"It would be my heart's delight to do it"

Absalom Alpheus Row

      Well. How to write about Abbie Row? The details of his life's story which have come down to us are a combination of verifiable facts and tales that beggar belief. Separating the wheat from the chaff is made more difficult by Abbie's "restless, roving disposition" and his fondness for telling embroidered stories to his granddaughter, Marie Clark. In 1985 Marie wrote an ambitious history of the Row family in Virginia which includes a section featuring Abbie. For better or worse, then, some of what appears below is derived from Marie's book, chaff and all.

Forest Grove, Culpeper County

  
     Absalom Alpheus Row (1868-1931) was the son of George Washington Estes Row and Annie Daniel of Culpeper. He was named for his two grandfathers--Absalom Row and Samuel Alpheus Daniel (who was killed near Mechanicsville in 1862 during the Seven Days Battle). After their wedding in October 1867 George and Annie Row came to Spotsylvania and lived with George's sister and mother at Greenfield. Annie went home to Forest Grove, the Daniel home in Culpeper, to be cared for by her mother Sarah J. Daniel during Abbie's birth on December 1, 1868.
     Abbie's sister, Virginia Isabella, arrived on March 4, 1871. Soon after her birth George Row traveled to Texas to explore the possibility of buying land and perhaps moving the family there. He came home to Spotsylvania in September that year. Within weeks of his return a series of tragedies occurred which had a profound effect on the lives of George and Abbie. Between November 1871 and January 1873 Abbie's mother, sister and grandmother Nancy Estes Row died at Greenfield.
     In the aftermath of all that heartache Abbie's father spent much time away from Greenfield. George Row often stayed with his sister Bettie and brother in law Zachary Rawlings at their home in Rockbridge County. George's sister Nannie, I believe, took a hand in helping to raise Abbie during this time and she came to be regarded as his second mother. Nan was absolutely devoted to her nephew.
     George Row married Lizzie Houston of Rockbridge on December 14, 1875. They rode from the church to Staunton where they took the train to Fredericksburg. After  a long and cold carriage ride from the train station to Greenfield George and Lizzie arrived after dark. According to Mabel Row Wakeman George and Lizzie went to the weaving house to visit with Lucius Estes and his wife, who lived and worked at Greenfield. This gave Nannie the opportunity to sweep up around the hearth where Abbie and the Estes boy had been engaged in a whittling contest. 
     In a letter written to his cousin Emma Farish on February 1, 1876 George Row wrote: "Abbie is shaking the table now and looking over my elbow. Cousin Nan is teaching school at Cousin John's [in Orange County]. Abbie has been going to her but has been home ever since Xmas. Will soon return as he will not learn at home. I was married just before Xmas...to Miss Lizzie Houston of Rockbridge Co...about 21 years old and a splendid woman. Abbie loves her dearly."
     In 1876 Abbie's grandmother, now remarried as Sarah Jane Stewart, at long last settled the estate of her first husband, Samuel A. Daniel. George Row received eighty acres of the Daniel farm and Abbie got his own parcel of twenty four and one half acres.
     An interlude mentioned in Marie Clark's book occurred sometime before the death of Abbie's father. According to Marie, George took Abbie to Missouri to visit relatives who lived  there. While they stayed out west Abbie drove a wagon to deliver milk to several customers, including Cole Younger, a member of the outlaw James gang. Marie said that Cole Younger owned a livery stable in the town near the place the Rows were visiting.

Culpeper tax notices for George and Abbie Row, 1879

     As owners of land in Culpeper County, George and Abbie each received his own tax bill. Abbie, of course was still a young boy and his father would therefore be responsible for paying both obligations. George Row kept meticulous records for his business in a series of ledgers. His bills, bank book and correspondence were kept neatly filed. He paid his Spotsylvania taxes routinely. And yet, for reasons I have yet to understand, George did not pay the taxes he and Abbie owed in Culpeper.

State Auditor to Nannie Row 5 December 1884

Bill for unpaid taxes for 1881

Bill for unpaid taxes for 1877 and 1878

     This lapse did not become known until the year after George Row's death. Nannie began to receive correspondence from the State Auditor informing her that the taxes for both parcels in Culpeper were in arrears. At that point Nannie and Sarah Stewart took it upon themselves to straighten this mess out for Abbie, now fifteen years old.

Sarah Stewart to Nannie Row 14 January 1885

     In a letter written to Nannie Row in January 1885, Sarah Stewart described the difficulties she and her husband were encountering in their effort to resolve this issue at the court house: "[Mr. Stewart] went to see the town clerk about the tax for 1881 and could not see him. The deputy clerk said he could not find it but would look soon as he came and be ready in a day or so. Mr. Stewart went up yesterday but nothing had been done...It is the hardest matter to find them in the office and get anything done by them." Years later Abbie finally sold both parcels to Sarah's son in law, Charles Bruce Williams.

Sarah Stewart to Nannie Row April 1884

Sarah Stewart to Nannie Row April 1884

     While his aunt and grandmother were sorting out his tax problems, Abbie had other things on his mind. Unlike his sister Mabel, Abbie had been an indifferent student and appears to have dropped out of school at the age of thirteen or so. In a letter written to Nannie in April 1884 Sarah commented on fifteen year old Abbie's prospects: "...everyone thinks Abbie ought to have gone to school two years longer and then he could get into business. As it is he will have to work with his hands and his head not able to help him..."
     In 1886 Abbie left Greenfield and struck out on his own. For a time he worked as a laborer building bridges, first in Roanoke and then in Chattanooga, Tennessee where he boarded with the family of B.C. Pons. One day a piece of steel got into his eye and for several weeks Abbie suffered in bed in a darkened room until he healed. By then his job had been given to another man. He left Chattanooga and Mrs. Pons wrote a letter to Nannie Row on November 26, 1887 to let her know of his present circumstances, which were still not very good: "Two weeks ago we heard Abbie had gone to work for some bridge company on the St. Frances River in Arkansas, and was taken with a congestive chill and was carried to a hotel and after being ill there five weeks the hotel took fire and burned down and he lost all his clothes and came near being burned himself. They then carried him to the hospital, he is now able to be up..."

James T. Williams to Nannie Row 16 June 1888

     Nannie received a letter from James T. Williams in June 1888. James described a visit with Abbie and tried to alleviate her anxiety about his welfare: "You seem to be more uneasy about Aby than anyone else. Now don't feel badly or uneasy about him. When he was here near two years ago I had a talk with him and was glad to see had your principles--no bad habits--but had a restless, roving disposition. I have no doubt but what he is alive--and perhaps at some distant place and may be doing well. At all events we can hope that he is doing so."

Page 1 of Nannie Row's will

     Nannie Row began writing her will in 1873 and over the years revised and amplified it as circumstances required. Her last entry was made in January 1888: "I have been looking over my will and wish to make some alteration and not feeling very well will do it now. I give Greenfield farm to Abbie Row on condition he gives Mabel Row his interest in his father's land [the original 166 1/2 acres of Sunshine], also his interest in the land given to George's children by Martha J. Williams."
     Abbie wrote to his Aunt Nan from Malvern, Arkansas on September 19, 1888: "I could not come to take care of the farm now for the reason that I am under the care of Dr. Beatty of Little Rock. I have consumption and have to stay close to the springs so that I can bathe and get water to drink...I would like to come home and take charge of the farm very much, and I could see to you and nurse you. It would be my heart's delight to do it. Your child, Abbie."
     Nannie died in June 1889 but the ever wayward Abbie did not come home to take charge of the farm, at least not yet. His sister Mabel recalled that "Abbie was a stoker on a ship and went around the world, swam in the Red Sea, and while in London he was so handsome he was offered a position as one of the Queen's Guards but he declined and when they reached China Abbie was taken sick with smallpox and hid in the hold of the ship for fear of being put ashore all alone in a strange country."
     By 1891 Abbie was in the dairy business with a Mr. Charles in Fort Worth, Texas. While there he executed the deed which ceded his interest in Sunshine farm to his sister Mabel. He now owned Greenfield free and clear.
     Abbie married Annie Juliet Rosser, a distant cousin of General Thomas J. Rosser, in Summers County, West Virginia on September 5, 1893. Abbie was working as a conductor for the Southern Railroad. Their first two children, Inez and Thomas, were born in West Virginia. In 1899 the family moved to Greenfield. That winter Annie's sister Clementina came to visit them. While there she fell ill and had the dubious distinction of being the last person to die at Greenfield. She was buried in an unmarked grave in the family cemetery. On a brighter note Abbie's daughter Maxine, who arrived in 1902, was the last child born at Greenfield.
     During these years at Greenfield it had been Abbie's dream to continue to work for the railroad and save enough money to buy modern farm equipment. In this quest he was not successful. Abbie went heavily into debt trying to make a go of farming. By 1905 he ran out of options and sold Greenfield to Scott T. Stephens. One hundred and ten years after Richard Estes bought the plantation in 1795, Greenfield passed out of the family's hands forever.
     Abbie took his family to Strasburg, Virginia where his son Abbie Rowe II was born that same year. As an adult the younger Abbie affected the "e" on the family name. The Rows stayed in Strasburg for five years and then moved to Alexandria. After almost twenty five years of his "restless roving" Abbie finally stayed put there for the rest of his days.
   

Horace and Judy Row with Abbie, c.1929

     Abbie Row died in Alexandria in 1931. As was the custom then his body was laid out in the parlor and then taken to Strasburg, where he was laid to rest in Riverview Cemetery.

Berkley Estes

Berkley Estes

     Berkley Estes (1797-1869) was born at Greenfield plantation to Richard and Catherine Estes. Berkley was one of four sons and a brother to my great great grandmother, Nancy Estes Row. It is said that, while too young to participate in the fighting, Berkley served in the War of 1812 doing the jobs required in camp life. Like many of my Estes and Row ancestors, he was drawn west by opportunities he felt were superior to what were available in Spotsylvania. He first moved to Kentucky where he married a second cousin, Malinda Estes.
     Berkley and Malinda moved to Boone County, Missouri in the 1820s and established a farm just east of Columbia. His was one of the first brick houses built in the county and Berkley became a substantial landowner and slaveholder.  He was joined in Missouri by his brothers Ambrose and Richard; the fourth Estes brother, George Washington, settled in Kentucky. Richard Estes donated land and Berkley put up $300 to secure the location of the University of Missouri in Columbia. Malinda died in 1838 and Berkley married Mary Truitt a year later.
     After he died in 1869 Berkley's daughter Margaret Boulton wrote a letter to Nannie Row of Greenfield, describing in vivid detail the circumstances of his death. He is buried in the Estes cemetery in Boone County.

Margaret Boulton to Nannie Row 1869

Margaret Boulton to Nannie Row 1869

Margaret Boulton to Nannie Row 1869

Transcription of Margaret Boulton's letter

Transcription of Margaret Boulton's letter

From the Row family Bible

John Sanders Row

John S. Row

     John Row (1831-1892) was a brother of Dr. Elhanon Row. The 1850 census shows that nineteen year old John was deputy sheriff of Orange County and the 1860 census indicates that he was sheriff. By the outbreak of the Civil War John Row was serving as deputy for Sheriff James L. Robinson. John married Eliza Walker in 1853 and they had eight children between 1855 and 1873.

Captain John Row, 6th Virginia Cavalry

     John Row resigned as deputy sheriff of Orange and enlisted in Company I of the Sixth Virginia Cavalry on April 1, 1862. On April 20 he was promoted to Captain. Among the men under his command were his cousin (and my great grandfather) George Washington Estes Row and his friend Jonathan T. Mann of Orange County.

Sheriff Robinson's letter to Secretary Randolph

     On September 16, 1862 Sheriff James Robinson wrote a letter to Secretary of War G.W. Randolph. Robinson stated that John Row had volunteered to serve in the Confederate army "before the deputies were exempt by law from the service. It is now necessary that I should have him to assist me to collect the Revenues...Therefor pray you to discharge him from the service so that he can return to his duties as deputy."

John Row's letter of resignation

John Row's letter of resignation

     The following day Captain John Row tendered his resignation to Colonel Thomas S. Flournoy of the Sixth Cavalry. John pleaded his case by stating that he had "a large amount of business unsettled and no other person can settle it without serious loss to myself and those who are bound as security for me, for large sums from loss, and to do so I feel it my duty to resign my commission." John's resignation was approved and on October 7, 1862 he was once again a private citizen.

Jonathan T. Mann

Sarah Mann

     Jonathan Mann of the Sixth Cavalry was a friend and neighbor of John Row. Originally from New Hampshire, Mann came to Virginia in 1849, when he married Sarah Spencer of Fluvanna County. The Manns settled in Orange and at the outbreak of the war Jonathan cast his lot with that of his adopted state and joined the Confederate army, enlisting on the same day as John Row. Two months after John's resignation Corporal Jonathan T. Mann was promoted to Lieutenant. He was killed at the battle of Brandy Station on June 9, 1863.

John Row to Sarah Mann 4 August 1863

     Between August 1863 and October 1869 John Row wrote at least five letters to Mann's widow, Sarah. I discovered these letters last year at the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center in Fredericksburg. After the death of her husband, Sarah moved back to Fluvanna to stay with relatives. Orange County had become a desolate, dangerous place as John wrote on August 4, 1863: "It is impossible to say how long our army may stay here or whether it would be safe for you to come over. We are afraid of Yankee cavalry raids where I live. Our infantry is above me and I fear the cavalry will make a dash over below me."

John Row to Sarah Mann 20 February 1864

     On February 20, 1864 John wrote to Sarah: "I hope we will all get through this war soon and come out of it better and wiser people. I will try to do my duty while I am here to everybody and trust my family to the protecting care of a kind Providence. I have been in many difficulties and have always found someone to help me in time of trouble. I shall go forward not doubting but that all will be well for me and and all those dependent upon me no matter what befalls me. We must never give up--keep up in spirits, do our duty and trust God and He will take care of us."
    

John Row to Sarah Mann 22 October 1869

     Of course the cares and troubles of John Row and his acquaintances did not end with the surrender at Appomattox. On October 22, 1869 John wrote of this sad incident: "I did not give you the history of Wm. Walker's misfortune because I did not like to think about it. He was in a desponding condition about money matters and attempted to take his own life and his daughter, seeing him with pistol in hand and knowing his constitution attempted to take it away. In doing so, she pulled the pistol down upon her right breast and was shot through the lung, the ball passing through. She lived from Friday until Monday morning. She was rational and was willing to die. Her mother has been ill ever since and I suppose it will be a long time before she is herself again."

George W.E. Row promissory note to John Row

     After the war John, Eliza and their children resumed their lives on the family farm in Orange. John maintained close ties with his Spotsylvania cousins, including George Washington Estes Row. In 1882 John provided a loan of one hundred dollars to George, for whom cash flow often remained a challenge.

John Row to Nannie Row 6 July 1885

John Row to Nannie Row 6 July 1885

John Row to Nannie Row 6 July 1885

     In July 1885 John wrote a letter to George's sister Nannie, who still lived at Greenfield. John described the wedding of his son William to Blanche Johnson. Alluding to his reduced economic circumstances, John remarked that he was glad they did not want a party since he could not afford one and that "I felt badly that I had nothing to give them."

Virginia Star article on area goldmines

     In an 1880s edition of the Virginia Star and article was written about the various gold mining operations underway in Spotsylvania and Orange. Mention is made of Joseph Trigg, who lived near Greenfield. Noted also was John Row on whose property "recent experiments develop an immense quantity of ore and assays have been made of the same." I do not know if this made any difference in John's fortunes, but I would like to think so.
     John Row died on April 10, 1892 and is buried at Graham Cemetery in Orange County.

Elhanon Winchester Row

Dr. Elhanon Row, 1887

     Elhanon Row (1833-1900) was born in Orange County to Captain Elhanon Row and Mary Dawson Sanders. Both Elhanon and his father--the younger brother of Absalom Row--were named for noted eighteenth century evangelist Elhanon Winchester. Like his father Thomas Row, the senior Elhanon was sheriff of Orange County and was acknowledged as "Colonel Row" because of his service in the Virginia militia. The younger Elhanon's brother John was deputy sheriff in the same county, serving under Sheriff James L. Robinson at the outbreak of the Civil War.

Elhanon Row, 1850s

     After completing his common school education, Elhanon taught for a time in the public schools of Alexandria. He attended classes at the University of Virginia 1856-57 and received his degree in medicine from the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania in 1858.
     His medical practice in Orange was just barely established when Virginia seceded from the Union in April 1861. On May 4 he joined Company I of the Sixth Virginia Cavalry, the "Orange Rangers." In February 1862 he was named as assistant surgeon at the hospital established at Orange Court House. The following month he transferred to the Fourteenth Virginia Cavalry, where he served as regimental surgeon for the remainder of the war. Coincidentally, Company H of the Fourteenth was comprised largely of young men from Rockbridge County, including uncles and other relatives of young Lizzie Houston, my great grandmother.

Dr. Elhanon Row, Sixth Virginia Cavalry

     After the debacle at the battle of Gettysburg, Elhanon Row stayed behind to care for his wounded men and was captured by Federal forces on July 5, 1863. He was transported to Fort McHenry, Maryland which was then being used as a prisoner of war facility housing 110 Confederate surgeons and 10 chaplains as well as assorted southern sympathizers from Maryland.
     Conditions at Fort McHenry were better than those found at many of the other hellholes where Confederate prisoners were housed. Nevertheless, Elhanon still fell prey to dysentery, which was rampant in these places. He was admitted to the prison hospital on October 20, 1863 and remained there for almost a month. He was exchanged as a prisoner of war on November 21 and was released at City Point, Virginia. Elhanon was still sick, however, and was admitted to General Hospital No. 4 in Richmond on November 25. On December 3 he received a forty day furlough to finish his convalescence in Lynchburg.

Pay voucher for surgeon E.W. Row, September 1864

     As soon as he was able Dr. Row returned to his regiment. He managed to avoid capture a second time during the disastrous battle of Cedar Creek on October 19, 1864. With the bedraggled remnants of the Fourteenth Cavalry, Elhanon was surrendered by General Lee at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
     After the war Elhanon returned to Orange and resumed his medical practice. In 1875 he married Ida Newman and had one daughter, Lottie, who survived to adulthood. Dr. Elhanon Row was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in the mid 1880s. He was instrumental in passing the legislation that created the Virginia Medical Examining Board. In recognition for this accomplishment he was elected president of the Medical Society of Virginia in 1889. 

Richmond Dispatch, 24 May 1900

     Elhanon died on May 23, 1900 and is buried near his brother John in Graham Cemetery in Orange County.

Lizzie Row's Last Chapter

Elizabeth Houston Row

     My great grandmother took seriously the education of her children. Tutors were hired at considerable expense. As youngsters her children would also be sent to neighborhood schools held at private homes and Lizzie herself taught a semester at Sunshine. Shown below is a "Monthly Roll of Honor," probably from the early 1890's, that lists the names of exemplary students, including Houston, Horace and Mabel Row.

"Monthly Roll of Honor"

     The early death of Houston Row was a crippling blow to the fortunes of the Rows. However, Mabel was intelligent and capable and attended college in Richmond in the late 1800s. I have yet to find mention of which school she went to, but Mabel was the first Row to graduate from college. She came home to Sunshine in 1900 and taught school in the Chancellor district. In the picture below of Mabel's classmates, she appears near the center of the group with a pink dot on her left shoulder.

Mabel Row, c.1900

Mabel Row's college class

     Horace Row, my grandfather, was an intelligent young man and a capable farmer with good business sense. He was an indifferent student and a mediocre speller. After Houston's death in 1899 Horace became the man of the house at age 17 and managed Sunshine farm for the next forty years.

Horace Row, early 1900s

     In November 1901 Lizzie, as well as her brothers and sister in Rockbridge, at long last received their inheritances from the estate of their father, who had died without a will in 1882. It had taken years of patience and one failed attempt to subdivide and sell the family farm, Mount Pleasant, to pay the creditors of George W. Houston's estate. In the end, Lizzie's brother Will and his wife Fannie assumed the debts of the estate in return for title to Mount Pleasant. At age 47 Lizzie received her legacy.

From the estate papers of George Houston

     Mabel married Samuel T. Wakeman in 1908 and moved to the house he had built on a large tract of land next to Sunshine. Horace, of course, continued to live with his mother. While he caught the attention of some of the girls in the neighborhood (as evidenced by some postcards mailed to him) my grandfather did not seem in any particular rush to get married.
     Lizzie had used her inheritance and other money on hand to build a barn and other outbuildings at Sunshine. In early 1909 three of those buildings were destroyed by fire. There was no insurance, and the Rows had to rely on their own resources (and the kindness of neighbors who helped) to rebuild.

Richmond Times 9 January 1909

     The following year my great grandmother hired E.H. Randall, surveyor for the city of Fredericksburg, to survey Sunshine as a first step in transferring title to the farm to Horace. In his cover letter sent with the plat dated December 31, 1910, Randall indicated that Sunshine consisted of 343 acres, 32 more than had been previously supposed. In 1911 Horace bought Mabel's share of Sunshine and became the sole owner.

1910 plat of Sunshine

1910 plat of Sunshine

     In March 1917 Lizzie, now fifty three years old, was not feeling well and went to see Dr. W.A. Harris, longtime physician to the Rows. Harris (the son in law of former Spotsylvania clerk of court JPH Crismond) wrote a letter to her dated March 17 and enclosed a prescription for Kreacol. Dr. Harris also kindly mentioned Horace and his wife Fannie, who had been married in Washington, D.C. just three days before.

Dr. W. A. Harris

Dr. Harris to Lizzie March 1917

Dr. Harris to Lizzie March 1917

     Horace and Fannie's first four children--Mary, Margaret, George and Nancy--were born between 1918 and 1923 (my mother was born after Lizzie's death). While Horace and Fannie worked on the farm or attended to business in town, Lizzie stayed home to sit with her grandchildren and later to help them with their school work. After enduring so much heartache and tragedy in her life, these last years would be a joy and a comfort to Lizzie Row.
     By the 1920s the Rows were once again prosperous and had money to invest. For several years they utilized the services of Fredericksburg attorney and real estate investor Granville R. Swift. Granville had previously served in the House of Delegates and was also for a time Commonwealth's attorney for Fredericksburg. He was married to the former Lillian Rawlings of Rockbridge, daughter of Benjamin Cason Rawlings.

Granville Swift to Lizzie Row 5 May 1923

     January 2, 1928 was a bitter cold day in Spotsylvania. Lizzie and her grandchildren huddled near the stove in the parlor at Sunshine while Horace and Fannie had left for the day to attend to business. One of the children had asked their grandmother for a drink and Lizzie went to the unheated kitchen to fetch a ladle of water. She did not come back. When Horace and Fannie returned the children told them that their grandmother had been asleep on the floor for a long time. Horace found his mother lifeless in the kitchen, felled by a sudden heart attack. The water spilled from the ladle had frozen on the floor.
     Lizzie was buried in the family graveyard at Greenfield. Her headstone was selected by Horace. She lies near the graves of her two sons who departed long before.