John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun

“ The genesis of Raspberry Plain, just north of Springwood, has already been given. As shewn in Chapter VII, the property had been originally acquired from Lord Fairfax by Joseph Dixon in 1731 and he had sold the farm which he had improved with a dwelling, orchard, etc., to Aeneas Campbell in 1754. Campbell, as we have seen, was Loudoun's first sheriff. He maintained the county jail and the ducking-stool at his home while he held that office. He sold the place in 1760 to Thomson Mason. So far the residence, long since vanished, was near the large spring, now a part of Selma. ”

“ General Armistead Thomson Mason of Selma, [142] a grandson of Thomson Mason, was a graduate of William and Mary College, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a Senator of the United States from Virginia as well as the leader of the Democratic party in Loudoun. Opposed to him as a Federalist was his cousin, Colonel John Mason McCarty, a grandson of George Mason of Gunston Hall, a descendant of old Daniel McCarthy of Westmoreland [143] and who then occupied Raspberry Plain. ”

“ There was no lack of opportunity to earn a living offered to a steady lad with an inclination to work and a taste for trade. To the more mature, Aaron Burson offered to rent his fulling mill and dwelling house near Union, describing them as being in "an elegant neighbourhood for the fulling business." [141] John B. Bell, occupying a part of William Drish's house on King Street, was a bookbinder. Not daunted by the slump in business, James G. Jones and Company notify the Loudoun public that they have commenced the brush making business "at Mr. ”

“ Increasing population meant rapidly rising land values, exercising an irresistible lure to many of the more active speculators of the Northern Neck. Such men of substance as Aubrey and Noland were developing the lands they purchased; but in another class were Benjamin Grayson, Catesby Cocke, George Eskridge, the wealthy Potomac trader John Colvil of Cleesh, that turbulent though gifted son of Dublin John Mercer and even William Fairfax himself, all of whom, so far as Loudoun was concerned, were active in land ventures rather than development. ”

“ It is related that thenceforth, until the end of the war, there was ample Federal currency circulating in Loudoun.
His men were volunteers, many having served in other Confederate commands and thence attracted to Mosby by his romantic reputation and his greater freedom of operation. Numerous Loudoun men were in the organization [173] but they made up a much smaller proportion than in White's Battalion or in the 8th Virginia Regiment. Many of his men were very young. One of these youths who survived the constant perils which surrounded the band was John H. Alexander, born in Clarke County. ”

“ The great project of Washington's Potomac Company, involving the extensive improvement of that river for navigation, was not, of course a Loudoun enterprise, although the welfare of her people was greatly affected and such Loudoun men as Joseph Janney, Benjamin Shreve, John Hough, Benjamin Dulaney, William Brown, John Harper, William Ellzey, and Leven Powell were at one time or another, as directors or stockholders, interested in the undertaking. ”

“ Andrew J. Brennan of Richmond. At that same time the attractive rectory, adjoining the church, was also opened. The Leesburg parish of this church covers a territory of 2,000 square miles, extends from the West Virginia line to that of Maryland and operates two missions, one of which is at Herndon and the other at Purcellville. The Rev. Father John S. [233] Igoe, a native Virginian who enjoys the affectionate esteem of the whole community, is the present pastor. [189]
As throughout Virginia, hospitality is inherent in the people of Loudoun. ”

“ On the 16th January of that year it therefore authorized that a convention be called, to be made up of delegates elected from every county, for the express purpose of deciding upon Virginia's course. Thereupon such delegates, having been duly elected, the convention met in Richmond on the 13th February, 1861, Loudoun being represented by John Janney, at that time and until his death in 1872, a leader of her Bar, and John A. Carter. Both opposed secession and voted against it in a convention in which it was apparent that its proponents held a majority. ”

“ Soon afterwards he returned to Loudoun, married and acquired a small holding near what is now Dover, between the later towns of Aldie and Middleburg, close by the present Little River Turnpike. The State of Virginia has erected one of its excellent road markers adjacent to the spot, bearing the following words:
"A Revolutionary Hero
"Here stood the home of John Champ, Continental soldier. Champ deserted and enlisted in Benedict Arnold's British Command for the purpose of capturing the traitor, 1780. Failing in this attempt Champ rejoined the American Army." ”

“ This medal has been attributed to T. Rawlins.
113. Earl of Loudon, 1645. Obv. Bust l., wearing cap, doublet, &c.; on arm, A.S. Rev. IOHAN. COM. LOVDOVN SVMMVS SCOTIÆ CANCELLARIVS. 1645. Silver. Size 1·45. Cast and chased. By A. Simon.10
24
Sir John Campbell, born 1598, elected Earl of Loudon 1633, was appointed High Chancellor of Scotland in 1641, and in 1649 President of the Session which ordered the proclamation of Charles II. Being deprived of his office he was specially exempted from the indemnity granted by Cromwell to the people of Scotland. Died 1663.
114. William Pope, 1645. Obv. ”

“ It may be that with other pioneers in the upper lands they occupied their farms at first without title and later were obliged to buy the lands they had rescued from the wilderness from the more shrewd and far-sighted land speculators for we find no grants from the Proprietor to them. Many of the earliest settlers were in that position. Catesby Cocke and [71] Benjamin Grayson particularly, took title to great tracts west of the Catoctin Hills and in 1740 sold their holdings to John Colvil of Cleesch as will later appear. [46] Neither Cocke nor Grayson were settlers in Loudoun. ”

“ John G. Hopkins who built the present imposing brick edifice of colonial architecture. The estate was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. William H. Lipscomb of Washington in 1931 and, until Mrs. Lipscomb's death, was the scene of many a gay and picturesque hunt breakfast given in honour of the Loudoun Hunt of which Mr. Lipscomb was Master.
Oatlands. Built by George Carter from 1800 to 1802. Now the home of Mrs. W. C. Eustis.
Belmont
Ludwell Lee, a son of Richard Henry Lee, built Belmont in 1800 and lived there until his death in 1836. He rests in its garden. ”

“ Our Sir Peter had married Lady Amelia Stewart, second daughter of Francis, 8th Earl of Moray, by whom he had three sons. Of these, James, the youngest, was a subaltern in his father's regiment and accompanied him on the expedition.
Of the Virginia troops serving in this campaign an effort has been made to identify such as came from the incipient Loudoun. All the Virginians were directly under the command of Captain Waggoner. ”

“ Thenceforth these lands remained in the Earl's family until after the Revolution. Thus originated the Earl of Tankerville's title to [74] certain Loudoun lands, reference to which occasionally yet is heard.
About 1739 Josias Clapham, of an ancient family of Yorkshire (which long has been associated with the Fairfaxes there) bought land near the Point of Rocks and before his death owned much land in the Northern Neck. He died sometime prior to the 27th December, 1749, when his will, dated the 29th October, 1744, was proven in Fairfax County. ”

“ The widow of Colonel Burgess Ball asks that those having claims against his estate will send them to her as the Administrators were anxious to make provision for their immediate payment.
The ultimate fate of The True American is unknown. In 1808 there was established in the town the Washingtonian which became the recognized organ of the Democratic party in Northern Virginia for many years. No surviving copy of any issue of the first year of this paper has been found by the present writer. Until 1841 it divided the Loudoun field with Whig competitors ”

“ On Deep Ploughing; thick Sowing of Grain; Method of Preventing Fruit Trees from Decaying and Farming in General. By John A. Binns Of Loudoun County, Virginia, Farmer." It was published at "Frederick-Town, Maryland," and "Printed by John B. Colvin, Editor of the Republican Advocate, 1803." "The little book" writes Rodney H. True "is now hard to find and the first edition, but for [161] the copy preserved by Jefferson and now treasured among the great man's books in the Library of Congress, would well-nigh be lost." ”

“ At the end of the eighteenth century Loudoun was, in politics, a Federal stronghold. Colonel Leven Powell has long been credited with being the founder of that party in the county. The momentous election for members of the Convention of 1788 was bitterly fought. Stevens Thomson Mason and William Ellzey, both lawyers, were opposed to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. For its adoption stood Colonel Powell and Colonel Josias Clapham. Both of the latter, as we have seen, were old soldiers but no match as orators to their opponents and thus were at a great disadvantage in the contest. ”

“ In the first place, all of what may be called the Rawdon honours necessarily became extinct. Not so, however, all those acquired by their marriages, &c. Thus, the Scotch earldom of Loudoun survived, and of this we will trace the devolution from the death of the last Marquis of Hastings. That nobleman left a sister, married to a commoner, Mr C. F. Clifton; and she, by her brother’s death without issue, became Countess of Loudoun in her own right, and succeeded to some of the family property. ”

“ We find Colonel Josias Clapham writing to the Council of Virginia on the 11th September, 1778, asking to be permitted to send a company of volunteers, which had been raised in Loudoun, to the assistance of General McIntosh's Brigade, but his request was declined on the ground that the "Executive power" had no right to send volunteers to join any corps whatsoever. ”

“ When the American Colonies joined issue with Great Britain in the controversy which was to result in American independence, Loudoun's population, beginning with a thin trickle of adventurers, had been growing for over fifty years, during which time, save for the short period before and after Braddock's defeat, her sure but steady development and increase of people had received no serious reversal. ”

“ At the time of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry he served as a corporal in the Loudoun Cavalry and soon after the outbreak of the war was transferred to Ashby's Legion. [208] By December, 1861, he was a captain, reporting to General Hill, and in charge of a line of couriers between Leesburg and Winchester. During the winter of 1861-'62 this force was quartered in Waterford and, somewhat augmented in numbers, was assigned to scouting and guarding the Potomac shore. ”

“ It contains orders for Tochineil, John and William Ogilvies to attend my Lord Loudoun. Keep the Presidents letter. Your wife opened the inclosed from Robert Grant.
[546] App. 30. C. of G., ii. 189. (From Culloden.) This letter contains a postscript saying that Lord Loudoun ‘had prevailed with Lord Lovat to come in with him to town [Inverness] to reside at liberty there till the present confusions are over, to deliver up what arms he has, and to sign all proper orders to his clan to remain quiet. Loudoun brings him on with him to-day 11th [Dec.] ”

“ An educated young Englishman, loyal to his King and country, arriving in the Colonies as the storm of the Revolution was about to break, he soon was suspected of being an English spy, was bullied and persecuted by some, befriended by others and, withal, records his experiences in a narrative of such fascination that one reads it from end to end with unabated interest. Of the Leesburg and Loudoun of the period he gives the best contemporary, if not always complimentary, account known to the present writer. ”

“ Lord Loudoun was the chief speaker for the Scottish Commissioners in the London conferences; the great speech on the English side was thought to be that of Mr. Thomas Challoner, a Recruiter for Richmond in Yorkshire; but the speeches, published and unpublished, were innumerable, and a mere abstract of them fills forty pages in Rushworth. Not represented by so much printed matter now, but as prolix then, was the dispute on the question of Accounts. The claim of the Scots for army-arrears and indemnity was for a much vaster sum than the English would acknowledge. ”

“ H. T. Harrison. To the community that system of finance exerted an appeal so strong that once again it was used in 1844, to raise the necessary money to build an office for the County Clerk. The present County Office Building was purchased from the trustees of the Leesburg Academy in 1879. [135]
Always has Loudoun been a horse-loving country; but it may surprise some of her people of today to know that in 1817 the county seat possessed a "Jockey Club" which was sufficiently strong and well supported to conduct a four day racing meet with more generous prizes than are now offered. ”

“ After spending some years in business pursuits in Alexandria, Cuthbert Powell returned to Loudoun where he served as a justice, represented the county in the Virginia Legislature as a Whig and was a member of Congress from 1841 to 1843. Chief Justice Marshall once described him as "the most talented man of that talented family." In 1930 Llangollan was acquired by Mr. and Mrs. John Hay Whitney of New York [175] who have greatly enlarged the old stone mansion and made the estate the home of one of the most famous racing establishments in America. ”