Page:Annals of Augusta County.djvu/67

 The vestry of the parish met August 21, 1753, and ordered the church-wardens "to pale in a church yard one hundred feet square," and also "to pale and clear out a garden of half an acre at the glebe." At the meeting on November 28th, Robert Campbell, of whom the glebe land was purchased, acknowledged payment of £6o in full. Colonel John Lewis acknowledged payment to him of £148, the "full sum agreed on for building the glebe work according to bargain," and renewed his obligation to pay Mr. Jones £20 a year till the buildings should be finished, Mr. Jones consenting thereto.

The Colonial Assembly passed an act at their session which began in November, 1753, reciting that part of the county and parish of Augusta was within the bounds of the Northern Neck belonging to Lord Fairfax, and setting off this portion of Augusta and a part of Frederick to form the county of Hampshire.

The "returns" of the early sheriffs give us an idea of the state of the country and the times in which these officers lived. In the year 1751 the sheriff, on an execution issued in the cause of Johnson vs. Brown, made return: "Not executed by reason, there is no road to the place where he lives." Other executions were returned as follows: "Not executed by reason of excess of weather;" "Not executed by reason of an axx;" "Not executed by reason of a gun." In Emlen vs. Miller, 1753: "Kept off from Miller with a club, and Miller not found by Humphrey Marshal." In Bell vs. Warwick, 1754: "Executed on the within John Warwick, and he is not the man." In August, 1755, forty-nine executions were returned: "Not executed by reason of the disturbance of the Indians."

Major was born in Augusta county in 1741. His parents were Archibald and Frances Calhoun Hamilton, who came to this country from Ireland. Archibald is said to have been a descendant of James Hamilton, Earl of Arran, who was regent of Scotland during the infancy of Mary Stuart.

The date of Archibald Hamilton's settlement in Augusta is not known. He was probably one of the first to come, and like other early settlers, located on the public domain, without legal title to his homestead. In 1747, however, he received from William Beverley, the patentee, a deed for three hundred and two acres of land on Christian's