The Encyclopedia of Dumfries Virginia 1802-1833 ©

The Encyclopedia of
Dumfries, Virginia 1802-1833

by Robert Hedges VIIII © -

1802 - Sept. 30th

John Linton, Sheriff of Prince William, solicits the appointment of Jailer at Hay Market when the Jail of the District Court is removed from Dumfries to Hay Market.

Alexandria was about eight years ago [1795] a very flourishing place; but the great losses sustained from the capture of American vessels by the French in the West Indies, occasioned many failures. In the year I803, the yellow fever, [2l] which broke out there for the first time, swept off a number of its inhabitants. These shocks have so deeply affected the mercantile interest, that the town has but two or three ships in the trade with Great Britain, and there is little prospect of its ever attaining to its former prosperity.

Monday, Oct. 6th, 1806, at half- past 4 O'clock.....left Alexandria ..a little before five. We traveled a pretty rough road, 17 miles, to Occoquan creek, where we stopped for breakfast......the county appeared uneven, and the soil tolerably good.

...... conferred on me the honor of being vice-president; . . ......
Our president, who was called Captain, by which title I shall hereafter denominate him, was an excellent traveling companion. He sung a good song; told a good story; and was, withal, very facetious, and abounded in mirth, humor, and jollity.

From where we breakfasted, we traveled through a hilly country, and but partially cultivated, to Dumfries, a small town containing about 300 inhabitants, court-house, jail, &c.; and from thence we passed on through a hilly country, but more improved, to Fredericksburg, 25 miles, where we stopped for the night.

Fredericksburg is situated . . . .... carries on a considerable trade, principally in flour and tobacco.

Hemp and flax are abundant, and considerable quantities of cotton are raised in the southern part of the state. Indigo is cultivated with success, and the silk-worm is native of the country, though not much attended to. The fields likewise produce potatoes, both sweet and common, turnips, parsnips, carrots, pumpkins, and ground nuts; and of grasses, there are clovers, red, white, and yellow, timothy, ray, greensward, bluegrass, and crab grass.

The orchards abound in fruit; apples, pears, peaches, quinces, cherries, nectarines, apricots, almonds, and plums. The domestic animals thrive well, horses, cows, sheep, hogs, poultry; and there is a great variety of wild game. The manufactures of the state are mostly of the domestic kind.

I have not heard of any established upon a large scale. Hence the quality imported annually from Britain must be immense.

Virginia now sends 2 Senators and 22 Representatives to Congress.

Missionary diary of James Kemper, Presbyterian Pastor.

Monday, Nov. 20, 1815.
Came to Dumfries and to Parson Mason L. Weems' then rode to Alexandria after appointing to preach in Dumfries on Friday next.......[Fri. 24 Nov. 1815]

Thurs. 23 Nov.[1815] After breakfast I set out to my appointment. at Dumfries. Had no interruption on the road, surveyed my past life, saw not only multiplied failures in my walk, but many flagrant violations of the divine law and of my own most solemn vows . . . . ...

Came to Parson Weems' in the evening.
Friday, 24 Nov. The uninstructed condition of the Northern Neck leaves the citizens under great disadvantages. Several spent the last evening with me at Parson Weems'. Here much desultory, inconsiderate, and rash conversation took place, especially between Mrs. Weems and her son Jesse, a lad of I6 or I7 and exceeding forward & one of their young converts.

His mother remonstrated against his keeping such late hours with his friends and carrying their night meetings and their singing to such extremes saying she was determined to reduce him to meekness and obedience. He replied with airs of levity and rashness that he was determined to go on, and that the Scripture required us to "leave father and mother to follow Christ." Ñ

Mon. 27 Nov. Rode I2 miles up to Pigneck.

In the early 1800s some of the residents became convinced that if a bank were established in Dumfries, prosperity would return. A bank would allow the merchants of Dumfries to compete favorably with the merchants of Fredericksburg where there were two banks and with the merchants of Alexandria where there were six. They also argued that a bank would supply a financial resource that could provide money for building a permanent canal from Dumfries to the Potomac. Residents petitioned the legislature for a bank in 1816 and again in 1817, but their petitions were not reported out of committee and Dumfries did not receive a bank.

April 26th, 1833
I left Alexandria at eight a.m., and arrived at Warrenton, in Virginia, at half past four in the afternoon; the distance is about fourty-five miles. The stage passed through a country that exhibited the effects of slavery in every part of it:- an exhausted soil, miserable hovels, thinly peopled villages, half plowed fields, and spontaneously vegetation in rank fertility, usurping the place of healthy and profitable crops.......It seemed as if the whole country would become....a wilderness again:- Peopled with wolves, its old inhabitants."

I asked a very shrewd man, who looked like a farmer, how long estates remained in the same family in Virginia. " the longest period," he replied "maybe three or four generations. I do not think I could point out one in possession of an estate that belonged to it during the Revolution.

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