Thomas Arnott of Botetourt Co.
Some preliminary notes:
In the early Spring of 2000, Wayne Arnett of Phoenix traveled to Botetourt Co, VA and filed the following report which will go down as one of the best "field" genealogy detective jobs of all time! In uploading this narrative I've used initials instead of the actual proper names of folks living in the area which Wayne visited.
Jay Nafzger visited the Thomas Arnett house in 1993, and his account follows Wayne's.
The Thomas Arnott Report
Date: 4/3/2000 1:42:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: warnett@amug.org
To: foxhaven@rmi.net (foxhaven), Jwarnett@aol.com (John Arnett)
Hi Marge and John:
As you may remember I had business in Washington DC last week and arranged to take a couple of extra days (Friday and Saturday) and hunt Arnett Genealogy in Virginia. I didn't realize how far Botetourt County was from Washington (257miles). I thought all those places on the East coast were real close together. Anyway I had a glorious trip and have much to report.
First on the Thomas Arnett Sr. - Alexander Arnott connection.
As you may recall, I was able to spend some time in the LDS Library in Salt Lake a few weeks ago. I found a microfilm of the probate records of Loudoun County, VA. As you know Thomas Arnett, the son of Alexander Arnett witnessed the will of Andrew Redmond in 1764. The clerk of the court copied the will into the record. It appears that when in the original of the will, the person signed their name, the clerk wrote their names in the probate records. When the people signed with a mark, the clerk wrote their First name, followed by a copy of the mark, then the last name. Above the mark, the clerk wrote "his" if a man and "her" if a woman, and below the mark the word "mark" so that the mark itself was designated as "his mark" or "her mark." The Thomas Arnett of Loudoun County Virginia who witnessed the will of Andrew Redmond could write because the clerk simply wrote his name on the copy of the will, without any indication of a mark.
I was under the impression that our Thomas Arnett Sr. of Botetourt County VA signed with a mark, suggesting that he could not write his name. I can't now put my finger on the document that lead me to that conclusion, but I think I have seen a copy of a document signed by a Thomas Arnett in Botetourt County in which he used a mark.
However, when I got to the Courthouse in Fincastle, VA (the county Seat of Botetourt County) I looked up some original documents. The courthouse was designed by Thomas Jefferson and was well worth the trip just to see it. I got a copy of the deed Thomas took for 86 acres at Mulberry Bottom on Craigs Creek from Israel Christian in 1771. I got a copy of the deed from William Thompson and William Preston in 1775 for additional land on Craig's Creek. Then I looked at the deeds. Both Thomas Arnett and Sarah Arnett signed both deeds. They could write!
I need to look again at the document that lead to the conclusion that Thomas Arnett of Botetourt could not write. Perhaps there were 2 Thomas Arnetts in Botetourt County at that time, one who could write and one who could not. But clearly, our Thomas Arnett Sr. and Sarah could write their names. This brings us back to the possibility that Thomas was the son of Alexander and Ruth of Loudoun County, VA.
If there were two Thomas Arnetts in Botetourt County, who was the other one, and where did he come from? This also casts doubt on the research that I did last year showing that Thomas, son of Alexander and Ruth in Loudoun County disappeared from Loudoun County about the same time as our Thomas appears on Craigs Creek in Botetourt County, VA. Some of the data I was relying on may have been the other Thomas who could not write. So I am going to have to go back and look at originals of all those items and try to verify which Thomas corresponds to each item.
The marriage of Thomas Arnett Jr. and Martha McFerran.
I also got a copy of the original bond and consent form for the marriage of Thomas Arnett Jr. and Martha McFerran, 11 May 1791. Marge, I think you are right that the fact that Agnes signed the consent suggests that her husband had passed away by that time. The bond, which is usually made between the groom and the bride's father was made between the groom (Thomas Arnett) and James Sharkey. James Sharkey is likely an uncle of the bride (Maybe Agnes's maiden name was Sharkey) or perhaps Agnes's new husband and a step father to Martha. Interestingly, the witnesses to the consent form were Thomas McFerran and Agnes McFerran. I can't tell whether this is a different Agnes, but is suspect so. This Thomas and Agnes could be the parents of the James McFerran mentioned in the listing of Botetourt Children that I mentioned in one of my lst emails and sent to Marge by fax. The bottom line is I can't tell who Martha's father was or who the Thomas and Agnes were that witnessed the consent to the marriage.
The Thomas and Sarah Arnett House at Mulberry Bottom.
While I was there in Botetourt County (by the way, it's pronounced like "Bought a tot" with a completely silent "r, ") I decided to go to Craig's Creek and try to find Mulberry Bottom. About 10 miles up US 220 from Fincastle the place where Craig's Creek runs into the James River. There is a good paved road running more or less on the north side of the meandering creek. I had asked the workers who helped me at the court house and none of them had heard of Mulberry bottom. I bought a road map of the entire county for $4 upstairs and headed for Craig's creek.
About 6 miles up US 220 there is supposed to be the old McFerran house and plantation where there is a family cemetery. I asked around at a store up there, but no one seemed to know which place it was. On my next trip I will pursue this too, but I already had the information form the grave stones.
When I got on the Craigs Creek Road, I began to ask everyone I saw if they had heard of Mulberry Bottom. None had. Every time I saw someone out mowing their lawn or in their yards, I stopped and asked. I showed them the pages from A Seed-Bed of the Republic that describes the old home:
"Prior to the formation of Botetourt County, Israel Christian had acquired from Abraham Smith a tract of 86 acres on Craigs Creek 'at a place called Mulberry Bottom' which Christian conveyed to Thomas Arnott by deed dated May 16, 1771. Arnott built, just above the north creek bank, a massive stone house with twenty-two inch walls, and a basement complete for living, with fireplace. On the lower edge of the gable of the east end is found one long narrow stone on which is engraved the name of Arnott and the date of 1786.
"In 1789, Arnett [Arnott] and wife, 'in consideration of a tract of Kentucky land' conveyed Mulberry Bottom to Robert Harvey, who in 1795 executed a deed to Frederick Reid for the property."
Reids sold to Noffsinger in 1859 who sold to W. Fenton Parr.
I drove all along Craig's Creek looking and asking questions. I must have asked 20 different people, with no luck. Finally, about a half a mile past the little town of Oriskany I noticed a road turning to my left by the name of Reid Road. Because Mulberry Bottom had been sold the Reids, I got excited. I must be close! Reid Road went down to the creek and crossed. I was in a small rental car and didn't want to chance the creek. So I went back to the paved road and backtracked to the next turn towards the creek. Down that dirt road I found, not far from the creek, the ruins of a foundation of an old building. I worked myself into a frenzy, imagining that I had found the place. The foundation was small and showed no evidence of a basement, and it was concrete. Worse, it was on the eastern shore of the the river. I went back to the paved road. It was getting dark when I headed back toward the turn off at Reid Road, when I noticed something that I had missed when I had driven by that way the last time. On the right, very close to the road, there were the ruins of of an old stone wall. It went back form the street to form a corner, like the corner of a basement wall. It looked like it was left there by the road construction crew, as a retaining wall against the dirt next to the road. It was now getting pretty dark and I decided to come back in the morning to investigate further. I had to go to Roanoake to find a motel.
The next day, I went back. I could now see that the walls were very thick on this old rock building. At least twenty-two inches. It had an opening in one of the two walls that could have been a doorway leading up the the ground level. It look like it could have been the basement of a massive stone home. The rest of the basement would have been destroyed when the road was put in. There was a brick veneer on the outside of the stone structure. I could see a railroad bed above the house and evidence ot a concrete railroad bridge about 50 feet behind the house. Across the street there was a pile of debris that included stones and bricks like the ones on the house. I found two very old bricks in the debris and a stone with mortar on it that I put in my rental car, thinking I could make a display of them on the mantle of my fireplace here at home. I even dug around a bit looking for the long narrow stone with the name and Arnott on it. I was convinced that this was the ruin of the old Arnett house. It was on the north side of the creek near Reid Road. Everything seemed to fit.
Triumphantly, I drove four tenths of mile back to Oriskany. There was a man mowing the lawn of the old church. I asked him about Mulberry Bottom and the families that had bought it after the Arnetts left. He had never heard of it and referred me to Reverend C. across the street. Rev. C. didn't know either, but confirmed that the Reids lived just across the river form the old stone building I had just left. He sent me to another house of a lady who knew everything about the history of that place and how everybody is related. There's one like this in every town. Just before I left, I asked about the old stone building on the side of the road. "Oh, that was a old pump house. They used to pump water from that pump house up to the railroad cars and haul water to the old mining town of Lignite." The eternal optimist, I thought well maybe they used the old Arnett House as a pump house later. I knocked on the door the town historian, but couldn't raise anyone. Just then I noticed that I had a rented car with Washington DC plates and I was wearing a sport coat (the only coat I brought).
Back to town I met another man who told me that there were some Parrs living down the old railroad bed about 7 miles. I went down the rail bed and found an old farmer and his son. At first they both said they had no idea where this Mulberry Bottom was, but the older one then said, "You know what? I'll bet that's that old house down by D.H.'s place. I think that was the old Fenton Parr place. There used to be an old stone house down there, with a basement too. I'll bet that's the place." They didn't know if the place was still standing or not. I got out my map, and they showed me where it was on Diesher Blvd., several miles from the old pump house.
At the end of Deisher Blvd. (dirt road) there is a white home owned by D.H. The old rock home was supposed to be to the right (on the north side of Craig's Creek). There was a large farm tractor blocking the road to the right. I knocked on D.'s door. No one was home, so I decided to walk down the road and hope to get lucky. Just then a pick up truck came down the road pulling a fishing boat. It was M., D.'s son-in-law, back from fishing. D. was with his wife to Chesapeake Bay, shopping. I asked him about Mulberry Bottom. He never heard of it, but, yes, this is the old F. P. place. I asked about the old stone house. He said, "Jump in," and pointed to his pick up truck. He knew two ways to get around the tractor, both of which were blocked. We drove up the road to his sister-in-law's place, and M.'s nephew came down and moved the tractor.
As we drove along the farm road, maybe a mile from the H. farm, I saw a large home to our left near the creek. We drove up the house and got out. It was a huge rock home. I ask M. which way was east, and I looked up under the east gable and I saw a long granite stone with the name "T. ARNETT" in large block letters. Vines covered the date, and it was so high that I could not read the date, but I could clearly read the name.
I found it!
It is an impressive structure: two full stories with a large attic and a full basement. There are built in cupboards next to the fireplace and a fake cover on the other side conceals the stairway to the second floor. I climbed up a ladder to the attic. I could see the hand formed timbers that held up the tin roof and supported the floor in the attic. There was a newer addition to the back of the house, and it had been last used as a hunting cabin.
It was clear to me that this fine home. It was a home of refinement and took tremendous effort to dig the basement and walls that thick and high. I was truly impressed by the industriousness of this family. I walked around the home and then down by the creek. I have never felt as connected to my past as I did at that moment.
The worst was I didn't have a camera.
M. told me he had approached his mother-in-law a few years ago about buying the old home and restoring it to live in with his wife and 3 boys. He loves the home. He had never known who built it, except for the name on the side of the house. I promised to send D. the information I have on the house and Thomas and Sarah and family.
Although this part of my search didn't give me much new information, it did bring the whole family alive for me. I find it easier to imagine their lives having seen the place they lived. They were at Mulberry Bottom from 1771 to 1789 during the founding of our country! Thomas gave 300 pounds of flour to the Revolutionary War effort. They raised a fine family there and built a fine home that has outlasted all others of that age in that valley.
Thank you for your interest in this stuff. Let me know shat you think of the Thomas Arnett - Alexander connection.
Wayne
Additional note by John Arnett: I've talked with Wayne who gave me permission to upload this story, and I'll be passing through the Craig's Creek area in mid May and will take some photos of the structure which I'll upload here. I'll keep those interested posted on Genforum.Wayne's Visit to the Attic
During the same visit noted above, Wayne climbed into the attic [as mentioned briefly above] and reports the following in an e-mail of Oct 2, 2000:
"I did climb the stairs from the second story to the attic. Having been a scoutmaster for 13 years and taking my boys rock climbing, the climb up a stairway of unknown stability (really just a ladder to the attic) did not scare me. Being from Arizona snakes and rodents are no big deal either. In the attic I looked out the slits that were left in the stone walls. They were wider on the inside, suggesting the purpose was to be able to place a rifle through the slits. The timbers that hold up the roof were obviously the originals. I could see the marks of the logs being hand hewn. Running my hand down the slices in those logs that were shaped by the hands of my 5th Great-grandfather was part of the bonding that occurred between my ancestors and me on that occasion."
In Sept 2000, a friend of Wayne's alerted him to websites (Phoenix and Phoenix2) by Jay Nafzger which detailed his discovery of the Thomas Arnett house in 1993. Portions of the webpages are cited below:
"Mulberry Bottom" Discovered
In 1771 the Mulberry bottom on Craig's Creek was acquired from Abraham Smith by Thomas Arnott. In 1786, Mr. Arnott constructed a massive stone house with walls 22 inches thick. This early home has a basement with a fireplace which was used as a living room. Several port holes which were used in event of Indian attack can be seen high in the gables of the house...It is on Craig's Creek near Oriskany and close to Longdale Baptist Church.
From the Botetourt County Bicentennial Souvenir Program, June, 1970.
The Old Stone House
In the original Phoenix is found a section entitled "Mulberry Bottom". The story tells of a large, two-story stone house along Craig Creek which was built in 1786. The house was reported to have 22-inch thick walls with a basement and an attic.
I had heard tell of an "old stone house" that had been in the Noffsinger family many years ago from numerous other family members and sources. I had often speculated that the house at "Mulberry Bottom" and the "old stone house" were in fact one in the same. However, I had yet to prove this theory...until now!
During my days of research in the county courthouse in Fincastle, I skimmed through uncounted documents and publications looking for any information on our family. While utilizing the assistance of the very knowledgeable employees to locate documents, I made mention of my desire to find the actual location of "Mulberry Bottom"; that there was an old stone house there which was in our family at one time. The lady assisting me informed me that there was such a house along Craig Creek on the farm of Mr. Rodney Heck and suggested I call him for more information.
Additionally, she showed me a publication with cemetery information, Botetourt County History Before 1900 Through Cemetery Records, published by the Botetourt County American Bicentennial Commission. She believed that one of the cemeteries listed there contained the graves of members of our family and was located near the stone house.
Needless to say, I was elated to stumble in to such information. I contacted the Hecks and was invited to visit their farm the next day.
Just above Eagle Rock along Rt. 220, Rt. 615 branches off to the west at Bessemer. The road runs almost parallel to Craig Creek, slowly winding through Jefferson National Forest and some of the richest bottom land to be found in Botetourt County. Farm houses are situated on large tracts of land along the banks of Craig Creek.
Rt. 707 branches off to follow the creek, ending about three miles later at the farm of Rodney and Doris Heck. The farm encompasses several hundred acres in a beautiful valley between the Rich Patch Mountains to the north and Patterson Mountain to the south. From the Hecks' house, a wheel rutted dirt road runs through the valley between the mountain ranges and leads to the "Old Stone House at Mulberry Bottom". As we approached the home that amounted to my "Holy Grail" of ancestral research, I felt both excited and nervous. The excitement was for obvious reasons: this was the oldest property I had positively located to date. But, I was also nervous that I would be disappointed by what I found. I was not.
The house sits on the edge of the land farmed by Mr. Heck, within 20 yards of Craig Creek. A cinderblock addition has been added on to the back of the original stone structure. According to Mr. Heck it was added in the 1930's.
It was unbelievable to me that this home was built over 200 years before. Usually structures that have withstood so much time are historical sites which have been refurbished by society groups and lots of time and money. While the house at "Mulberry Bottom" is not ready for tour guides and visitors, it is "whole". It is as solidly built as you would expect 22-inch thick stone walls to be, has all of its windows (less a few broken panes), a solid tin roof and chimney, sturdy floors, and lots of character.
To be sure, the inside is not "livable", yet only because it has been uninhabited for many years. However, the wooden spiral staircase to the upstairs is solid. All of its floorboards are in good shape. We did not venture into the attic nor the basement due to the reported rodent population.
I can't help but to fantasize about the far-fetched idea of buying and renovating this majestic old home which holds so much family history for us. Granddaddy (Ted, Sr.) was born in this house on May 10, 1904. Grandmother has speculated that his parents, Jake and Ozella, were living with Jake's grandparents, Samuel and Hetty Margaret (Samuel's second wife), while the young couple awaited their first child.
Samuel was listed on a marriage certificate as being a carpenter by trade. He married my great-great-great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Jopling, on December 7, 1853. On March 7, 1856, my great-great grandfather, Charles Theodore, was born to them. Other children followed.
As listed in a Botetourt County deed book, on December 22, 1859, Samuel bought this land from Jacob Reid, Jr. Jacob had inherited part of this land from his father upon Jacob, Sr.'s death in 1837 (see figure), and later acquired other parcels from his siblings and his mother. The entry deeding this land to Samuel Noffsinger reads in part:
Whereas Jacob Reid late of Botetourt County died seized of a certain tract
of land situated on Craig's Creek adjoining Andrew Crawford & others & under
proceedings of the Circuit Superior Court ... the said Jacob Reid has sold &
desires to convey his undivided interest above stated to Samuel Noffsinger.
This deed made the 22nd day of December in the year 1859 between Jacob Reid &
Susan his wife of the one part and Samuel Noffsinger of the other part all of
Botetourt County, Virginia, witnesseth this consideration of one dollar by the
said Noffsinger in hand paid to said Reid & wife the receipt of which is hereby
acknowledged ...
Sadly, on July 1, 1866, Mary Elizabeth Jopling Noffsinger passed away, leaving Samuel to raise three children ranging in age from four to nine. Samuel remarried on March 3, 1868, to Hetty Margaret Owen, of the Owen family from which Granddaddy's cousins Claudine Owen Pendleton and Emily Owen Heaston are descended. Their only child was Hugh Godwin Noffsinger.
In 1894, tragedy struck the family. While in town in a horse-drawn carriage, Charles Theodore was killed when his horses were spooked by a train's whistle. At the age of 38 he left behind his wife, Harriet "Hattie" Cornelius Deisher Noffsinger, and six children between the ages of two and sixteen. Articles about his untimely death from the Fincastle Herald appear below.
Grandmother astutely posed the question: How might Charles Theodore's death, and his sons being suddenly thrust into manhood, have affected the boys, Martin Samuel and William Jacob, who both later took their own lives?
These two stories appeared in the Fincastle Herald in 1894. They report the tragic death of Charles Theodore Noffsinger. The stories were reproduced from copies of the original articles as found in Botetourt County History Before 1900 Through County Newspapers.
from Phoenix
"Mulberry Bottom"
Mulberry Bottom is located on Craig Creek about five miles west-northwest of Eagle Rock in Botetourt County. It lies on the east side of the fork of Dutchman Branch and Craig Creek.
Israel Christian acquired from Abraham Smith a tract of 86 acres on Craig Creek "at a place called Mulberry Bottom" which Christian conveyed to Thomas Arnott by deed dated May 16, 1771. Arnott built "a massive stone house with 22-inch walls, and a basement complete for living with fireplace. On the lower edge of the gable of the east end is found one long, narrow stone in which is engraved the name Arnott and the date of 1786."
In 1789, Arnett (Arnott) and wife conveyed Mulberry Bottom to Robert Harvey who deeded it, in 1795, to Frederick Reid.
Legend: In 1793, Catherine Reid (Frederick's daughter) and Peter Harnspach (later Arnspaugh) were married. The minister came up the south side of Craig's Creek which was flooded and could not be crossed. So, the marriage license, weighted by a rock, was thrown across the creek to the minister who performed the ceremony with the bridal party on one side of the creek and the minister on the other.
In 1821, Frederick and Barbara Reid conveyed Mulberry Bottom to their son Jacob and in 1837 went to his son, Jacob, Jr. In 1859 it was sold to Samuel Noffsinger (of our line) who conveyed it to his son William Gilliam Noffsinger in 1899.
Mulberry Bottom has since been acquired by W. Fenton Parr, whose wife is a direct descendant of Jacob Reid.
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