Gale Hill
The Story of an Old Virginia Home
By Jasper Burns
Copyright 2013
Copyright 2013 by Jasper Burns Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.
Published by:
Pietas Publications Waynesboro, Virginia, USA web: www.jasperburns.com email: pietas@jasperburns.com
Dedicated to my mother, Jaquelin Lee Caskie Burns, born at Gale Hill on March 16, 1920, died in Charlottesville, Virginia, March 21, 2006.
Also dedicated to Elizabeth Coalter Bryan Williston (1871-1957). Without her devotion to Gale Hill and its families, much of what follows would have been lost.
***
in these degenerate days the rising generation, instead of keeping alive the family tree from which they sprang & handing it down with laudable pride to the posterity seem actually to be ashamed of their ancestry & take pride in being perfectly ignorant of their origin
Dr. John Minor, Gale Hill, November 7, 1848
CONTENTS
Introduction - page 15 Chapter 1 Beginnings - page 19 Chapter 2 Home of James and Mary Carr Minor - page 22 Chapter 3 Dabney Minors Two Families - page 24 Chapter 4 Home of Dr. John and Jane Bell Minor - page 29 Chapter 5 Home of William W. and Mary Waters Minor - page 35 Chapter 6 Gale Hill and the Civil War - page 43 Chapter 7 Hard Times/Good Times - page 46 Chapter 8 Home of John and Lucy Lee Trice Minor - page 51 Chapter 9 Home of Jaquelin A. and Margaret Lee Minor Caskie - page 70 Chapter 10 After Gale Hill - page 86 Chapter 11 African-Americans at Gale Hill - page 88 APPENDICES - page 96 Appendix I - The Gale Hill Grant - page 97 Appendix II Will of John Minor of Spotsylvania County, Va. - page 99 Appendix III Will of James Minor of Gale Hill - page 101 Appendix IV - Miscellaneous Published References to Gale Hill - page 102 Appendix V Memories of Margaret Randolph Minor Bryan (1845-1927) - page 106 Old Times at Gale Hill, or Gale Hill Stories - page 106 Gale Hill - page 106 The Chillis - page 107 Prospect Hill - page 107 Revolutionary Heroes - page 108 Buying Corn - page 108 Grandma Terrells Discipline - page 108 Mothers First School - page 108 The Edge Hill School - page 109 A Ducking or a Box - page 109
Appendix V Memories of Margaret Randolph Minor Bryan (continued)
Old Times at Gale Hill, or Gale Hill Stories (continued)
The Lightning Rod Episode - page 109 Driving to Richmond - page 110 The Lost Key Basket - page 110 The Wedding at Prospect Hill - page 110 The Physic Cupboard - page 111 Doctor Dulany - page 111 Gal Child Useful - page 111 Blinky Barksdale - page 111 Breakfast at Glen Echo - page 111 Mammy Kate Refuses Freedom - page 112 Disarranging Mill Day - page 112 The Nine Muses - page 112 Aunt Mal - page 112 Crow Soup - page 113 Miss Nancys Left Us - page 113 Aunt Mal and the Mule Cars - page 106 A Small Appetite - page 114 Drowned the Miller - page 114 No Kissing Character - page 114 The Little Culprit - page 114 Spring Hill - page 115 All Drakes - page 115 Sunning Hill - page 115 Brothers Geese - page 115 Whip Me Harder - page 116 Cudgers Cliff - page 116 Rich Gets the Mail - page 116 The Picnic at Liberty - page 117 The Trip to the Fair - page 117 Mr. Eustace - page 117 Typhoid Fever - page 118 William Wirt - page 118 The Old Servants Mammy Patty - page 118 Mammy Enjoys Freedom - page 118 Aunt Winnie - page 119 Mammy Judy - page 119 Ann and Jeames - page 119 Henry - page 119 Carriage Drivers - page 120 Uncle Billy Singleton - page 120 Old Uncle Lion Sam - page 120 Kate - page 120 Ran at Gale Hill - page 120 Uncle Isaac Banks - page 121 Dinner at Mrs. Rileys - page 122 The Family Julep - page 122 Uncle Joel Foster - page 122 Married at Sixty-Two - page 123 Mr. Garrett and the Rice - page 123 Braddocks Old Field - page 123 Unduly Elated - page 123 Shell Tear the Instrument to Pieces - page 124 Uncle Hazlenut Frank - page 124 Two Thousand Pigs - page 125
Old Homes in the Neighborhood - page 126
Bentivar - page 126 Glen Echo - page 127 Red Hills - page 127 The Retreat - page 127 Woodburn - page 127 Carrsbrook - page 127 Ridgway and The Riggory - page 128 The Riggory - page 128 Edgemont - page 130 The Meadows - page 130 Brookhill and Landsend - page 130 Dunlora - page 131 Windieknowe and Key West - page 131 Mrs. Perkins First Visit to Gale Hill - page 133
Appendix VI The Writings of Kate Coles (1856-1943) - page 135 The Generations of Gale Hill or Kates Story - page 135
First Generation - page 135 Miss Malviner (Malvina) Terrell - page 137 White Preachers - page 138 Second Generation - page 138 William W. Minor, Jr. - page 138 Richmond Terrell Minor - page 139 John Minor - page 139 Wirt Minor - page 139 James Lawrence Carr Minor - page 139
Appendix VI The Writings of Kate Coles (continued) The Generations of Gale Hill or Kates Story (continued)
Margaret Randolph Minor Bryan - page 140 Jane Bell Minor Dabney - page 140 Martha Davis Minor Bronaugh - page 141 Mary Waters Minor Gwynn - page 141 Sally Minor Janvier - page 142 Third Generation - page 142 William Howe Minor, Elizabeth Isabelle Minor Lee - page 142 Malvina Terrell Minor Cheape - page 143 Mary Fisher Minor Miller - page 143 Richmond Terrell Minor - page 143 Mary Waters Bryan Hitchcock - page 143 Elizabeth Coalter Bryan Williston - page 143 Evelyn Bryan Bullitt - page 143 Martha Minor Bryan Nichols - page 144 Isobel Stewart Bryan Richmond - page 144 John Randolph Bryan - page 146 William Randolph Buck Bryan - page 146 Dr. William Minor Dabney - page 146 James Cabell Dabney - page 146 Dr. Cecil Dabney - page 146 Susan Fitzhugh Dabney Grinnan - page 147 Jane Bell Dabney Jones - page 147 Marion (May) Gordon Dabney - page 147 Margaret Lee Minor - page 147 Meredith Minor Janvier - page 149 Price Henderson Gwynn - page 149 Mary Waters Gwynn - page 149 Sarah Minor Gwynn - page 149 John Minor Gwynn - page 149 William Wardlow Gwynn - page 150 William Minor Bronaugh - page 150 Minor Bronaugh - page 150 Foarth Generation - page 150 Margaret Randolph Hitchcock Emerson - page 150 John Hitchcock, Jr. - page 151 William Williston - page 151 Robert Williston - page 151 Hilah Frances Bryan Thomas - page 151 Henrietta Bryan Alphin - page 152
Kate Coles - Biographical Sketch - page 154
Appendix VII The Writings of Mary Waters Bryan Hitchcock (1870-?) - page 155
From Recollections of My Mother - page 155
Appendix VIII The Writings of Elizabeth Coalter Bryan Williston (1871-1957) - page 162
Old Songs, Verses, Stories & Games of Gale Hill - page 162
Tildy Martin - page 162 Old Lullabies - page 163 Commandments in Verse - page 165 Little Things - page 165 Old Songs - page 166 Sung by William W. Minor (1812-1887) - page 166 Old Bangham - page 166 The Old Man Who Lived in the West - page 167 In the Good Old Colony Times - page 167 As I Was Going to Derby - page 168 Sung by William W. Minor, Jr. (1840-1927) - page 168 Little Pigs - page 168 Sung by the Gale Hill family - page 169 Untitled - page 169 Confederate Flag Song - page 169 Baboons Wedding - page 169 Rounds - page 169 I Love a Sixpence - page 170 Aunt Mals Song - page 170 The Blacksmith - page 171 Pretty Polly Hopkins - page 171 Boatman Dance - page 172 Go Tell Aunt Nancy - page 172 Verses for Little Children - page 173 Cherries are Ripe - page 173 Oh Clap Clap Your Hands - page 173 Old Santa Claus - page 174 Old Negro Hymns Sung at Gale Hill - page 174 Games to Songs - page 174 Draw a Bucket of Water - page 174 Chickamy, Chickamy Cramy Crow - page 174 Frog in the Middle - page 175 Willy-Mi-Trimity - page 175 Onery, twoery, ickery Ann - page 175
Appendix VIII The Writings of Elizabeth Coalter Bryan Williston (continued)
Old Neighborhood Homes - page 176
Gale Hill - page 176 Prospect Hill - page 180 Carrsbrook - page 181 Glen Echo - page 182 Windieknowe - page 183 Red Hills - page 188 Bentivar - page 187 Ridgway - page 187 The Riggory - page 188 Edgmont - page 189 Dunlora - page 190
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