Selections from:
Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, pp. 289-290
South River Monthly Meeting (infrequently called Bedford Monthly Meeting)
Established 1757 from Cedar Creek Monthly Meeing. Discontinued: 1847.
Counties within bounds of this Monthly Meeting: Bedford, Campbell, Albemarle, Amherst, Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin and Patrick.
Particular meetings: Bedford Co. (now Campbell); Old Goose Creek – Bedford Co.; Upper Goose Creek – Bedford Co; Bedford (or Lower Goose Creek) – Bedford Co.; Hills Creek, Campbell Co.; Molley’s Creek-Campbell Co.; Seneca-Campbell Co.; Halifax (or Banister)-Halifax Co.; Ivy Creek-Bedford Co.; Kirby’s (or Dan River)-Halifax Co.
“To get a clear picture of the location of South River Meeting one needs only to think of the city of Lynchburg, Campbell County, Virginia – the city built by the Quakers of South River. In 1750 the location of the city of Lynchburg was a desolate river bank in the Virginia wilderness. In 1805 it boasted of only five or six hundred citizens.
“It had several stores, a warehouse, a ferry, a newspaper and many comfortable homes, and across the James River lived a friendly tribe of Monacan Indians. The forest pressed closely to the little town but gradually it was assuming the air of established civilization. . ”
“It was into this ‘forbidden paradise’, of which no portion is more beautiful than that in which Lynchburg is built, that our South River Quakers came, unarmed, by covered wagon and ox-cart, trusting in kinds and their own unexcelled confidence to protect them from the savages. At first they came in small groups, one or two families at a time, but finally they poured in – not in a continuous stream, but in waves.
“The South River Colony of Qukers (so-called because it lay south of the James RIver) was the third group to form a settlement in what is now Campbell County. The family of Charles Lynch, the senior, was the first to enter the area now occupied by Lynchburg and its environs. He had run away from his home in Ireland, at the age of fifteen, aboad an outgoing ship to America. That was about 1720.
“To pay for his passage across the Atlandtic he was apprenticed to a wealthy Quaker planter, Captain Christopher Clarke, who lived in that part of Hanover County which was later set off as Louisa County, and who took a deep interest in the boy’s education. Charles studied law and became a good business man, acquiring large land holdings in his own name. In time (about 1733) he married Sarah Clarke, daughter of Capt. Christopher Clarke, and about 1752, removed with his family to what was later called the Chestnut Hill estate overlooking the James River, one mile below the site of Lynchburg.
“Charles Lynch (senior) never became a Quaker, although his wife, Sarahy, was an ardenet one. She had joined the Society of Friends at Green Spring, Louisa Co., becoming a member of Camp Creek.
Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, pp. 293
“The first members of the [South River] monthly meeting were old stock Quakers for the large part, of English extraction from the tidewater section of Virginia, especially Cedar Creek and Henrico Monthly Meetings. Among the first names appearing in the books are: Hendrake, Johnson, Kirby, Neal, Candler, Lynch, Terrell, Clark, Moorman, Echols, Payne, Collins, Farmer, Roberts, Womack, Calwell and Ayrs . . .
Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, pp. 315
JOHNSON
1748, 8, 19. Benjamin d. in Bedford Col, Va. 1769, 8, 17, m in a public mtg of Frs in Camp Creek MH, Louisa Col. Va., Mary MOORMAN, dt Thomas & Rachel (see Camp Creek Register)
Ch (including those listed in Cedar Creek MM Register)
Thomas b. 1749/50m 11 (Jan), 14 (O.S. Camp Creek MM)
John b. 1751..52, 1 (Mar), 14 (O.S. Camp Creek MM)
Andrew b . 1754, 4, 7 (N. S. Camp Crek MM)
William b. 1756, 8, 12, d next day
William b. 1757 12, 22
James b. 1759, 12, 20
Rachel b. 1762 3, 26
Elizabeth b. 1764 5, 15
Mildred b. 1766, 7, 4
Christopher, b. 1769, 3, 4
Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, pp. 318
(Note by W.W.H.) In his will, probated 9-26-1769 in Bedford Col, Va., the above Benjamin Johnson named each of his ch in the order of their b (excepting the first William who died the next day); also his w, Mary. As a wd;, Mary m (mcd) 1771 John Miller for which she was dis 1771) & had three more ch by that name (Miller). . . .
Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, pp. 319.
1789, 10, 21. John, s John & Lydia (Watkins) b. 1766, __, __, m i our public mt, Rhoda MOORMAN, dt Micajah & Susanna (Chiles) b. 1769, 8, 15, Campbell Co. Va.
Ch. of John Jr. & Rhoda
Joseph b. 1791, r, 7
Micajah, b 1792, 11, 28
John, b. 1795, 1, 3
Charles b 1797, 1, 14
Polly Moorman, b. 1799, 1, 14
Lewis, b. 1801, 3, 7
James, b. 1804, __, __
Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, pp. 322.
1789, 11, 21m John rmt Rhoda Moorman.
Hinshaw, William Wade, Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, pp. 326
1813, 1, 9, John Jr. dis doing military exercise.
Abbreviations: dis (disowned), mcd (married contrary to discipline)