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NATHAN YOUNG

1757 - 1854

1

BEGINNINGS

On the flyleaf of John Young’s old leather-bound family Bible, stands an entry which mentions the oldest known Patriarch of our branch of the Youngs.  At present, the "roots" of the clan do not go any deeper than him.  This common sire was great-grandfather, Nathan Young," of Maryland", who died in Virginia in 1834.  At the age of seventy-seven, apparently while living with his son, John.

There are many family traditions centered around Nathan who would have been born in 1757, just ten years before Mason and Dixon completed their survey of Maryland-Pennsylvania boundary putting great-grandfather on the Maryland side.  He lived during an extremely emotionally charged period in the history of the United states, and if I give my mind free rein, I can't help but wonder what great-grandfather was doing in his seventeenth year when Maryland residents were burning the Peggy Ste­wart and her cargo of tea in protest of the Boston Port Bill, or what occupied his nineteen year-old mind when Maryland was declaring her inde­pendence in 1776.

Though he was surrounded by the spirit of the revolutionary era, I don't know the extent of great-grandfather's involvement.  In fact, I'm not even sure when his family made their appearance in the "new world" or what flag they sailed under when they came.  I do know however, that great-grandfather was a part of the colonies during the exciting and challenging formative years of the United States and that he was a contemporary, though probably never associated, with such notables as Ben Franklin, who lived until 1790, and George Washington, who died in 1799, when Nathan Young was forty-two years old.  Great-grandfather's ministerial duties took him to Virginia during his middle years, and he may have had opportunities to, at least, get a glimpse of Wash­ington on some of the numerous occasions when the General came to dine with his friend, General Lee, who lived ten miles from Martinsburg the well traveled trail.¹

Nathan, who was a minister at thirty-nine years of age, was travel­ing about on a circuit, which covered a wide area.  The Methodist Church traces its beginnings back to 1729, and was a young institution during great-grandfather's generation.  It was introduced into the Maryland area in 1784, when Nathan was only a young man of twenty-seven.  I think he was a Methodist Episcopal, and I've been told that "...in 1789 the first circuit west of the Blue Ridge was formed with Martins­burg (Virginia) as the center and that this continued unbroken until the Civil War opened in 1861.”  The itinerant preachers went from town to town preaching every day of the week.  People anticipating marriage planned their weddings to coincide with the minister's scheduled visit.

Ministers, who were often called, "backwoods preachers" played an important role in pioneer America.  They began riding circuits, in what is now America as early as 1760.  John Wesley, who founded the Methodist Church in Great Britain, sent several lay preachers (not ordained) to spread the work in the new world.  Francis Asbury was the first Methodist Bishop in the United States.  He died in 1816, but during his lifetime, the Methodist Church increased to 200,000 in America.  Asbury traveled, on circuit, nearly 300,000 miles.³  Nathan Young was performing marriages in the Berkeley County area from 1796, up until the time of his death, thirty-eight years later.  Perhaps it was during this period of time that he moved his family to Virginia.

The first church in Martinsburg, called the "English Church" was built at the entrance to the old Norborne Cemetery which was established by law in 1778.  Some of our ancestors are buried in that old graveyard, and many are buried on private property.  The' old "English Church" was there for several generations, but the year after my father was born, (1835) it was declared "unsafe".  The people of the town did not want it torn down because it would leave the cemetery unprotected.  The vestry attempted to resolve that problem by stating, "that they (would) preserve the said burying ground as now located and keep it from injury or desecration.⁴  Perhaps they did this as long as they were alive.  The vestry was a select group of men who managed the Anglican and Episcopal Church’s temporal affairs.

Francis Asbury was a minister during some of the same years that great-grandfather was riding circuit.  Reading some of the entries from Asbury's journal has helped me to picture great-grandfather in his ministerial setting, and seems to be the next best thing to finding a journal kept by Nathan himself.  Their experiences must have been similar because their duties took them over some of the same areas.  Their means of travel was horseback until the roads were improved.  In later years, they had the privilege of driving a buggy.  Sometimes they had a meetinghouse to preach in and sometimes they conducted services in the open.  Nathan was still in Maryland when the following entries were made.  However, Francis Asbury was breaking a trail which great-grandfather would later follow.

Saturday: June 2, 1781- Preached at Martins burg.  Afterwards returned to Brother Bruce's.  He is a lily among thorns.

Sunday: June 3, Preached to about one-hundred and fifty ser­ious people...

Monday: June 4, I preached to a few lifeless people at Strouds'.  I find myself given to God in prayer, and am now peculiarly exercised; yet my spirit feels depression.

Saturday: July 20, 1782- Preached at Shepherd town to about two-hundred people; from thence, I crossed the Potomac...

Thursday: June 17, 1784- I preached at Martinsburg to a hundred people or more, and was lead out while I enlarged on, "What is the Almighty that we should serve Him?”  Thence to Strouds I at seven 0' clock, and spoke with great plainness; the people stared upon us.

Tuesday: July 28, 1785- Rode to the Springs called, Bath.  I preached in the playhouse and lodged under the same roof with the actors.  Some folks who would not hear me in their own neighborhood made now a part of my audience both night and morning.

Saturday: Aug. 8, 1789 - My soul has communion with God even here.  When I behold the conduct of the people who attend the Springs particularly the gentry, I am led to thank God that I was not born to riches...  I have read much and spoken but little since I came here.

The year before Nathan Young is recorded as preaching in the Martinsburg area, Asbury made the following entry in his diary:

Monday: May 18, 1795- We rode to Charlestown, Berkeley County (now Jefferson) and lodged with a pious physician.  (This doctor could easily have been John Harrison, father-in-law of Mary Harrison who married Joseph Thornton Young in later years.  He was the only doctor in the county.)  .  Next morning breakfasted with J.H. and then came to Harper's Ferry, where the impending rocks impress the mind of the traveler with terror; and should they fall would crush him to pieces.  This scene is truly awful and romantic.⁵

Another early minister of Nathan's day who was listed in the Berkeley County marriage register book with great-grandfather was a Reverend Hugh Vance.  Studying his life helped me to see how devoted the early ministers were.  He crossed and re-crossed North Mountain on horseback and preached with failing health.  William Hall, another minister of Nathan's day, mentions Vance in his journal:

On the Sabbath, September 18, 1791- having preached at Shepherd-town and Martinsburg, I went to visit Mr. Vance, .who was in the last stages of consumption...  I preached to a small group and Mr.  Vance rode out and lay in one of the pews (to hear me).”

Another acquaintance stated that Mr. Vance was a partaker of the Virginia spirit and "hand(ed) 'round the social bowl.”  ⁶

I don't know about the "social bowl", but Virginia did have a special spirit which those who were born, or lived for any length of time within her boarders, kept alive and seemed to carry with them to the grave.  Maybe it was an inheritance that they received from the Virginians who lived in the days before people started dividing up according to rank and fortune.  In the early times, there were no high or low, rich or poor.  They built their homes and husked their corn and sewed their bed quilts and made merry at their weddings together.  And what "weddin's" they had!

The bride decided who would perform the ceremony and the marriage was celebrated at her home.  Her family spent days cleaning, cooking and sewing new clothes for their betrothed family member.

The groom and his friends set the tone of the celebration.  In most instances, young couples had been close neighbors all of their lives, and both families were well acquainted with each other and everyone else in the area.  An old Virginia veteran, by the name of Alers, paints a vivid word picture of an eighteenth-century Virginia wedding:

In those days, a wedding engaged the attention of a whole neighborhood, and both old and young engaged in the frolic with eager anticipation.  This is not to be wondered at, when it is told that a wedding was almost the only gathering which was not accompanied with the labor of reaping, log-rolling, building a cabin, or planning some scout or campaign.

On the morning of the wedding day, the groom and his attendants assembled at the house of his father; for the purpose 'of reaching the mansion of his bride by noon, which was the usual time for celebrating the nuptials, and which for certain must take place before dinner.  Let the reader imagine an assemblage of people, without a store, tailor, or mantuamaker, within an hundred miles, and an assemblage of horses, without a blacksmith or saddler within an equal distance.  The horses were caparisoned with old saddles, bridles or halters, .with a bag or blanket thrown over them - a rope or string as often constituted the girth as a piece of leather.  The march in double file was often interrupted by the narrowness and obstructions of the horse paths as they were called, for there were no roads.  These difficulties were often increased, sometimes by the good, and sometimes by the ill will of neighbors; by felling trees and tying grape vines across the way.  Sometimes an ambuscade was formed by the wayside, and an unexpected discharge of several guns took place, so as to cover the wedding company with smoke. 

Let the reader imagine the scene that followed... the sudden spring of the horses, the shrieks of the girls, the chivalric bustle of partners to save them from falling.  Sometimes...some were thrown to the ground; if a wrist, elbow, ankle happened to be sprained, it was tied with a handkerchief, and little more was thought or spoken about it.  Another ceremony commonly took place before the party reached their destination.  When they were within about a mile of the bride's house, two young men would single out to run for the bottle; the worse the path, the more logs, bush and de_ hollows, the better, as these obstacles afforded an opportunity for the greater display 'of intrepidity and horsemanship.  The English fox chase, in point of danger to the riders and their horses, was nothing to this race for the bottle.  The start was announced by an Indian yell, when logs, bush, mud-holes, hill & glen, were speedily passed by the rival ponies.  The first that reached the door was handed the prize, (and returned in triumph announcing his victory over his rival by a shrill whoop.  The bottle was given to the groom and then to each pair in succession, to the rear of the line.

The ceremony preceded the dinner which was a substantial backwoods feast of beef, pork, fowls and sometimes venison and bear meat, with plenty of cabbage, potatoes & other vegetables.

After dinner, dancing commenced with four-handed reels or squares and jigs, and generally lasted until the next morning.  About 9 or 10 o'clock, a disputation of the young ladies stole off the bride and put her to bed.  This would be un-noticed by the hilarious crowd, and as soon as discovered a disputation of young men in like manner would steal off the groom and place him snugly by the side of his bride.  The dance still continued, and when seats happened to be scarce, which was often the case, every young man when not engaged in the dance, was obliged to offer his lap as a seat for one of the girls, which was sure to be accepted.  During the hilarity, the newly married couple were not forgotten.  Late in the night, one would remind the company that the new couple stood in need of refreshments.

The bottle, which was called “Black Betty”, was then sent up the ladder, generally accompanied by a quantity of beef, bread, pork and cabbage sufficient to afford a good meal for half a dozen hungry men.  During the festivity "Black Betty" was called out, and in taking a dram they would say,

“Here's health to the groom, not forgetting myself, and here's to the bride, thumping luck and big children.”  Big children were considered to be of much importance, and this expression was thought to be of a very proper and friendly wish...The feasting and dancing often lasted several days, and on their return the race for "Black Betty" was the same as before.

After these ceremonies several days rest were required before they could return to their ordinary labors.⁷

The furniture in those old houses was home-made too.  A trestle was hooked to the wall in one corner with a straw tick placed upon it for a mattress and a feather-bed for a covering.  The tables and benches were also attached to the wall of the stove room.  The kids climbed a ladder to the loft and slept on whatever was available.

Great-grandfather and his bride probably carried salt and their iron pots from Maryland on packhorses, and traveled along dirt trails.  They set their table with a few pewter dishes, but mostly "wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins".

Hog and hominy were proverbial for the dish of which they were the component parts.  Johnny cake and prone were, at the outset of the settlement of Virginia, the only forms of bread in use for breakfast and dinner.  At supper, milk and mush were the standard dish.  When milk was not plenty, which was often the case, owing to the scarcity of cattle, or the want of proper pasture for them, the substantial dish of hominy had to supply the place of them.  Mush was frequently eaten with sweetened water, molasses, bear's oil, or the gravy of fried meat.  Every family cultivated an acre or more, which they called' truck patches', and raised a variety of vegetables.  The natural result of this kind of rural life was to produce a hardy and vigorous race of people.⁹

I imagine great-grandfather wore his hair long like the other people of his time, and that for common every-day use, he probably dressed in a pair of leather breeches and a long, tied at the waist, lindsey hunting shirt, or 'skirt', as it was called, both homemade.  Great-grandmother, Elizabeth looked equally home-spun in her lindsey petticoat, and her lindsey or linen bed-gown.  Her shoes and stockings were coarse, and her gloves were of buckskin.  Adornments such as buttons, buckles or ruffles were family pieces that had been handed down from her mother or grandmother.

When great-grandfather and his young family crossed the Potomac River from Maryland to Virginia, they probably did so at William's Ferry where there was a road that extended from Harper's Ferry to Martinsburg.  Even on this road, they may have traveled on foot.

When a homestead was set up, a large portion of land was cleared of trees and made fit for human and animal habitation.  Husbands and wives worked side by side and no family member felt justified in not doing his share.  There were trees to "fell" and sod to be broken for crops to be planted.  There were animals to kill and skins to be cured for “breeches”.  The girls poured candles to see by, and helped weave their own cloth for dresses.  The boys chopped wood to cook over, and cared for animals that provided food and labor for the household.  All assisted in planting, raising and preparing the food, as well as tanning, spinning and sewing the clothes.

Only the physically strong and stout-hearted survived these early eighteenth-century strenuous, plodding beginnings in which Great-Grandfather Nathan and Great-Grandmother Elizabeth found themselves.  But, in these challenging settings, our stalwart ancestors provided the moorings for future generations of Youngs.

NOTE ON NATHAN YOUNG

Though we don't know when Great Grandfather Nathan settled in Martinsburg, we do know that in 1763, the Indians in the area quit molesting the white settlers, and families of English and Scotch de­scent began pouring into Berkeley County from Maryland.  They made their homes near Tuscaroca Creek where the land abounded in never-failing springs and a great deal of timber.  The water supply of the county seat, at Martinsburg, came from a large spring known as "The Big Spring".  It was a short journey from Maryland to Martinsburg, as Berkeley County Virginia and the state of Maryland were only separated by the Potomac River.

Records indicate that at the time of Nathan Young's death, he had been a minister in Berkeley County for approximately thirty-eight years, (1796 to 1834), and had performed about 224 marriages, (most of them within a nineteen year span) ;In the Berkeley County Marriage Register, Nathan was listed as a "suretor" for five of his grandchildren's weddings which were performed when he was ages, fifty-one, fifty-three, fifty-five, sixty-two and seventy.  He is also listed as the minister who performed marriages for Gorrells, (page 83) and Van Meters, (page 52).

There are discrepancies in the copy of the register which is available in the library.  Some of these I will mention.  The years of service, as, indicated in the last column, are based on dates the mar­riages were supposedly performed.  It lists Nathan serving until 1837.  A single marriage was listed as being performed that year.  However, the marriage is cross-referenced under both the husband and the wife.

For one spouse it is recorded as having taken place in 1837, but for the other spouse it is dated at 1833.

On page 56, the register copy indicates that Great Grandfather Nathan performed a marriage for Susan Young and Jeremiah Davis.  On page 255, it just lists him as the "suretor" for that same wedding.  Hugh Vance, who was also one of the ministers, listed, is credited with performing marriages from 1781-1793.  His marble slab gives his death date as 1791.  (Page 84) 11

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Maryland Heights Harper's Ferry

REFERENCES

¹Aler's , History of Martinsburg & Berkeley County.

1888, p.66.

²Aler's, p. 67.

³ M.H. Gardiner and A.H. Gardiner, Chronicles of Old Berkeley.

          Durham N.C. : The, 1938, pp:-87-88

⁴Gardiner and Gardiner, pp. 125

⁵Gardiner and Gardiner, pp. 87-88

⁶Ibid

⁷Alers, p. 51

⁸Ibid, p. 48

⁹Ibid, p. 49

¹⁰Guy L. Keesecker, Marriage Records Berkeley County. Virginia.

           1781-1854, Compiled in 1969.

¹¹Ibid, p. 54

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