hall had already settled upon the New River (then the
Woods River) in present-day Montgomery Co., which is further than the Catawba
Valley.

Story: Kromer states the Hall home was 16 miles east of present day
Blacksburg.
Correction: Actually Wm. & Nancy Hall did live about this approximation
from Blacksburg. However it wasn't Thos. Hall (d. 1722) or Wm. Hall, his
supposed son, (d. 1773) who ever resided in the Catawba Valley. Wm. Hall who d. in
1773 resided his entire life in and around the present day Lexington, VA
area. At one time residing on Whistle Creek and then residing in the Cedar
Creek precinct the latter part of his life. The Cedar Creek precinct was located
in present day Natural Bridge, VA. This is where this Wm. Hall was buried
and not in the Catawba Valley as Kromer would lead you to believe. Wm. Hall
who d. in 1849 appears to be one of the earliest Hall's, if not the earliest
Hall, to be buried in the Hall Cemetery in the Catawba Valley.

Story: With the cabin and 70 acres...deed later recorded at Fincastle by
Andrew Hall...
Correction: There is NO deed filed in the Botetourt Co., Courthouse for
this land and cabin by Andrew or any other Hall family member. All Hall land
transactions that were recorded are for land lying in what is now Rockbridge
Co. The land the Rockbridge Co., Hall's held and the land the Botetourt Co.
Hall's held (at a much later date) are approximately 60 miles apart ("as the
crow flies"). The land that the "Hall Cabin-Fort" was on was a 200 acre patent
given to Wm. Ledgerwood and that was in the Catwaba Valley. (Which was
Augusta, Botetourt, then Montgomery and finally present day Roanoke Co.) This
land was originally Ledgerwood land - not Hall land. Wm. Ledgerwood and or his
brother John (sons of Wm. & Agnes Mitchell Ledgerwood) were probably the
ones who built this cabin since it was on their land. This Ledgerwood land was
handed down thru the Ledgerwood family and then in later years some acreage
sold and some acreage willed to Wm. Hall who d. in 1849 - his wife being Nancy
Ledgerwood - the granddaughter of John Ledgerwood. I have copies of several
deeds that were filed in the Roanoke County Courthouse that speak of this
land and the original patent. Land grants - Augusta County at that time &
belonged to John Ledgerwood. There is also NO will recorded or filed for an
Andrew Hall in Botetourt Co. There is a will filed for an Andrew Hall, Sr. of
Rockbridge Co., VA in 1799. This Andrew had the following children, as named
in his will: Andrew Jr., Samuel, James, John & daughter Isabella. There wer
other female children that were not named, but their husbands were: Rev.
Samuel Houston, John Houston, Robert Gold and James Steele. These sons-in-law
were very prominent men in Rockbridge history and once again, they resided no
where near the Catawba Valley. Andrew's wife is also mentioned as Maragert

Story: Kromer states that the will of Wm. Hall II gave the cabin to son
Lewis...
Correction: Wrong...it gave the cabin to his wife Nancy and then to his son
Allen upon his mother's death. Allen later sold the "homestead" to his
brother Lewis. Will and deeds were filed making reference to this at the Roanoke
County Courthouse.

Story: Kromer gives Wm. Hall the designation of the 2nd (Wm. Hall II) on a
couple of occasions.
Correction: Not in Wm.'s will, nor in any deeds, nor in anything recorded
after his death is he refered to as the 2nd.

Story: "There are many incidents of historic and other interest connected
with the cagbin-fort. In Sept. 1752, Geo. Washington...'We got Supper and was
lighted into...' ."
Correction: Well, yes this statement was made by Washington and is written
in his diary. However, this statement deals with Washington and his crew
being near present day Winchester, VA. Also this statement was written in
Washington's diary on Tuesday, March 15th 1748 - not Sept 1752. This info comes
from Washington's Diaries Vol. 1, p. 3-12

Story: "The next day traveling due west...arrived about noon and...'staid
with friend Hall. We cleaned'..."
Correction: The rest of that statement from 'We cleaned' ...is found in
Washington's Diary. "staid with friend Hall," is not in this or any other
paragraph in the diary beginning March 11th 1747/8 through April 13th 1748. These
men in the beginning of the exploration and survey trip were in Prince
William Co., VA and concluded at Mt. Vernon on the Potomac. And at this date
still were somewhere around Winchester, VA.
Geo. Washington never stayed with this Wm. Hall who d. in 1773. If he
stayed with any Hall family, it was most probable that he stayed with the Richard
Hall family, of Draper's Meadow. Christopher Gist mentions, in his diary, of
staying with Richard Hall and also a reference in Chalkley's Chronicles
notes that Col. Wm. Preston wrote in his diary that he stayed with Richard Hall.
There is a map contained in Chalkley's Chronicles regarding Washington's
route on his tour of inspection of the frontier forts - Oct. 1756. This map
shows where Washington began and ended. His trek came no where close to the
part of the Catawba Valley where the Hall's were supposedly residing. The
closest Washington came was when he crossed Craig's Creek at New Castle.
Also in Chalkley's Chronicles there is a map regarding the "Roanoke
Community" 1740-1760. It's similar to a plot map - showing names where people
resided. There is no listing for a Hall where they should have been according to
Kromer. the only Hall on this map is that, again, of Richard Hall residing
between STroubles Creek to the north and Crab Creek to the south. Also there
are no Mitchell's or Ledgerwood's shown on this map. The Mitchell's and
Ledcgerwood's still were at that time, in the Augusta County area around Lexington.
Account of Christopher Gist can be found in Annals of Southwest Virginia
1769-1800, by Lewis Preston Summers. Reference to Col. Preston can be found in
Chalkley's Chronicles on p. 226

Story: Kromer speaks of the Drapers Meadow massacre but just a few miles
away...
Correction: Quite a few miles away. We figured about 25 miles away from
the Catawba Valley area where the Ledgerwood's eventually resided. However,
Richard Hall was within less than 10 miles from the Drapers Meadow area.

Personal Notes:
Getting back to Washington's Diaries. It appears that Mr. Kromer took what
he wanted to take from Washington's diary and added it to "play up" the Hall
family story. It also appears that Kromer has very obviously confused the
Hall family of what became Rockbridge Co., and the Hall family of the Catawba
Valley & Richard Hall of Drapers Meadow.
Although there is no proof of the following, it is probable. Richard Hall,
who resided on STroubles Creek (in present day Montgomery Co.) and Wm. Hall
who resided on Whistle Creek & Cedar Creek (in present day Rockbridge Co.) may
have been brothers. Both of these Hall families arrived and settled within
60-70 miles of each other. There is also a reference in Chalkley's
Chronicles of a Richard Hall delivering a Wm. Hall a deed.
The date of Sept 1752, used by Kromer - According to Washington's Diaries -
Between March 5 to Dec. 31, 1752, Diaries missing or not kept. Numbers are
not assigned to these periods as it is extremely doubtful that diaries were
kept. Appears that Kromer picked a "convenient" date...and below is another
example...
Kromer makes a statement regarding the year 1757 about there being an entry
made in James Mitchell's Bible regarding Washington visiting Ft. Wm. and
staying with the Hall's. Once again, this cannot be verified as Washington's
diaries were missing or not kept between 1755 and 1759. However, I very
seriously doubt this statement by Kromer is correct since the above regarding the
entries in Washington's diary are now proven to be regarding something other
than the Hall family.
There is a Rockbridge Co., VA Cemetery book. One cemetery to note is a
cemetery named, "William Hall Cemetery - aka Horn Cemetery". It states the
following: Located on the Henry A. McCurdy Farm, SR 732 off Rt. 39. Some
references give the name as Horn Cem. Wm. Hall & Horn Cemeteries are thought to be
one in the same. No markers. Sweets, Nichols and Horns are said to be
buried there. THis is possibly where Wm. Hall who d. in 1773 is buried. If he is
not buried there he was probably laid to rest in the Monmouth Church
Cemetery in Lexington, VA (where he held high prominence as one of the founders of
that church). Both of those cemeteries are definitely located in the
Rockbridge Co., area and no where near the Catawba Valley.
Wm. Hall, who d. 1773, was very instrumental in the formation of Hall's
Meeting House - the forerunner of the Monmouth Church which was and still is
located in Lexington, VA
According to the records of highly regarded genealogy researcher, Charles
Burton, in his exploration of the Mitchell family - especially David & James
(brothers) - note - no Daniel. Burton states that James was older than David
but that David was the earliest "white man" to own land & improve it in this
area. The land was in a section, still known today as Haymakertown, which is
in present day Botetourt Co. David was granted 400 acres on 2-12-1742.
In a document that Mr. Burton located, and is now at the State Archives, a
petition brought before the court after David's death, stated that David died
in 1787, unmarried & without a will. His only heirs were James, 2 full
sisters and a half sister. More proof that David & Daniel were not names that had
been confused & if they had been there was still no child born from
David...no girl named Jean.


Message: 1
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:21:56 -0400
From: "Rena" <>
Subject: Re: [HALL] HALL Digest, Vol 2, Issue 58
To: <>
Message-ID: <034f01c76ae1$ff639290$>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original

There is a William Hall that is interred in a Hall Cemetery in Catawba. AT
the very least, that is where you may find his marker.
Rena Worthen

----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 3:16 AM
Subject: HALL Digest, Vol 2, Issue 58


>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Hall's of Catawba Valley Montgomery Co./Roanoke Co. VA
> ()
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 08:40:02 EDT
> From:
> Subject: [HALL] Hall's of Catawba Valley Montgomery Co./Roanoke Co. VA
> To:
> Message-ID: <>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Hello all,
>
> I am researching the Wm. HALL (wife: Nancy LEDGERWOOD) family of what
> is
> now, present day, Catawba Valley, Roanoke Co., VA. He and Nancy were
> married on 1-12-1820 in Montgomery Co., VA.
> William was born between 1790-1800, in Virginia and possibly
> Montgomery
> Co. He is my brick wall and I'm very frustrated. In many genealogy
> circles
> it is assumed that Wm. Hall of Botetourt Co. who died in 1772/1773 was
> his
> father, but this is not so.
> That Wm. Hall (d. 1773) lived his entire life near the Lexington area
> on
> Whistle Creek - which is no where near the Catawba Valley. Wm. Hall and
> his
> sons were prominent men in the above mentioned area and I can find no
> ties
> with them to Catawba.
> Mr. George von Kromer wrote a "Hall History" many years ago which has
> done both of these Wm. Hall lines an injustice. The story is basically
> bogus
> and I have documented evidence to back up my conclusions. This story was
> written by Kromer and distributed in booklet form and then this story was
> picked
> up and included in a book titled, "Places Near the Mountains," by Helen
> R.
> Prillaman.
> I know why Mr. Kromer wrote this story, but do not understand why he
> did
> this and why he included the "facts" that he did...because they are made
> up
> and the majority of this story should not pertain to Wm. Hall, but to the
> Ledgerwood family.
> If anyone would like a copy of the Kromer story and my corrections to
> it, please email me privately and I will respond. I don't know if I can
> copy
> this story, publically, to this list, as I believe it is still under
> copyright.
> I have a theory about Wm. Hall (b. 1790-1800 d. by 11-1849), that he
> is
> descended from a Richard Hall who resided near Draper's Meadow around the
> time of the Draper's Meadow Massacre. I am looking for someone
> researching this
> Richard Hall. He was born in the very early 1700's. He lived in the
> Draper's Meadow area around the 1750's and in 1763 sold this land and
> possibly
> removed to Halifax Co. (I don't know if that is Halifax VA or NC).
> I believe this Richard had at least 2 sons - Richard Jr. and William,
> but I cannot confirm this. I believe my Wm. is a possible grandson of
> this
> Richard thru his son William.
> Is there anyone out there researching this Richard Hall who has a list
> of his descendants? I've pretty much ruled out my Wm.'s connection to
> the
> Botetourt (Lexington) now Rockbridge Co., Hall family. And I know my Wm.
> doesn't descend from the Asa Hall family... The only other Hall's that I
> can find
> in that time frame and close to my Ledgerwood family is the one Richard
> Hall
> and the possibility of his 2 sons.
> Any help would be greatly appreciated!
> Thanks!
> Cindy Hall Driscoll
> Roanoke, VA
>



************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone.
Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.

This thread:

• [HALL] Wm. Hall bur. Catawba Hall Cemetery by