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While researching a completely different family, came
across historical information regarding Charles Sinclair of Sinclair
Bottom. This is not my family--just thought I'd pass it
along.
From "History of Southwest Virginia, 1746-1786, Washington County,
1777-1870" by Lewis Preston Summers (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing
Company, 1966):
(p 45) March 14, 1748 - Charles St. Clair, South Fork Holston River, 996
acres
(p 46) "The Alleghany mountains having been
crossed and the waters flowing into the Mississippi reached, the pioneer rapidly
sought to bring the wilderness under his dominion. The first company of
settlers at Draper's Meadows were at once increased by new arrivals, and
numerous tracts of land west of New river and near what were afterwards known as
the Lead Mine occupied. Among the early settlers in that section of
Southwest Virginia were the Crocketts, Sayers, Cloyds, McGavocks and
McCalls."
"James Burke, with his family, settled in 1753 in
what has since been known as Burk's Garden, and Charles Sinclair in Sinclair's
Bottom. Stephen Holston built his cabin within thirty feet of the head
spring of the Middle Fork of Indian [River], since called Holston river, some
time previous to 1748, and thus, Burke, Sinclair and Holston gave names to the
localities of their settlements."
(p 53) "In the spring of 1754, numbers of families were obliged, by an
Indian invasion, to remove from their settlements in Southwest Virginia, and
these removals continued during the entire war [French-Indian War]. It
will be well here to note the fact that the lands held by Stephen Holston, James
McCall, Charles Sinclair and James Burke, the earlier settlers of this portion
of Virginia, were held by them under what were known at that time as 'corn
rights'--that is, under the law as it then stood, each settler acquired title to
a hundred acres for every acre planted by him in corn..."
(p 134) "On March 2, 1773, the court directed John Maxwell, Robert
Allison and Robert Campbell, or any three of them, to view the nighest and best
way from Catherine's Mill to Charles Allison's and so on to Sinclair's Bottom,
and report."
(p 268) "The settlers on the Holston and Clinch, during the years
1776-1777, had been greatly harrassed by the invasion of the Indians, and
thereby prevented from making anything like a crop from their lands. They
had also been required to furnish supplies to Colonel Christian and his army of
two thousand men, upon their invasion of the Cherokee country, and the country
was thereby greatly impoverished before the crops in 1777 were harvested.
The good citizens, the relatives and friends of the settlers, living in Augusta
County, contributed through Mr. Alexander St. Clair considerable sums of money,
and provisions, for the relief of the settlers on the frontiers, and the County
Court of this county, beside entering the following order, directed Captain
William Campbell to have Mr. St. Clair to lay out the money in his hands for
wheat."
Enjoy! Karen Matheson
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