The Humphries Family

SUBJECT: John Humphries Home

LOCATION: 10 miles southeast of Covington, Routes #60, #619, #620.

DATE: Unknown

OWNERS: John Humphries was granted 540 acres of land in Rich Patch, on May 21, 1794, by land patent. There is a deed in Botetourt County showing that this land was transferred to Henry Persinger (who married one of John Humphries' daughters) by John Humphries' heirs in 1812.

In 1820, Henry Persinger sold 360 acres to Jacob Bennett and to Stephen Hook 180 acres (John Humphries lands.) This land has come down through the generations of Hooks and Bennetts and the home site located on the 360 acre tract now belongs to Mr. Mathew Bennett.

In Will Book A, at page 430, we find the settlement of John Humphries' estate.

DESCRIPTION:See Form 3686 (link to come soon)

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The Humphries family of ALleghany County belongs to a class of pioneers noted for their industry, hospitality, and honesty. They were ambitious, persistent, frugal, conservative, and religious. From the record of the first of the Humphries family who settled in the Rich Patch, sometime prior to 1766, up to the present day, they have been noted for the above named characteristics. They were in those early days, connected with Mt. Bethel Church, the first built in Rich Patch.

There have been several preachers in the family: William Allen, Oliver and Morton wre preachers in the Methodist Episcopal Church. J.L. Bess, whose mother was a daughter of John Humphries, was a local preacher. There were a number of class leaders, Sunday School teachers, trustees and stewards in the family. That they were ambitious and anxious to rise above their environment, has been proved by their actions. In the old days many of them could not write, but they were eager to learn and, by intelligent application and making use of every opportunity, many of the descendants have acquired a broad and liberal education. From this family have descended teachers, preachers, farmers, and men who have held various offices of trust and responsibility, which they have discharged in a satisfactory way.

It is believed that John Humphries cleared the first land in the Richpatch and was, if not the first, among the very first white settlers there. Their ability for acquiring land and establishing homes is an undisputed fact. Jesse Humphries, of the third generation, proved his efficiency in this, as his story shows. The house built by and occupied by John Humphries and family has disappeared. The chimney is all that is left. The old stone chimney bears mute evidence of the work of nearly two centuries ago, and as we stood and looked at it, with its wide fireplaces our thought turned backward and we pictures the pioneer family of John Humphries seated around the open fire at night, with the windows and doors securely locked against the animals of the forest and the Indians.

The chimney is off the main road, back in the forest. The forest has almost reclaimed the spot where the house once stood, and if it were not for the chimney one would not dream that one that site had been the home of one of our pioneer ancestors.

Those were heroic people. It took real grit and fortitude, endurance, and an unfailing, unwavering faith to come into the wilderness as those people did and, in the midst of perils, both seen and unseen, establish a home, with their own hands. It took a man strong in body and great in faith to do it, and think of those heroic women who came, and many of them from homes of ease came out with full confidence in their men to carry on. How they should be honored and remembered! Let us not forget their heroic efforts, their great achievements, and set for ourselves a standard of living of which they would approve. Theirs was the work of real labor and faith. They must have been possessed of an unwavering faith to have accomplished so much in the very midst of untold dangers.