Friday, November 29, 2019

The Old Stone House

Richmond's The Old Stone House: Its History and How It Became the Edgar Allan Poe Museum - Rose Marie Mitchell

   This is me just trying to get more insight into Richmond Hill's history. Was anything built up on the hill before John Coles' "mansion" and the church? Surely some wooden structures right? Was there logging? hunting? pasture?
   Jacob Galt Ege lived in the house still standing. Perhaps with inventories from Jacob Jr, Samuel, and Jacob Galt Ege, my friend and coworker P, who is an amazing historian and genealogist, can put together some family info about the Black folks enslaved and living in the house during the Ege ownership.


notes
  • circ 1644 Fort Charles on north side of river, moved to southside 1646
  • "even though there had been a trading site at the falls for many years, Richmond did not grow until the troubles with the Indians reached a certain degree of peace about 1659 and the power and influence of William Byrd I..."
  • Stegge Jr 1652 800 acres patent on north side of James (?)
  • Stegge Sr to VA in 1632, merchant and ship owner, divided time b/w VA and London, seems to have played both sides in civil war years
  • Stegge and Byrd memorial marker in Manchester
  • big four mills - Gallego, Haxall Mills, largest in country until after civil war
  • at incorporation, Richmond pop about 250
  • half acre lots cost 7lbs, "required" to build a house within a few years
  • "Byrd also gave the vestry of Henrico parish "any pine timber that can be found on that side of Shockoe Creek and the woods for burning bricks into the bargain"
  • Mayo a surveyor in Barbados b4 coming to RVA in 1723 with brother Joseph
  • Byrd trying to attract Germans to his land in "Roanoke;" didn't work out too well, but many Germans came to Richmond
  • Jacob Ege, 1713-1784, came from Wertemburg via Philly, tailor then cooper
  • perhaps Ege buys lot32 from John Gringet in 1742, was old stone house already there? or built by Ege?
  • owned enslaved workers; 1784 earliest tax book from Richmond; Frank trained as a silversmith with Jacob Jr, who trained with bro-in-law Gabriel Galt, who also owned enslaved people
  • Jacob, Gabriel and others wanted Masonic hall, fund raised, finished in 1787
  • Jacob Jr - 19 enslaved people in will
  • Galt's Tavern, northwest corner of E and 19th, place of much business
  • John Enders and Sally (Sarah) Ege married in OSH 1814
  • "Several of Enders's slaves burned down all the buildings between 21st and 22nd street when they found that his will did not set them free as they had expected. Another slave was the center of a story in the Baltimore Sun for 27 May 1843. The news in Richmond was that a slave, the property of John Enders, was tried for stealing a box of tobacco, found guilty and sentenced to be hung on the last Friday in June"
  • 1786, enslaved man, Ben, buys freedom from Samuel Ege and other family members who jointly own him
  • make a copy of geneologies and inventories
  • Falls Plantation house was stone with chimney squarely in middle
  • where did OSH stones come from? most people say from ballast stone discarded
  • legendary history says stones came from Powhatan's house or Fort Charles
  • dendrochronological study suggested built about 1754
  • false - not used as Washington's headquarters
  • story of British Calvary galloping down church hill, "the most beautiful sight"
  • 1824 Marquis de Lafayette revisited Richmond, and stopped b OSH; hoped to see Samuel Ege, who had been a commisary with him; Poe was part of honor guard that followed Lafayette
  • R. Lyman Potter - "The Wheelbarrow Man"
  • 1890's "Revenue in the form of an entrance fee came to Julia Isaacs from the curious who wanted to see the few Washington souvenirs she had inside. During this time an energetic, young, glib-tongued Negro boy acted as the tour guide. His gift for the gab had him entertaining the visitors with the stories which found their way into the History booklet."
  • 1921 - Archer and Annie Boyd Jones leases OSH from APVA to renovate it and create Poe Memorial
  • All of Poe's working or living places in Richmond have been demolished. Left standing today in the city are only three homes belonging to people who were important to Poe while he was in Richmond - Elmira Shelton's house, the Adam Craig house, Jane Craig Stanard's birthplace and Talavera"

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