In 1795 Jacob Howry laid out a settlement “on the big rode” [the Great Wagon Trail] in Botetourt County, Virginia, which he named Howrytown.
On 1 June 1795 he began selling lots there. The first buyers were Christopher Bower (No. 26), Christopher Smith (No. 34), John Raneke (No. 6), Frederick Wyman (No. 30), John Pappy (No.3), George Hepler (No. 7), Michael Minick (Nos. 29 and 31), John Hyner (No. 38), John Casslor (No. 36), Frederick Shaver (No. 7), Jacob Bishop (No.1), John Simmon (No. 35), David Kesler (No. 17?), Christian Carlish (No. 10), John Russel (No. 32), Abraham Kester (No. 4), Conrad Mauer (No. 23), Abraham Cesslor (No. 5), Piniaman Casslor (No. 14), Jacob Minack (No. 40), John Minick (No. 18), David Sink (No. 37), and Piniaman Minick (No. 8) (Botetourt Deed Book 5:264-81).
Although Howry conveyed the lots in fee simple, he required a “quit rent” of 3 shillings on May 1st of each year in perpetuity. Virginia had abolished the government’s quit rents during the Revolution, but private landowners could still reserve them when they sold land. These rents apparently faded away over time.
A Lutheran congregation was established at Howrytown in 1796 by Rev. J. G. Butler, who replaced Rev. Paul Henkel, a Lutheran minister who preached for many years at New Market in Shenandoah County. When Rev. Butler left Howrytown in 1805 the community was without a Lutheran minister and the Howrys, like many other families, became Baptists. The Mill Creek Baptist Church was organized in 1804 by W. Moorman. There were 12 original members of this church, including the Banks, Broughs, Falls, Howrys, Jordans, Kempers, McNeels, Secrists, and Simpsons (Stoner 1962, 393).
An 1833 report to the Virginia Legislature says: “The ridge between the two rivers is crossed at a wretched Hamlet called Howrytown. In passing through this place the road has diverged considerably west of the proper general direction, and continues by an even greater dereliction to reach the not much more important village of Amsterdam; after which it returns to the proper course as we approach Cloverdale furnace” (Virginia Public Works 1833, 369).
The name Howrytown was retained as late as 1841, but the area is now part of “Greenville.”
Sources
- Austin, John William & Rebecca H.R. Austin. Related Families of Botetourt County, Virginia. Clearfield Co., 2009.
- Botetourt County, Deed Book 5.
- Brick Union Lutheran Church. “Official Record Book of Brick Union Lutheran Church.” Rev. Guy A. Ritter, ed. Springwood, VA: Guy A. Ritter, 1977.
- Fincastle Herald. “Brick Union has long history in the county.” Fincastle, VA: Fincastle Herald, Oct. 24, 2023.
- Kegley, Frederick B. (1938). Kegley’s Virginia Frontier, The Beginning of the Southwest, The Roanoke of Colonial Days, 1740-1783. The Southwest Virginia Historical Society.
- Stoner, Robert Douthat. A Seed-bed of the Republic : A Study of the Pioneers in the Upper (Southern) Valley of Virginia. Roanoke, VA: Roanoke Historical Society, 1962.
- Virginia Board of Public Works. Seventeenth Annual Report of the Board of Public Works to the Legislature of Virginia . [Richmond, VA]: Thomas Ritchie, 1833.
- Works Project Administration. “Howry Town.” 1938.