Gabriel Jones and Bogota

Gabriel Jones of Bogota

On October 9, the second program of the Deyerle Series features Rachel Lilly, the current owner of Bogota, discussing the architecture of the Bogota house built by Jacob Strayer in the1850s.  Few local residents realize an earlier Bogota existed on the current property.  It was built by Gabriel Jones about 1756.  Gabriel Jones, nicknamed the “Valley Lawyer” was energetic, rascally, well-connected, and well-known in early Virginia. 

Bogota in the 18^th Century

  On August 8, 1751 Gabriel Jones purchased from Christopher Francisco of Pennsylvania [i]  This parcel was originally part of the 5,000 acres patented to Jacob Stover.  On the same day in 1751, Thomas Lewis, son of John Lewis, purchased 530 acres from Francisco that was across the River opposite Jones.[ii]  The Lewis property, once known as Lewiston, is now known as Lynnwood.[iii]  Jones had married on October 8, 1749 Margaret Strother of King George County.[iv]   Thomas Lewis married Margaret’s sister.  Also near to Bogota and Lynnwood was Madison Hall in the “v” between the North River and the South River at Port Republic.  Madison Hall was the home of John Madison who married another sister of Margaret Strother.[v]  John Madison was a cousin of President Madison.  Madison Hall was the birthplace of another James Madison, the first Episcopal Bishop of Virginia, and served as Stonewall Jackson’s headquarters during the Civil War battle at Port Republic. 

244 acres on the north side of the Shenandoah River opposite the lower end of “Great Island” in the River.

The name “Bogota” is at least as old as the Jones’ ownership of the property.  Bogota derives from the South American Indian word “Bacata,” which means planted fields.  Jones lived here from about 1756 until his death in October1806.  His widow, Margaret, outlived her husband and her children, and remained at Bogota until her death at age 97 in 1822.  The house stayed in the family until it was sold to Jacob Strayer. [vi]

The first Bogota house was a wooden, one and a half story structure with dormer windows.  A not very sharp image of this house is in Isaac Terrell’s Old Houses of Rockingham County. The survey of the property for the National Register of Historic Places suggests that archaeological artifacts found near the intersection of Lawyer Road and Lynnwood Road are consistent with a house and habitation of this period being located at the site.  It is also believed that Gabriel Jones (and perhaps other members of his family) are buried nearby. [vii]   When the Strayers bought the property in 1830 from the Jones family they lived in the Jones house until the present Bogota was completed.  Wainscoting from the Jones house was used in what is now the sitting room on the left side of the front entrance. The current owners of the property do not know when the original house was destroyed. 

Gabriel Jones – Early Life

            Gabriel Jones was born on 14 May 1724 in York County near Williamsburg.  His parents, John (b. 1668) and Elizabeth Bates Jones (b. 1688), were from Montgomeryshire in northern Wales.[viii]  When the parents came to Virginia is not known.  Gabriel Jones claimed he was his parent’s fourth son and fifth child, but only mentioned two living siblings: an older sister, Elizabeth (b. 1721) and a younger brother, John (b.1725).  The father, a weaver of noble descent, did not do well in the colony.  He died before 1727.  A baptismal record from early 1727 showed the mother and children were in England.            In April 1732, at the age of seven, Jones was sent to the “Blue Coat School, Christ Church Hospital London, where he studied for seven years.  He was removed from the school in 1739 to start a six year apprenticeship under John Houghton, Solicitor, in the High Court of Chancery.  About the time Jones was admitted to the bar in 1745, his mother died.  The family was “of gentle blood,” but in “reduced circumstances.”[ix]  A descendent of Gabriel Jones preserved an old coin in wrapping paper on which Jones had written: “This is the patrimony I received from my mother.  From my father I received nothing.”[x]  As early as 1750 Jones used the same crest and coat of arms as the recently deceased mathematician William Jones indicating a relationship with that man.[xi]

            Free of his indenture, admitted to the bar, and reaching his majority, Jones returned to America about a year after his mother’s death.  Probably Thomas, Lord Fairfax, owner of the Northern Neck Proprietary, or, a friend, Hugh Mercer, influenced his decision to return.[xii]  The close relationship between Fairfax and Jones is evidenced by Fairfax’s appointment of Jones to legislative and judicial positions relating to the proprietorship and Fairfax’s appointment of Jones as an executor of his will.  Fairfax died in 1781.

Public Servant

Gabriel Jones truly served the Valley.  To help to fully understand the geographical extent of his service, the reader should recall the territorial vastness of the early Virginia counties.  In 1743 Frederick County was carved from Orange County, the mother of western Virginia Counties.  Frederick included Shenandoah, Clarke, and Warren Counties in Virginia, and, in present day West Virginia, Hardy, Berkeley, Jefferson, Morgan and Hampshire Counties.  Hampshire County was created from Frederick County in 1754.  Also, from Orange County, Augusta County was created in 1738, which had infinite western territory.  In October 1777, Rockingham County was carved from the northeast portion of Augusta County.

On his return from England to the Virginia colony, Jones first stopped in Fredericksburg, but soon relocated to Frederick County.  In March 1747 he purchased 172 acres along the Opequon Creek near the present day Kernstown and not far from the Joist Hite properties.   Here Jones served as a private secretary to Lord Fairfax.  In April 1746, at the age of 22 years, Jones was appointed the King’s Attorney for Augusta County, but he continued to reside in Frederick County from where he represented the County in the House of Burgesses.

Colonial Period: Legislative Representative in the House of Burgesses and Continental Congress

            As a representative from Frederick County he was elected to the Burgesses in 1748, 1749, and 1752.  He resigned from the House in 1753 to serve as the Frederick County Coroner.  When Hampshire County was created in 1754, Jones was its representative to the House of Burgesses in 1754 and 1755.  About 1756, Jones moved to Bogota, from where he served as an Augusta County Burgess in 1757, 1758, and 1771.  In 1774, at the age of fifty, Jones was elected to the Continental Congress but did not attend.   Jones carried out assignments for the Congress to ascertain conditions and defenses in the western areas around Fort Pitt.

Early Architecture and History in the Valley

2014 Deyerle Lecture Series

Early Architecture and History in the Valley

                On Thursday, October 2, at 7:00 pm, the Massanutten Regional Library will host the first of our lectures of the 14th annual Deyerle series, sponsored by the family of the late Dr. Henry P. Deyerle. The focus of the series is the Heritage of the Shenandoah Valley. The topic for 2014 is Architecture and History of houses in Rockingham County prior to the Civil War.

      The first lecture is an overview of architectural and construction characteristics common to Valley houses built between 1750 and 1850.  Ann Terrell Baker will be the speaker.  Ms. Baker is the author of Old Houses in Rockingham County Revisited, 1750-1850 (2000).  She will present a pictorial history on some of the houses discussed in the book.  Terrell’s book is an updated and expanded version of the volume published in 1970 by her father, Isaac Long “Jimmy” Terrell, titled Old Houses in Rockingham County, 1750-1850.  Both books are available at the Library.

While architectural style is subjected to “fads,” architectural interpretation is largely dependent on means, materials, and manpower at the location of construction.    One unique style does define early architecture in Rockingham County.  The styles found in the County were those brought by German settlers from Pennsylvania, English settlers from the Tidewater, and Scotch-Irish who traveled up the Valley.   Architectural styles of the early pioneers were remarkably similar wherever one went along the seaboard.  In this research no architect has been associated with or identified in Rockingham County during the period 1750-1850; however, a study of the houses reveals common architectural patterns.  (Note:  Scans of floor plans and some information are from Isaac Terrell’s book.)

Pioneer House

The basic and often first house of a settler was patterned in the pioneer style, which consisted, at a minimum, of one room with one fireplace.  Some structures had a pitched roof

making space under the eaves for storage or sleeping areas, which was reached by a ladder or by a circular staircase in a corner of the room.  An ell might be added at the rear of this room for storage.  If a fireplace was built in this addition, it was also used for cooking.  A house located on a slope could be dug-out for an additional room, and if a spring was there, it could be used as a fort against the Indians.  Construction materials were those at hand – stones and logs.  Though logs were used prior to 1750, what we think of as traditional chinked-log construction was introduced into the Valley by the Scotch-Irish in the mid-1700s.  As a pioneer prospered the original small houses were often added-on to with larger, grander extensions.