by Edna Barney
VIA family members were among the first pioneers from the lower counties of Virginia to go west to Albemarle when it was opened for settlement in the early 1740s. William VIA, Senior and William VIA, Junior, son and grandson of Amer VIA, the immigrant, left land records showing that they established their homes at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Other children of Amer VIA, Margaret, Jane, and John, were also early settlers. My Revolutionary War ancestor, William W. VIA, was a descendant of Micajah and William VIA, Senior. He and his wife Mollie raised their brood of fourteen on the northwest side of Pidgeon Top Mountain in Browns Cove near White Hall. William's son was Thomas C. VIA, who served during the War of 1812 and lived in western Albemarle, on the side of Pasteur Fence Mountain. William's grandson, Thomas Turk VIA, with his wife, Susannah Mildred Walton, seem to have inherited the Pasteur Fence homestead. They raised their family there on what is now Turk Lane. Their oldest son, Matthew Thomas "Jack" VIA, was my great grandfather. He was born there in 1854 and later lived there with his wife, Mollie, and sons. Jack Via died in 1943 in Maryland. This is a family history and geneaology of the VIAs of Albemarle, and their descent from the immigrant ancestor, Amer VIA.
My cousin, Janet VIA, learning to make apple butter the old fashioned way,
Browns Cove, Virginia, October 2003. The long mountain in the far background is
The Pasteur Fence.
MUSIC ~ Click to hear Ashokan Farewell, composed by Jay Unger.
The long lofty ridge east of the north fork of Moormans River is known as the Pasture Fence Mountain, so called because it was covered in summer with blue grass and wealthy planters in the eastern part of the county fenced it for grazing purposes at an early date. (from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club Bulletin, October 1936)
SUGAR HOLLOW MEMORIES
~~ I asked Father one day how it got it's name. He said there used to be some sugar cane growing along the river, and that was why it was called 'Sugar Hollow'. I would have named it 'Rocky Hollow'. In those days I thought it was a beautiful place with such lovely people, not necessarily in face and form, but lovely at heart. Now the old homes that are left are deteriorated or burned down, and some of the mountain homes are gone and the fields that pastured so many cattle are all grown up. Doesn't seem possible the changes that can come in fifty or sixty years time.
NOW there was Grandfather VIA's place, with the big meadow where I have seen the binder run to harvest the wheat. Look at it now. The floods have washed away the roads and they had to keep moving the roads over until there is no meadow there anymore. Then up the mountains from there lived Uncle Wash VIA and Aunt Susan. I have walked up through the woods and pasture fields many times to go see them. Sometimes to spend the night. I would sleep upstairs in a big feather bed that was so high that I could hardly crawl in it. Aunt Susan would say, 'Wash will take you home on one of the beasts (horses).' I would enjoy riding down the mountains, too. We would have to zig-zag to keep from tumbling over the horse's head, the mountains were so steep. Ho! Those were happy days, with not a care in the world. We didn't hear about all the horrible things that were going on outside of our little world. Uncle Wash's place has all rotted away and the grazing land is all covered with bushes. ~~Bettie (VIA) Gochenour, 1953, writing of her father, George Rice VIA (1854~1907) and Sugar Hollow, Virginia, her Albemarle home.
Neddy's Nook OnThe Net ~ The VIA Family of Albemarle was created on 11 July 2002 by descendant Edna Barney, ~ www.ednabarney.com ~. The software used was Personal Ancestral File, a product of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The graphics displayed are from Ritva's Gallery and Country Patch Collections. ©Copyright 2002-2006 by Edna Barney ~ Made in Virginia ~