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 18th 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.
In the 19th century, traveling by road in the western part of Virginia meant walking, taking the stagecoach, or riding a horse. Harrisonburg and Rockingham County was primarily rural and agricultural, and the roads were, as described by C. G. Price, “bottomless mud when it rained, impassable when it snowed and in dry weather [were] obscured by billowing clouds of dust.” [1] Local merchants went to major cities as infrequently as possible—often only twice a year. 
Residents, however, were still unsatisfied—this line provided transportation to Manassas, Orange and Alexandria but did not traverse along the Valley. Robert E. Lee lent his voice to an effort to build such a railroad, the Valley Rail Road Company. While this line was never fully constructed, it paved the way for the Chesapeake & Western Railroad, incorporated in 1895. [3] To this day, there is still no direct link between Harrisonburg and Staunton.
For more information on trains in the valley, please attend our program on November 6th at 7pm at the Main Branch of the library in downtown Harrisonburg. Bob Cohen will present his new book, A Trip by Rail in the Shenandoah Valley on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Southern Railway (2013). Mr. Cohen will have copies of his book available purchase and signing. He invites the public to bring train memorabilia to share. 
