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A U G U S T A H I S T O R I C A L B U L L AUGUSTA E T I N HISTORICAL BULLETIN V O L U M E 5 6 – Founded 1964 P.O.Box 686 2 0 www.AugustaCountyHS.org Staunton, VA 24402-0686 2 VOLUME 56 – 2020 0 Presidents of the Augusta County Historical Society *Dr. Richard P. Bell, 1964-1966 *Harry Lee Nash, Jr., 1966-1967 *Dr. Marshall M. Brice, 1967-1968 *Dr. James Sprunt, 1968-1970 *Richard M. Hamrick, Jr., 1970-1972 +Joseph B.Yount III, 1972-1974 *Mrs. William Bushman, 1974-1976 *John M. Dunlap, Jr., 1976-1977 Miss Mary Kathryn Blackwell, 1977-1979 Mrs. Harry D. Hevener, 1979-1981 John M. McChesney, Jr., 1981-1983 Mrs. John E. True, 1983-1985 Edgar R. Coiner, 1985-1987 Charles R. Chittum, 1987-1989 *Mrs. William B. Patterson, 1989-1991 *R. Fontaine McPherson, Jr., 1991-1993 Dr. James B. Patrick, 1993-1995 Dr. Ann McCleary, 1995-1997 Dr. Katharine L. Brown, 1997-1999 Nancy T. Sorrells, 2000-2001 Mary Beirne Nutt, 2002-2003 Dr. Kenneth Keller, 2004-2005 Linda Petzke, 2006-2007 Dr. Katharine L. Brown, 2008-2011 Nancy T. Sorrells, 2012-2013 Linda Petzke, 2014-2015 Charles R. Chittum, 2016-2019 Nancy T. Sorrells, 2020- *Charter Member of Society +Honorary Charter Member Augusta Historical Bulletin Published by the AUGUSTA COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Founded 1964 Post Office Box 686 Staunton, Virginia 24402-0686 www.augustacountyhs.org VOLUME 56 2020 Copyright 2020 by the Augusta County Historical Society ISSN: 0571-8899 Copies of this annual issue go to all members 500 copies printed. Augusta County Historical Society A purpose of the Augusta County Historical Society is to publish the Augusta Historical Bulletin, which is to be sent without charge to all members. The membership of the society is composed of persons who pay the following dues as of June 1, 2020: Annual (individual).........................................................$45 Annual (family).................................................................$65 Annual Student (high school/college)..............................$20 Annual Institutional.............................................................$100 Membership renewal notices are sent out based on the month in which you joined the society. NOTICE It is urgent that the society be promptly notified of changes of address. Bulletins that cannot be delivered by the postal service will not be forwarded due to high postage rates. P.O. Box 686 Staunton, VA 24402-0686 540-248-4151 [email protected] www.augustacountyhs.org Augusta County Historical Society office and research library are located on the third floor of the R.R. Smith Center for History and Art at 20 South New Street, Staunton, VA 24401. A parking garage is located across the street. Cover design by Jennifer Wood Lee John Bowman Davis Mourning an Augusta County history giant April 13, 1951-January 28, 2021 It is with great sorrow and regret that the Augusta County Historical So- ciety board announces the sad news of the death of our colleague, friend, and board member, John Bowman Davis. John was not only a current board member of the Augusta County Historical Society, but a person who played a key role in the Society for more than three decades. He served in the vital post of treasurer for the society from 1993-2001. He worked closely with the late Katherine Bushman and the late Richard M. Hamrick, Jr., in the years that they filled significant roles, Mrs. Bushman as genealogist, officer, and editor of the Bulletin and Mr. Hamrick as archivist. For a number of years the society archives were stored in the base- ment of the Augusta County Courthouse, courtesy of John Davis when he was Clerk of the Court, and when it was necessary to move them, John was the lead person in obtaining an office and storage space at the Government Center in Verona for the society. That was our headquarters until the Society’s move to the R.R. Smith Center for History and Art. -- iii -- John was always willing to lend a hand to members of the public who came into the deed room on a research quest. John was among the first recipients of the Augusta County Histori- cal Society’s prestigious Distinguished History Service Award, not only for his service to the society and his work with the courthouse records, but also for his teaching and sharing of our area’s history. He also served on the Augusta County 250th Anniversary Committee in 1988. John will be remembered with deep gratitude by any person who has done research in Augusta County records in recent years and by researchers for many decades into the future for his role in preserving the historical rich- es that these records comprise. Augusta County played a vital role in the history of frontier Virginia and its expansion westward. In its earliest days, the county stretched to the Mississippi River, and its surviving records include vital land and legal documents covering a vast area. Because Augusta County was home for a generation or two to thousands of families that moved west on the Great Wagon Road and settled in the Carolinas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Ohio, and Indiana in the years before the Civil War, its records are among this nation’s genealogical and historical treasures. Elected Clerk of the Augusta County Circuit Court in 1982 and serving from 1983-2015, John oversaw the transformation of local record keeping from a completely paper-based and hand-or-typewriter-writ- ten operation to one that is totally digital today. In his thirty-one years as Clerk of the Court, John realized fully the value of the county record holdings and took swift and massive action to conserve them. As grants became available through the Commonwealth and from private sources such as the DAR, John was among the most energetic officials to apply for and receive the funds necessary for the costly professional conservation treatment of the rare and delicate eighteenth and early nineteenth century records, especially the wills and deeds, but many others as well. -- iv -- A modest man, John sought no recognition for the work he did and always credited his assistant deputy clerk Carol Brydge. The truth is that the two, whose friendship went back to high school, were a team and together they preserved some of the finest courthouse records in the nation. John’s belief that the records belong to the people and must be made available to them made the Augusta County Courthouse one of the most welcoming and accommodating to all, from attorneys to genealogists to schoolchildren, in Virginia and across the country. He gave freely of his time to open the courthouse in the evening to classes of budding genealogists and personally guid- ed them in the use of the records stored there. That he cared for learners of all ages surely comes from his years as a teacher, counselor, and administrator in Augusta County Schools prior to his election as Clerk of Court. John was a graduate of Wilson Memorial High School, class of 1969, and had wonderful memories and stories of growing up on "The Post." He was featured in the book and DVD, Hope Reborn of War. He was the SCA class president and drum major of the Wilson Memorial High School Band. The Augusta County Historical Society extends its condolences to his wife of forty-eight years, Patrice, his two sons Andrew (wife Mol- ly) and Joseph (wife Sarah) and their two children, Dylan Thomas and Damien James. John loved the courthouse and our history with all his heart and soul. He is truly a giant in the annals of Augusta County’s story and will be sorely missed. John listens while his son, Joseph, speaks at the retirement event where John's portrait was unveiled and placed in the courthouse. Next to John, left to right, are his younger son Andrew, wife Patrice, and his assistant Carol Brydge, who succeeded him as Clerk of the Court. -- v -- Contents John Bowman Davis, 1951-2021 Page iii Eva Howard Clark: Life and Death in the Circus By Lucinda Cooke (with Stacey Baker) Page 1 Xariffa in Augusta: Travel Letters of Mary Ashley Townsend, 1871 Edited by William J. Miller Page 29 Vote the Valley Green: Reflections on the Green Party By Daniel A. Métraux Page 59 Slave Labor on the Blue Ridge Railroad: Augusta County By Mary E. Lyons Page 65 Remembering the Wooden Ice Box By Donald W. Houser Jr. Page 69 The Fruits of her Labor: Staunton's Leta Watts Gibbs and the Augusta Garden Club By Logan M. Olszewski Page 85 Hemp and Flax in Colonial America By Ben Swenson Page 98 Hemp Tent By Mark D. Hutter Page 105 Cannabis in eighteenth-century Augusta County? Absolutely! By Nancy Sorrells Page 106 Returning home: President Wilson's triumphant visit to Staunton in 1912 By Alex Pinelli Page 113 Mt. Sidney Antiques: History for Sale By Douglas W. Tees Page 135 The Lofton Farm Anvil By David McCaskey Page 156 -- vii --