JOST HITE (MATERNAL GRANDFATHER)

Jost Hite (b. 1685, d. 1761) was born in Germany and entered America by way of New York in 1710.  Constantly on the move, Hite was an intensely ambitious and successful man who conducted multiple land dealings involving thousands of acres.  As a result of his enterprising nature, Hite became one of the earliest pioneer settlers of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 

Jost Hite was originally named Hans Justus or Justus Hans Heydt and is sometimes identified as Joist or Yost. 

In August 1731, while residing in Pennsylvania, Hite secured 40,000 acres of wilderness in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from Dutch brothers, John and Isaac Van Meter who were also determined visionaries.  The grant called for the successful settlement of a certain number of families on the land.

Soon after the Van Meters’ grant was approved in June 1730, the brothers discovered that Thomas, Lord Fairfax (b. 1693, d. 1781) vehemently opposed the grant, citing that the land was his.  In 1649, King Charles II had granted land in the entire northern region of Virginia to certain noblemen, and nearly 100 years later, Lord Fairfax (Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax of Cameron) had inherited the land that now encompassed more than five million acres.

 JACOB AND MAGDALENA HITE CHRISMAN (PARENTS)

In Autumn of 1731, Jost Hite led approximately 20 families from Pennsylvania to Virginia, including his own sons, daughters and their families.  One daughter was eighteen year-old Magdalena Hite (b. 1713, d. 1771) who made the journey with her twenty-five year-old German-born husband, Jacob Chrisman (b. 1706, d. 1778).  

In 1748, Lord Fairfax hired a surveying team, which included sixteen year-old George Washington, to resolve a land dispute involving himself and Jost Hite.  The Fairfax-Hite legal battle began in 1749, and after many years of heated debate and various rulings and appeals, the case was finally settled in 1802 in favor of Hite; of course by this time, both Lord Fairfax and Jost Hite were deceased.

During this trip to the Shenandoah Valley, young George Washington and the other members of the team lodged at the inn owned and operated by George Chrisman’s uncle (Jost Hite’s son), Captain John Hite.

Jacob and Magdalena Chrisman settled in Stephens City, VA (Frederick County), where Jacob built a stone house in 1751.  Many other Hite families built stone houses nearby, including Jost Hite and his sons John and Isaac, and John Paul Froman and George Bowman who had married Jost’s other two daughters, Elizabeth and Maria (or Mary).  More than 250 years later several of these structures, including Jacob's "Chrisman's Springs" home (shown below), are still intact. 

The 1751 date stone is at the top of the north wall (see next two photos).

In 1767 George Washington (b. 1732, d. 1799) wrote to Captain John Posey, “Only look to Frederick, and see what fortunes were made by the Hites and first takers up of those lands. Nay how the greatest estates we have in this colony were made.”

Belle Grove, the historic limestone mansion near Middletown, VA was built between 1794 and 1797 by Major Isaac Hite (b.1758, d.1836), son of the Isaac Hite mentioned above.  Major Hite’s wife was Nelly Madison, sister of president James Madison, and his first cousin was “our” George Chrisman. 

ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, VA

In 1761, Jacob and Magdalena Chrisman deeded 376 acres on Linville Creek to their sixteen year-old son, George. The land was then part of Augusta County, VA.

Rockingham County was created from the northern part of Augusta County in 1777. The first court of Rockingham County was held in April 1778.

George's land cornered 300 acres owned by his older brother John (b.1739, d.1772/3). Sometime between 1762 and 1765, George married Hannah McDowell, daughter of General Joseph and Margaret O’Neil McDowell.  George Chrisman probably located to his Linville Creek property soon after his marriage to begin building a home for his family.  Between 1766 and 1784, four sons and three daughters were born to George and Hannah:

          Joseph (b. 1766, d.1828), m.1788 (Jane Ann Hopkins)

          Hugh (b.1769, d.1849), m.1792 (Hannah McKinney)

          John (b.1773, d.1815), m.1796 (Ann Harrison)

          Charles (b.1775, d. 1812)

          Margaret (b.1777, d.1855), m.1793 (John Spears)

          Elizabeth (b.1779, d.1835), m.1799 (Conrad Custer)

          Hannah (b.1784, d.1841), m.1801 (Joshua Kring)

George may have put up a simple log cabin as a temporary dwelling before he started on the stone house. Built in a similar style to his father’s stone house in Stephen’s City, George’s dwelling provided plenty of room to accommodate his growing family.

JACOB CHRISMAN'S WILL

On August 8, 1777, Jacob Chrisman signed a deed of gift of all of his property to “my beloved sons, George Christman and Henry Christman for natural love and affection I have come to bear these sons…” With the American Revolution well under way, Jacob may have worried about the possibility of British control. This deed of gift granted George and Henry “all and singular my slaves, goods, chattels, ready money and personal estate whatsoever in whose hands, custody or possession, and other the premises, soever they may be within the Thirteen United States of America.” One month later, on September 6, 1777 Jacob signed his last will and testament “being very sick and weak of body but of perfect mind and memory,” and George and Henry were named as co-executors of the estate.

The Chrisman surname is alternately spelled “Christman” and “Crisman” in period documents.

Jacob Chrisman died in the late summer or early fall of 1778. Although his will was signed afterward, it superceded the deed of gift as a legal document. Henry was killed late in 1778 during the George Rogers Clark expedition to Vincennes, therefore it fell to George to settle his father’s estate. Among the forty-two items listed in a November 4, 1778 appraisal of Jacob’s personal property, are “one Negro wench, one mare and two colts, two cows, half doz chairs and arm chair, four chests, two tables, one man saddle, thirty pains (sic) of window glass, a quantity of old pewter, one old bed and bedstead, one large bible and three small books and one dressed deerskin.” George finally filed the estate settlement papers in Frederick County on April 4, 1804 (twenty-six years later).

PROMINENT CITIZEN

George Chrisman was an active citizen who apparently spent a great deal of time in the courtroom. His name appears numerous times in Rockingham County Court records between the years 1779 and 1813. Documents show that he acted as bondsman, administrator, guardian, jury member and court appointed official.

On April 26, 1779 when two neighbors took their right of way dispute to the Rockingham County Court, the court “ordered that John Hinton, John Johnston and George Chrisman, being first sworn, do view the said passage and report to the next court…”

On July 26, 1779 George was named as one of seven “securities” bondsmen present when Abraham Smith was sworn in as Sheriff of Rockingham County (the County’s third Sheriff since its creation from Augusta County in October 1777).

In 1780 George Chrisman signed as witness on a deed for his neighbors Abraham and Bathsheba Herring Lincoln (grandparents of the president) when the Lincolns sold 250 acres of their land in preparation for the family’s removal to Kentucky.

On March 26, 1781, thirty-six year-old George Chrisman was in court once more as he took the oath of captain in the Rockingham militia.

CENSUS INFORMATION

The 1784 Heads of Families census in Virginia identifies Captain George “Christman” of Rockingham County as the head of a household with nine “white souls” and the owner of one dwelling and three other buildings. Twenty-six years later the 1810 Rockingham County census reveals that George was a slave-owner – he and his wife are listed at home with fifteen slaves. George and Hannah’s son Charles is listed in the same census as head of household, with six slaves.

Although three of George and Hannah Chrisman’s children migrated to Kentucky as young adults (Joseph, Hugh and Margaret), the Chrisman name remained prominent in Rockingham County for well over a century. 

JOHN CHRISMAN (SON) & GEORGE HARRISON CHRISMAN (GRANDSON)

In his 1935 book, Settlers By The Long Grey Trail, J. Houston Harrison relates that George Chrisman’s son, John (b. 1773, d. 1815) who was called “Gentleman Jack,” was a “large landowner” who resided on his father’s land, at what was known as Chrisman Post Office, and further that John’s son, George Harrison Chrisman (b.1799, d.1870), was a “large planter and slave owner of Rockingham...a prominent resident of the county and a splendid type of the gentleman of the old school.”

John “Jack” Chrisman married Ann Harrison (b. 1777, d. 1839) in 1796 and their son George Harrison Chrisman married Martha Davis Herring (b. 1799, d. 1866) in 1822. George and Martha Chrisman's sons George, Burke and Herring, were also notable men.

During the Civil War, George & Martha Chrisman’s son, George Chrisman (b.1832, d.1915), was a commanding officer for the Confederacy.  Captain George Chrisman led “Chrisman’s Infantry” (CO. H, 10th VA VOL INF) and later, “Chrisman’s Boy Company,” (CO. A, 3rd BAT VA RESERVES), a unit of sixteen and seventeen year-olds that was mustered into service on April 3, 1864.  

After his 1864 promotion, Major George Chrisman commanded all of the infantry and cavalry reserves of the Upper Shenandoah Valley. In 1867 he married Lucy Gilmer Grattan (b.1835, d.1923) who was born at “Contentment”, the 1793 home of her father, Robert Grattan.

In 1898, Major Chrisman, Captain Frank A. Byerly and James B. Stephenson became the three founding members of the Rockingham County Historical Society (now the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society) when they drafted a constitution and bylaws for the organization.   Major Chrisman was also a respected authority on farming and stock-raising.  According to regional historian and author John L. Heatwole, when Major Chrisman died on November 23, 1915 at age 83, “hundreds of people attended his funeral.” 

In 1872, Major Chrisman's brother, Dr. Burk(e) Chrisman (b. 1827, d. 1895) was one of several men who purchased Taylor Springs, an early 19th century hot springs resort located at the base of the Massanutten mountain range, just east of Harrisonburg.  

Dr. Chrisman's wife was Henrietta Warden, and by combining "Massanutten" and "Henrietta," Taylor Springs was renamed Massanetta Springs.  Dr.  Chrisman sold the bottled mineral water and as the resort grew in popularity, he built a small hotel for guests.  The Massanetta Springs Historic District was placed on the Virginia and National Historic Registers in 2005.      

HERRING CHRISMAN (GREAT-GRANDSON)

Major George Chrisman’s brother, Herring Chrisman (b.1823, d.1911) was the Commonwealth Attorney of Rockingham County from 1847 until 1852, before he relocated to Illinois. He was the author of Memoirs of Lincoln, published posthumously in 1930 by his son, William Herring Chrisman.

In Settlers By The Long Grey Trail, the author describes Major George Chrisman and his brother Herring as “gentlemen of the highest type, splendidly connected and educated, and well deserving of the honors bestowed upon them by their fellow citizens.” Chrisman Post Office, which was once situated on land that originally belonged to his great-grandfather, was so named in honor of Major George Chrisman.

  Molly at George Chrisman House