John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 2376
[Marilyn Hansen sent me a story, which though not directly related to the Germanna Colonies, does say something about life in Culpeper County at the time of the Revolution. The author of the story is Robert Bailey. I have edited the story to shorten it and to adhere more closely to modern conventions.]
"I was born on the 29th of April, in the year of our Lord 1773. My parents were respectable and they resided in the county of Chester in the state of Pennsylvania. My mother was a very wealthy Quakeress and my father was an Irishman. [They lost the money which my mother had had.] My mother, who was excessively fond of father, consented to all he had done without a murmur. The depreciation of paper money enveloped the pittance remaining. My father then obtained a commission in the army and left my mother with nine small children, myself the youngest but one. His name [Major William Bailey] is enrolled in the annals of his country who fell in battle at the Cowpens.
"My poor mother, after experiencing a succession of disasters, bundled up her little all, which all was conveyed by being packed upon the back of a small horse, not worth twenty dollars, consisting of beds, bed clothes, and in addition to the burden, my youngest sister. I well recollect my own outfit for traveling, [namely] I trudged along on foot, sometimes in the van, and sometimes in the rear, without any sort of covering except my shirt, and entirely unmindful of the miseries of my mother, brothers, sisters, or of myself.
"We all traveled on in the way before related with [my young sister] tied on the horse with some old bedding and clothing and one little Dog, Watch. We came on to Culpeper County, in Virginia. Upon our arrival in Culpeper, my mother fortunately became acquainted with a lady, a Mrs. Field, by whom she was taken in, and at whose house we all resided for some time; the hospitality with which we were treated was more like relations than strangers. An elder sister, through Mrs. Field's influence, obtained a situation in the house of a relation of Mrs. Field, to spin and perform the duties of a dairymaid, etc. Two brothers William and James were able to work in the neighborhood. My mother being a well-educated woman obtained a school by which she raised a little money and with the little earnings of my brothers and we could buy a tolerable pony to replace our poor old horse who had died. My mother rented a little place on the road between Culpeper-court-house and Jerimanner ford [Germanna Ford?], where she sold spirits, and upon which little place the boys worked establishing a place for the entertainment of travelers and others.
"My poor mother, aided as she was by my brothers and eldest sister, kept up an even and economical course of care and industry until her little funds were increased to a competency enabling us to remove to Jeramanner ford, which was a better stand for public business and a much better farm. Thus situated my mother became able to support herself, my youngest sister and myself. My mother then quit keeping a public house and devoted her entire attention to school keeping."
(26 Sep 06)