EUBANK.
Families of the Eubank name have lived along the south
fork of Hardware from the earliest times. They sprang
from two brothers, George and John. It is believed they
came from Orange County. In 1758 George bought from
James Ireland three hundred acres on Beaverdam, not far
from the present Soapstone Quarries. The next year John
purchased from Matthew Jordan in the same vicinity. The
year after the organization of the county, 1746, a John Eubank
obtained a grant of nearly three hundred acres on
Rocky Creek, in its northwest section; it is possible he was
the same person as the one just mentioned.
John died in 1789. His wife's name was Hannah, and
his children were John, James, William, Nancy, Elizabeth
and Sarah, who were both married to brothers named Fortune,
a family that lived in the same neighborhood, and
Frances, the wife of a Gilmer. George died in 1802. He
and his wife Mary had six children, John, Elizabeth, George,
Frances, the wife of her cousin, John Eubank, Nancy, the
wife of David Watson, and Mary, the wife of Richard Hazelrig.
George also brought up two orphan children, Nelson
and Sarah Key, whom he committed to the care of his
daughter Frances and her husband, and for whose subsequent
welfare he made special provision. His two sons,
John and George, had each twelve children.
The Eubanks appear to have been quiet, industrious
farmers, fairly prosperous in their worldly affairs. The
family particularly marked for its energy and success was
that of James, son of John. He married Mildred Melton,
and had five sons and three daughters. He died in 1821,
leaving a considerable estate. Two of his sons, John and
George W., took advantage of the opening of the Staunton
and James River Turnpike, established taverns on the road,
and for many years did a large business in the entertainment
of those transporting the vast amount of produce at
that time passing between the Valley and Scottsville. George
married his cousin, Winifred Eubank, and had eight children.
He died in 1841. John married Sarah Strange, and died
without children in 1854. Emigration to the West has taken
many from the different branches of this family, so that
comparatively few of the name remain now in the county.
