One Hundred Hands

George Washington Estes Row

     During the last eighteen years of his life, 1865-1883,  George W.E. Row at various times owned or operated two farms and two saw mills. He managed Greenfield for his mother until her death in 1873 and after that for his unwed sister Nan until his own death at age 39. Of course he also ran his own farm, Sunshine, on which he built a house for his family in 1880. All the work required at these enterprises obliged George to hire many hands over the years, and so he did - by the dozens. [Please note that all images in my blog may be clicked on for enlarged viewing]
     The ledgers he and his family kept for thirty years are a gold mine of information regarding life at antebellum Greenfield and the years of struggle after the Civil War. In my last post I presented the names of over one hundred individuals and businesses to whom George Row sold the products of his saw mill business and when possible I included a little information about each one. Since the majority of his customers were well off, well known and white I was able to find a little something to say about most of them.
     Today's look at the ledgers will utilize a similar approach as we learn about the men, women and children who worked for him. Most of his employees were poor, unlettered blacks recently freed from bondage or who, in some cases, had lived as free people all their lives.  Their names tended not to appear in the society columns of the Fredericksburg newspapers, rarely did obituaries note their passing and their graves were most often unmarked. In trying to unearth information about many of them I have not been successful.
     For others I will be featuring a liberal number of images from the ledgers and other sources as they apply to these individuals, both black and white. In doing so I hope to share a glimpse into their world. For those of you who have already read my previous post, you will see that a number of George Row's employees were also his customers. Also, I will point out here that some of them were charged for board. I assume that those people who worked at Greenfield may have at times occupied the former slave cabins during planting or harvesting times. But that is speculation on my part.
     In 1862 most of the slaves of Greenfield escaped to freedom. Five men, whose last names are unknown to us - Limus, William, Henry, Albert and Horace - remained with the Row family for the remainder of the war and for a year or two afterwards. The abrupt end of slavery in the south required a quick pivot to a system of paid labor. In 1867 George Row signed labor contracts with two families. That was the beginning of his role as the employer of those whose labor had been previously taken from them.
     The workers whose names appear in the ledgers are often treated without differentiation, although we will see that times some of them are identified as "colored". In the list below I will identify the race of the persons shown with a (b) or a (w) when I am confident of their color. In doing so I hope to be of some help to other researchers and genealogists who may be studying those family names.


Robert Atkins (b). Spotsylvania laborer. His name appears below, fourth from the bottom. Twenty five cents has been deducted from his pay for "neglect of duty" on March 25, 1880.

Robert Atkins

Arthur Bolling (w). Spotsylvania farmer.

Ralph Broaddus

Joe Broaddus

Sam Brown (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Ernest L. Buchanan (w). Spotsylvania farmer.

George Bundy (b). Spotsylvania carpenter and farmer. George was born free, the son of a slave father and a free black mother. During the Civil War George Bundy worked as the caretaker of the farm of Albert J. McCarty, who was off fighting with the 30th Virginia Infantry. In the 1870s George filed a claim for compensation with the Southern Claims Commission, which dismissed his petition as fraudulent.

Provision account of George Bundy

Petition of George Bundy to the Southern Claims Commission

Robert Cammack (w). Spotsylvania farmer.

Grason Carter (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Grason Carter's work account

Jenny Carter (b). Spotsylvania laborer and sister of Grason Carter. For a time she worked as a cook for the Row family. And a little sewing as well. The Sarah Acors mentioned here was the wife of Henry Acors, another member of the large community of antebellum Spotsylvania's free blacks.

Jenny Carter

Frank Clark (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

John Coleman

Henry Collins

Henry Collins work account 1882

Joe Collins

Charles Comfort (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Richard Poindexter Comfort (b). Spotsylvania laborer. A son of Charles Comfort. His nickname was "Deck."

Washington Comfort (b). Spotsylvania laborer and a brother of Charles Comfort. "Wash" Comfort died just two months after George Row, and his estate was credited with $11.50 due from George for some corn. Washington Comfort's estate documents are in the archive of the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center in Fredericksburg.

Washington Comfort provision account, 1876

Washington Comfort provision account, 1877

From the estate papers of Washington Comfort

Sam Cook

Sam Cook's work account

Fleming Cooper (b). Spotsylvania laborer. In 1880 Fleming was 75 years old.

Robert Corbin

Peter Cottom

Stapleton Crutchfield (b). Spotsylvania laborer. In 1869 he worked at Greenfield as horse groom and he also harvested sumac. Note that he is charged 25 cents per day for board.

Stapleton Crutchfield and partner

Stapleton Crutchfield, groom for stallion

B.T. Doswell

Jefferson Dudley (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Joe Ellis

Joe Ellis work account, 1882

Thomas Ellis

Lucius Estes (w). Spotsylvania farmer and justice of the peace. He and his wife lived and worked at Greenfield in the 1870s with their adopted son. Two years after George Row died Lucius signed a sharecropping contract with his widow, Mary Elizabeth Houston Row.

Row - Estes contract, 1885

Row - Estes contract, 1885

Larkin Ford (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Powhatan Thomas Foster (w). Spotsylvania farmer. P.T. Foster served in the 9th Virginia Cavalry with his father, William E. Foster, and his brother, Fredericksburg merchant Oregon Dallas Foster. Ironically, P.T. Foster died in a saw mill accident in 1914.

P.T. Foster work account 1883

P.T. Foster work account 1881

William Beauregard Foster (w). Spotsylvania farmer. Brother of Powhatan Thomas Foster.

Work account of William Beauregard Foster, 1882

Thomas Gatewood

Charles Gibson (b). Spotsylvania farmer. In December 1867 George Row and Charles signed a labor agreement for the following year, in which George promises to pay $100 for the personal services of Charles and his two children, Margaret and Thomas.

Row - Gibson labor contract, 1867

Charles Gibson's provision account, 1869

James Gordon

Louisa Gordon (b). Spotsylvania laborer. Daughter in law of Charles Gibson. She and George Row also signed a labor agreement in 1867, in which he promises to pay $25 for the hire of herself and her daughter Anna.

Row - Gordon labor contract, 1867

Peter Green (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Peter Green work account, 1882

Henry Hanes

Henry Hanes work account, 1881

Lucius Hanes

Leonidas A. Harris (w). Spotsylvania laborer. L.A. Harris was a younger brother of George Row's business partner, James Alfred Harris. Another brother, Thomas Addison Harris, was sheriff of Spotsylvania County.

Thad Hart (b). Spotsylvania farmer.

Fielding Henderson

William Henderson

Henry Holmes (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Charley Jackson (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Work account of Charley Jackson, 1883

Nelson Jackson (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Noah Jackson (b). Spotsylvania farmer.

Robert Jackkson (b). A son of Noah Jackson

L.H. Jewett

J. W. Johnson

J.W. Johnson work account, 1883

Martha Johnson

William Lee Kent (w). Spotsylvania farmer. William was my grandmother's first cousin. He kept his luxuriant moustache unti he died in 1949 at age 87.

William Lee Kent

William Lee Kent work account, 1881

Carter Lewis

Jim Lewis

Sandy Lewis

Thomas Lewis (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

William Lewis (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Provision account of William Lewis

James Mason

Hugh Minor (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Joshua Minor (b). Spotsylvania laborer. Both Joshua and Hugh are shown on the 1870 census to be living at Greenfield as laborers.

Margaret Minor (b). Spotsylvania laborer. In 1870 she was a cook for the Rows.

Margaret Minor, cook

Joshua Overton (b). Spotsylvania farmer.

W.C. Pannill

Dudley Robinson (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Louisa Robinson (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

John Rough

Beverly Slaughter (b). Spotsylvania laborer. During the Civil War Beverly was  a slave of William Edwin Foster. In April 1878 George Row paid him to repair his watch.

Beverly Slaughter, for fixing watch

Obituary of Beverly Slaughter, The Daily Star 8 April 1909

Henry Slaughter (b). Spotsylvania laborer. In February 1867 George Row and Henry Slaughter signed a labor agreement, which included Henry's son and "two small boys."

Row - Slaughter labor contract, 1867

Gilbert Stewart (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

James Stewart (b). Spotsylvania farmer.

William Stewart

Allan D. Sullivan (w). Spotsylvania laborer and shoemaker.

Provision account of Allan D. Sullivan, 1870

Mordecai Sullivan (w). Spotsylvania carpenter. Brother of Allan D. Sullivan.

Provision account of Mordecai Sullivan, 1870

Julian Terrill (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Julian Terrill work account, 1882

Frank Tibbs

Nat Towles (b). Spotsylvania farmer.

Nat Towles provision account, 1870

James Tunket

William P. Twyman

Ned Watkins

G.B. Wallace

Robert Ware (b). Spotsylvania farmer.

William Ware (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

James Washington (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Mansfield Washington (b). Spotsylvania farmer. In 1880 George Row paid to Spotsylvania constable John C. Mitchell the warrant costs of Lucius M. Estes regarding Mansfield Washington.

Mansfield Washington warrant costs

Walker Wigglesworth (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Daniel Wilkerson

James Williams

Jordon Williams

Mike Williams

Addison Willis

Addison Willis work account, 1882

Frederick Wormley (b). Spotsylvania laborer.

Mary Wormley (b). Spotsylvania laborer. Wife of Frederick Wormley.

Atwell Young  (b). Spotsylvania farmer. Atwell was conscripted into the Confederate army in 1864. The year after George Row died, Atwell signed a sharecropping contract with his widow, Mary Elizabeth Houston Row.

Atwell Young and brothers provision account, 1870

Row - Young contract, 1884

Humphrey Young (b). Spotsylvania farmer. Brother of Atwell Young.

Humphrey Young obituary, The Daily Star 26 October 1906

 

George W.E. Row, Inc.

George Washington Estes Row

     During the last thirteen years of his life, George W.E. Row ran a large saw mill business in Spotsylvania and, for a time, another one in Stafford County. Over the years he had at least four partners, nearly 100 employees and well over 100 customers.
     Among the more valuable documents in the Row archive are four ledgers, providing information on a variety of subjects and transactions, spanning the years 1853-1883. Including the loose papers tucked into the ledgers, there are 358 pages of information. For the past 5 years I have studied those ledgers and have learned what I can about the people mentioned in them and now feel prepared to share what I know. Below is a representative page from one of the ledgers:

From the Row ledgers

     In an earlier post I described George's saw mill enterprise and tried to give an idea of its size and sophistication; to read that post, please click here. Today we will learn about who his customers were. They were businesses and individuals, rich and poor, well known and obscure, black and white. George shipped products from his saw mill on Joseph Talley's farm to customers from Orange County, Virginia to Baltimore, Maryland.

Stationery of George W.E. Row

     My intent in publishing this material is to make it available to fellow researchers and to be a resource for other historians. My great grandfather's business enterprises were how he made his living, provided for his family and achieved status in the community. In the 1870s the railroad business was big business. A great many saw mills and other contractors provided goods and services to the road builders. George Row may not have been the largest supplier of ties, fencing and other items in Spotsylvania, but he was no slouch. Had he not died suddenly at age 39 he would have left behind a legacy that would have been of considerable value. As it was, his early death consigned my great grandmother to years of poverty, stress and loneliness.
     I have listed the names of George's customers in alphabetical order. Where possible I have included a little information about them, and links to my previous posts which provide additional detail are indicated. [Please note that all images in my blogs may be clicked on for enlarged viewing]

Thomas Jefferson Almond. Orange County farmer who served on the board of supervisors. He was a cousin to George Row's first wife, Annie Tutt Daniel.

John Roberts Alrich. This image is part of the display for him at the Spotsylvania County Museum:

John R. Alrich

W.W. Ashby. He was named U.S. Consul to Columbia in 1892, where he drowned in a boating accident in 1898.

William Atkins

C.E. Barnes

John B. Bell

Benjamin Bowering. Born in England, he came to Fredericksburg and operated the Hope Foundry, where George Row bought the boiler and steam engine for his saw mill. Benjamin was the father of Andrew Bowering, who led the regimental band of the 30th Virginia Infantry and conducted the music played at the funeral of Stonewall Jackson.

Benjamin Bowering letter to Mary Elizabeth Row, 1884

George W. Bowler. Orange County farmer.

Carter M. Braxton. Confederate artilleryman and civil engineer for the construction of the Fredericksburg & Gordonsville  and Piedmont, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroads.

Vivian Carmichael Brooking, Spotsylvania farmer.

Lewis Brooks

Thomas Brooks

Brown, Graves & Company. Lumber merchants in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ernest L. Buchanan. Spotsylvania farmer.

William Shelton Buchanan. Father of Ernest L. Buchanan.

Mrs. Walter Cammack

Frances Chancellor. Widow of Sanford Chancellor. She and her children were living at Chancellorsville during the historic battle of the same name. The photograph below, taken before 1860, shows Frances and Sanford Chancellor and their family at their home, Forest Hall. Photo courtesy of the National Park Service.

Chancellors at Forest Hall

George Edwards Chancellor. Served in the Ninth Virginia Cavalry and was a merchant in Fredericksburg.

Receipt of George E. Chancellor to George Row, 1883

Melzi Chancellor. Father of George Edwards Chancellor, Baptist minister and commissioner of revenue for Spotsylvania. Shown below sitting with his brothers Lorman and James Edgar Chancellor.

Chancellor brothers

John Chewning

John A. Childers

William A. Clear. Spotsylvania gold miner.

J.T. Coleman

William Graves Crenshaw. Commanded Crenshaw's battery early in the Civil War, then acted as a purchasing agent for the Confederate government in England. Owned Hawfield farm in Orange and was reported in his obituary to be the largest land owner in the county.

William Davenport. Spotsylvania farmer.

A.W. Dillard, Spotsylvania carpenter.

A.B. Donohoe.  Fredericksburg harness maker.

E.L. Doyle

Cecil Durrett

Austin J. Eipper, Spotsylvania blacksmith. From Pennsylvania.

Lucius M. Estes. Spotsylvania farmer and justice of the peace. During the 1870s he lived as a tenant farmer at Greenfield, the Row family farm.

Samuel Estes. Spotsylvania school teacher and justice of the peace. Father of Lucius M. Estes. In 1880 Samuel Estes fined George Row for his failure to appear for work scheduled on Catharpin Road

Samuel Estes fines George Row

Silas Faulconer. Spotsylvania farmer.

J. B. Ficklen. Owner of flour mill in Fredericksburg.

J.B. Ficklen invoice to George Row

Dr. Thomas W. Finney. Served in the Ninth Virginia Cavalry and was one of the doctors who treated the Row family over the years.

Receipt of Dr. Finney to George Row, 1882

Powhatan Thomas Foster. Spotsylvania farmer who married a daughter of Robert S. Knighton. His brother, Oregon Dallas Foster, was a merchant in Fredericksburg.

William Edwin Foster. Father of Powhatan Thomas Foster.

Fredericksburg & Gordonsville Railroad

Tom Gibson

William Gordon

William Gabine Green. Spotsylvania farmer.

William Gabine Green

Parmenas Clayton Harding. Spotsylvania farmer. Fought with the 9th Virginia Cavalry.

James Alfred Harris. Business partner of George Row. His brother, Thomas Addison Harris, was for many years sheriff and clerk of court for Spotsylvania.

Robert McCracken Harris. Father of James Alfred, Leonidas, Thomas Addison and William Harris. Came to Spotsylvania from New Jersey before the Civil War.

William Harris. Born in New Jersey and returned north to fight with the Union army with another brother. After the war he came home to Fredericksburg and owned Harris & Brother grocery.

John Hicks

William Stapleton Hicks.  Spotsylvania merchant who ran Hicks' store. Melzi Chancellor married my great grandparents, William Franklin Kent and Lottie Conley, at Stape's house in 1878.

E.T. Hilldrup

John G. Hurkamp. Neighbor of George Row who ran a tannery in Fredericksburg and served on the city council. Hurkamp Park is named in his honor.

Simon Hirsch. Fredericksburg merchant who served on the city council and the school board.

Welford Jackson

Jacob Johnson

Lify Johnson

R.J. Johnson

Mat Johnston

Amos Jones

Lawrence Jones

Fleming Meredith Kendall. Orange County farmer.

Warner Kent. My great great grandfather. Arrested by Union troops during the battle of the Wilderness and taken to the Old Capitol Prison.

William Franklin Kent. My great grandfather. Son of Warner Kent

Warner Kent

William Lee Kent. Grandson of Warner Kent.

William Lee Kent

Charles D. King

Asabel Kishpaugh, teamster at the saw mill in 1880. Born in New Jersey

Robert S. Knighton.  Spotsylvania farmer. Built the coffin for my great great grandmother, Nancy Estes Row in 1873. Bought 43 acres of Greenfield land after the death of George Row.

Robert S. Knighton

Joseph Kronk. Farmer. Came to Spotsylvania from Pennsylvania.

Lewis Kronk. Farmer, blacksmith and brother of Joseph Kronk. Came to Spotsylvania from Pennsylvania.

Lewis Kube. Spotsylvania farmer.

Joseph Lancaster

Larkin W. Landram. Wagon maker.

William Edward Lang. Fredericksburg merchant.

Willard S. Leavell. Spotsylvania farmer.

John Lewis

Allan Mason

James Mason

Richard Mason

Michael McCracken. Fredericksburg merchant. Murdered by his son in 1891.

Absalom McGee. Spotsylvania farmer and unionist during the Civil War. Arrested 3 times by Confederate authorities. During the battle of Chancellorsville, Jackson's flank attack swept through his property.

John Miller

Payne & Hawkins.  Fredericksburg lumber merchants. John Thomas Payne was also a partner in business with George Row. John Hawkins ran a saw mill in Spotsylvania.

Robert L. Pendleton. Spotsylvania farmer.

Perry, Smoot & Company. Lumber merchants in Alexandria, Virginia.

Piedmont, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad

Alfred Poole. Spotsylvania farmer. A local school was taught at his place during the late 1800s. A grandson of Alfred, Patrick Fleming, was adopted by Lucius M. Estes.

Benjamin Warner Pritchett. Spotsylvania farmer. Fought with the 55th Virginia Infantry during the Civil War.

Benjamin Warner Pritchett

James Boswell Rawlings. Spotsylvania farmer, justice of the peace, gambler and gold miner. Father of Zachary Herndon Rawlings and Benjamin Cason Rawlings.

Henry Roberts. Born in England. He and George Row did not have a harmonious business relationship. Roberts refused to pay George the final amount owed for building materials delivered to his property near Spotsylvania Courthouse. George successfully attached a mechanic's lien to Roberts's property.

Charles Robey. Spotsylvania farmer.

Edward P. Roney. Gold miner and postmaster at Roney's Store, Spotsylvania. From Maryland.

George Thomson Rowe. Oldest son of Absalom Peyton Rowe, Fredericksburg merchant and mayor.

John Row Sisson. Farmer, carpenter and cousin of George Row.

Beverly Slaughter. A former slave of William Edwin Foster, remembered for taking care of the Foster family while William fought with the Ninth Virginia Cavalry.

Dr. Smith

Spotsylvania County

Major Stanard. Spotsylvania farmer.

William A. Stephens. Neighbor and close friend of the Rows. Estate appraiser and justice of the peace.

John Henry Swift. Spotsylvania farmer.

Joseph Talley. Spotsylvania farmer. George Row's saw mill was located on his property, about a mile and a half south of Todd's Tavern. George had contracted to harvest timber on two hundred acres of Talley's woodlands.

Joseph Talley receipt to GWE Row for timber, 5 March 1881

Littleton Talley, Spotsylvania farmer.

Nathan Talley, Spotsylvania farmer. Brother of Joseph Talley

William Talley, Spotsylvania blacksmith.

Jesse Thornton

George Timby. Spotsylvania farmer.

T.T. Tinder

Oscar Beadles Todd. Spotsylvania farmer whose family were the original owners of Todd's Tavern. Served with the Ninth Virginia Cavalry.

Richard Lewis Todd. Brother of Oscar Beadles Todd. Also served in the Ninth Virginia Cavalry.

John A. Towns. Spotsylvania grocer.

Joseph Trigg. Spotsylvania farmer and neighbor of the Row family.

S.W. Valentine

Rev. Washington, Spotsylvania laborer.

Allen Webb

Richard Webb

Sam S. White. Spotsylvania farmer and commissioner of revenue.

John Willoughby. Spotsylvania farmer.

Robert L. Wiltshire. Orange County farmer.

J.P. Woody

Jane Young. Sister of Atwell and Humphrey Young

Atwell Young, the Black Confederate

Western Spotsylvania, 1863

     On the eve of the Civil War there were almost 600 free black persons living in Spotsylvania County, the majority of whom lived in the incorporated town of Fredericksburg. Among some of the larger families enumerated in the 1860 census were the Cooks and the Youngs. In the detail of J.F. Gilmer's 1863 map of Spotsylvania shown above, the Cooks are seen at the lower left of the image, the Youngs are at center right. The "FN" designated them as free negroes. [Please note that all images in my blog may be clicked on for enlarged viewing]
     Humphrey and Nancy Young's farm lay on the east side of Catharpin Road just north of the Ni River. Together they had a least seven children, including three boys. Their second youngest son, Atwell, was born about 1841.
     About Atwell's early life nothing is known. Like many of the free mulattoes of Spotsylvania, Atwell's sympathies appear to have been with the Southern cause. Whether this was due to a true identification with the fate of the rebellion or to a prudent act of self-preservation is difficult to say. In 1862 Atwell Young, as well as his older brother Humphrey, worked as a teamster for the Confederate army. The receipt given to Atwell, shown below, reads: "For service of self as teamster for 1 month & 20 days, from Jany 1st to Feb 20 @ 20 $ per month." Atwell was paid by Captain John B. Benton at Brooke Station in Stafford on March 30, 1862. Atwell's mark was witnessed by his neighbor James Pettigrew Chartters, husband of Susan Phillips Chancellor, whose father built Chancellorsville.

Receipt given to Atwell Young, March 1862

     In 1864 Atwell was conscripted into the Confederate army and  with about 1,500 other free blacks and mulattoes was processed at Camp Lee. Their physical appearances were cataloged by Confederate authorities, who took a keen interest in such matters. The table below appears on page 125 of Ervin L. Jordan's excellent book, Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia, University of Virginia Press, 1995. Atwell Young's name is listed here. Jordan points out that these conscripts generally did not serve in combat units, but were assigned as guards at "ordnance and naval depots, railroads, canals and armories."

From Black Confederates and Afro-Yankees in Civil War Virginia

     After the war Atwell married his first wife Betsy Schooler, also born of a free family, on November 25, 1865. Betsy died shortly after they were married and whether they had any children is not known.
     Atwell married his second wife, Ellen F. Cook, on July 11, 1868. Ellen's parents were William Cook and Catherine Acors, who were also free people before the war. William Cook owned an 80 acre farm (shown on the map at the top of today's post) near the intersection of Brock and Orange Plank Roads.
     William Cook, born about 1800, was the son of a black man, presumably a slave, and an English woman who came to America in the 1700s. William claimed to have had 26 children by his two wives. His first wife was a slave, and about her and their children I know almost nothing. In addition to William Cook and his second family the 1850 census show three other Cooks about his age - Susan, James and Lucy - who may possibly have been his siblings. William Cook and his freeborn second wife, Catherine Acors, had at least ten children together, the oldest of whom was Atwell's wife Ellen. The section of Spotsylvania where William and his many descendants established themselves is still known as Cooktown.
     Cook's farm was at the epicenter of two of the largest land battles to have occurred in the western hemisphere, Chancellorsville and Wilderness, and his experiences mirrored those of his equally unlucky neighbors. He also lost one of his enslaved sons during the war, who had been "carried off" as a servant to a Confederate soldier. During the battle of Chancellorsville, Union troops burned much of his fencing for fuel. A year later, during the Wilderness fight, his newly replaced fencing again went up in flames, but whether this happened because of the actions of Federal forces or was due to one of the many uncontrolled wildfires that blazed in the area is not clear. During the Wilderness battle William's house was used as a hospital. Northern soldiers appropriated his livestock and food stores, carrying those provisions off to the James Carpenter property, where a much larger hospital had been set up. The year after the war the First Veteran Volunteers set up camp for a time at Cook's farm during their monumental effort to locate and rebury the remains of Union soldiers. While there the "burial corps" may have pulled down an old log house and used the lumber to build beds for themselves. And, for the third time in as many years, Cook's fencing was burned.
     William Cook's sympathies during the war are somewhat of a mystery, as his statements to the Southern Claims Commission were often self-contradictory. While answering the Commission's long list of questions posed to him by M.F. Pleasants in 1873, he stated that he had always been a Union man. To be considered eligible for compensation for losses sustained during the war, Southern petitioners had to prove that they had been loyal during the conflict. William added: "I had a good many wounded soldiers in my house. I helped them every way I could. I acted as a guide for them to Spotsylvania Court House." Absalom Herndon Chewning, who owned nearby Mount View plantation, affirmed Cook's Union loyalties during the war. William and Henry Acors, Cook's father- and brother-in-law, also testified as to his loyalty.
     But when William Cook was interviewed again in 1878, this time by special commissioner John Smith, his story changed enough that he doomed his own chances for any compensation. Whether he changed his story because of the infirmities of old age - he was by then about 80 years old - or because he no longer felt comfortable being identified as a "union man" is hard to say. He now stated that he pulled down the old log house himself and used most of the lumber to build a barn. He denied that he had ever been a guide for the Union army. And this statement may have been most telling: "My sympathies during the war were with the Southern people and the Southern cause. I did not want to see the South whipped in the struggle."

     Atwell and Ellen Young had at least five children together. The 1870 census shows Atwell listed adjacent to William A. Stephens, a neighbor and friend of my Row ancestors. In addition to farming his own land, Atwell also worked at the saw mill of George Washington Estes Row. The two images below are pages from George Row's ledger books. The first shows the number of ties made by Atwell and his brothers in August and September 1870 for the Fredericksburg & Gordonsville Railroad. The second page is the provision account for the Young brothers for that same period. This was either part of their pay or were the rations provided them at the saw mill's commissary.

Railroad ties made by the Young brothers, 1870

Provision account for Young brothers, 1870

     When George Row died in the spring of 1883, my great grandmother was left with the responsibility of raising three small children, winding down her late husband's business and managing the family farm. In 1884 she contracted for some much needed help, which came in the person of Atwell Young. On February 18 that year Mary Elizabeth Houston Row and Atwell Young signed a sharecropping agreement. Atwell's mark was witnessed by William A. Stephens.

Row-Young sharecropping contract, 1884

     I hope Atwell was able to fulfill his part of the bargain. He died on September 27, 1884.



     During the Civil War Atwell's brother Humphrey also was noted for his service, although it does not  appear that he was conscripted into the army. During the war Humphrey served as body servant to Captain William Augustine Smith, who was aide-de-camp for brigadier general John G. Walker. General Walker witnessed Humphrey's mark on his receipt of payment for his work as a teamster in 1862.

Receipt to Humphrey Young, 1862

     After the war Humphrey Young was also known for his ability as a horse groom and worked for Captain Smith's son in law, Fredericksburg banker A. Randolph Howard. Humphreys' obituary appeared in the October 26, 1906 edition of The Daily Star:

Obituary of Humphrey Young

     Humphrey and his wife continued to farm the Young property on Catharpin Road for the rest of their lives. The 1900 census shows them living there with their grandson, ten year old Sam Ford. Old time Spotsylvania folks (like myself) who used to travel down Catharpin Road 50 years ago will remember Sam sitting on the porch of the small house he built for himself after his wife died. He was quite an interesting character in his own right and I may write more about him later.
     Thirty years ago my father bought some acreage off Catharpin Road and built a house on the site of the old Young place. Today it is the home of my sister.