University of Virginia Library

December 17, 1873

Forty-Five Years Ago.—The Local of the Jeffersonian
is disposed to tell some yarns of former times in
this Virginia town, named after her majesty, Queen
Charlotte, who bore George the Third, King of Great
Britain, thirteen children.

The Square.—The land on which the courthouse is
erected, and the vacant plat in front of it was the gift[1]

of Dr. Thomas Walker, the grandfather of Mrs. W. C.
Rives, who had the town laid off in lots in 1761-'62, and
which was incorporated by the House of Burgesses,
November, 1762. In 1828, when we first saw the Square,
there was on the west side of it a row of locust trees, in
front of the stores [McKee block], which had been set
out fifteen or twenty years previously, only one of which
is now standing, in front of Dr. McKee's residence.
These trees had been planted by a man by the name
of Shadrach Battles, who was half Indian, half mulatto;
his pay for the work was to be a quart of whisky
for every tree that lived. He watched them carefully
and watered them to aid in their growth, and when any
of them gave evidence of life by putting forth leaves
he would clap his hands and shout, "Another quart
saved." The persons who did business on that side paid
the contractor as per agreement. All the stores in town
sold ardent spirits, and kept open doors on Sunday
mornings till 10 o'clock, except John Cochran, to traffic
and trade with the slaves, who came to town with
written permits from their masters to dispose of their
garden truck, &c. When the late Benjamin Ficklin,
a magistrate, settled in town, he was the means of breaking
up this Sunday traffic and to the plea that humanity
required that the slaves should be allowed to buy and
sell on Sunday, because they had no other time to do
it in, he said it was against the laws of the State to labor
or do business on the Sabbath, and if masters wished
their servants to sell what little products they had, they
should give them time enough to do so on Saturday
afternoon, and not on the Sabbath. Mr. Ficklin enforced
the laws and fined those who violated them; on
one occasion, when his manager drove his team to town
on Sunday, he went before another magistrate and had
a fine entered against himself, and he made a lawyer
pay a fine of $5 on admitting that he wrote business
letters on Sunday.

Twyman Wayt did business on the south-west corner,
now the tobacco factory[2] of Captain C. C. Wertenbaker.
Mr. Wayt many years afterwards was Post
Master, and lived to be upwards of 80 years of age. No
man was more highly respected than he for purity, fairdealing
and integrity.

Next door to him lived and carried on business, Andrew

McKee, the hatter, the father of Dr. A. R. McKee,
who resides in the same house. Both the above
houses are brick.

The next house is wood,[3] with a porch and veranda
above it, and for many years previously had been kept
as a hotel, and was built by Thos. Wells, the father of
Fountain Wells, and by way of distinction was called
the "Yellow House." It was then occupied, one room
of it, next to Mr. McKee, by George Toole, the tailor,
an Irishman with a warm heart, generous feelings, an
enthusiastic Democrat in politics, and one of the best
of citizens.

The next store was occupied by Bramham & Bibb,
dry goods merchants and grocers. Colonel Nimrod
Bramham, one of the partners, had been a member of
the Virginia Legislature, was a popular man, and one
of Virginia's hospitable noblemen. His residence was
on the farm now owned by Rev. James Fife, near the
University of Virginia. He was a christian by word
and deed, a Baptist, and baptized by the celebrated
John Leland,[4] the zealous advocate of the election of
Thomas Jefferson as President in 1800. Colonel B.

was one of the constituent members of the Baptist
Church in this place and its elder deacon. Mr. Wm. A.
Bibb, the other partner, resided in the house over the
store and carried on business there for many years. He
was the first cashier of the Farmers' Bank in this place,
to the time of his death, September, 1865, and was as
honest and worthy a man as ever resided in our town.
His wife was Sarah Bramham, the eldest daughter of
his partner.

The next store and house, brick,[5] were occupied by
John Simpson, and afterwards by Christopher Hornsey
and John W. Goss, dry goods merchants; the latter
gentleman is now the clerk of the county court; in later
years it was occupied by the Farmers' Bank. Mr. Simpson
married Lucy Bramham, a daughter of Col. Bramham.
He was a worthy and good man, was a deacon
in the Baptist Church.

The next house, a wooden building, was occupied by
Samuel Leitch, Sr., usually called Uncle Sam. He was
by birth an Irishman, kind, hospitable, sociable and a
good citizen. He was a zealous Mason, and in his latter
days became a member of the Presbyterian church. He
was the father of Dr. James A. Leitch, and grandfather
of J. S. Leitch, one of the proprietors of the Jeffersonian.
He had for clerk and business manager Andrew
Sample, one of the most genial and pleasant men
that it was ever our happiness to know. Every boy and

girl in the town and vicinity knew "Cousin Andy," and
he loved them all, and ever greeted them with smiles and
cheerfulness.

Next to Mr. S. Leitch, was the house where the life[6]
and correspondence of Thomas Jefferson was printed;
there were four iron presses at work in the printing, on
the first floor, and the compositors room was above.
Ten thousand copies of four volumes each were completed
within a few months, and we aided in the work.
The late Ebenezer Watts was the bookbinder. The
Virginia Advocate, and successor to the Central Gazette,
was published on the ground-floor, or cellar, of
the same building. Dr. Frank Carr, a gentleman of
fine literary taste and classic erudition, was the editor
of the Advocate. The gentlemen associated with him as
proprietors were J. A. G. Davis, afterwards professor
of law in the University of Virginia, and Nicholas P.
Trist, Esq. who married a sister of Colonel Thomas
Randolph, and was United States Peace Commissioner
to Mexico, after General Scott had captured the city
of Mexico, when peace was made between the United
States and this country. The editors who succeeded
Dr. Carr, were, E. M. Reinhart, a native of Massachusetts,
who had established in Haverhill, in that state,
in 1824, the first paper to advocate the election of General
Jackson to the presidency. He married a daughter
of Dabney Minor, of this county, and afterwards removed
to Louisville, Kentucky, and was connected with

the Press in that place. In the latter part of General
Jackson's term as President he gave Mr. Reinhart a
clerkship. Mr. Reinhart had often solicited an appointment
from the President, who assured him that he should
fill the first vacancy that occurred in the War Department,
but none occurring, Mr. R. told the President to
put in writing, directing the head of the Department
to give him an office if there was a vacant clerkship.
This had the desired effect, and Mr. Reinhart got the
office immediately upon presenting the letter, with the
well known signature of Andrew Jackson. Mr. Reinhart
sold the Advocate to W. M. Cary, J. W. C. Watson,
now living in Mississippi, and was a member of the
Confederate Senate during the late war, and E. Watson,
who served several years in the Virginia Legislature,
and in later years elected Judge of the Circuit
Court. Then Alexander Moseley succeeded as editor.
Mr. M. has been since then proprietor and editor of
the Richmond Whig. William Tompkins followed, then
Allen B. Magruder, then Lucian Minor, in 1840, when
the Advocate undertook to give one-half of the paper
to the Democratic side and the other to the Whig side,
but this not succeeding, Thomas Wood became editor;
after him, James C. Halsall and Wm. Shelton, became
editors and proprietors; both these gentlemen were
afterwards instructors of youths. John L. Cochran,
now Judge of the county court, and O. S. Allen became
proprietors. Mr. Cochran was the editor. The office
was sold to Green Peyton, now Proctor of the University,
and James C. Southall, since editor of the Richmond
Enquirer, who changed the paper's name to the
Review. The war breaking out, the Review ceased to
be published, and the printing materials were sold and
conveyed to Richmond.

In 1864, Marshall J. Hughes brought his office from
Knoxville, Tennessee, and established the Chronicle.
It was for awhile edited by Rev. J. C. Hiden, then hospital
chaplain in this place, and afterwards by J. C.
Southall, who purchased the office of Mr. Hughes after
the war ended, and continued to edit it till June, 1868.
While Mr. Southall was a member of the State Convention
the Chronicle was edited by Bennett Taylor,
who in conjunction with John H. Foster, purchased it.
Mr. Taylor in April, 1871, sold out his interest to his
partner, Mr. Foster, who became sole proprietor and
editor. The paper was published tri-weekly and weekly
after the war, and for a short time daily, but the daily
not proving successful, the paper was enlarged and in
February, 1873, was sold to the present proprietors,
Messrs. C. D. Fishburne, James D. Jones, Micajah
Woods, James B. Gilmer and C. R. C. Ackerley, Mr.
Fishburne assuming the editorial control of the paper.