of Staunton, but we do not vouch for the truth of the statement. There is a small town of the same name near Kendal, Westmorland county, England.
The inscription by the surveyor alludes to an act of assembly establishing the town. No such act is found in Hening, but it appears from a proclamation issued by Governor Dinwiddle, April 8, 1752, that "An act for establishing a town in Augusta county, and allowing fairs to be kept there," was passed by the assembly in 1748. It was, however, for some unexplained reason, "disallowed" by King George II, and pronounced by the Governor "utterly void and of none effect." Thus the aspirations of Staunton were repressed, and the rising town had to wait for thirteen years for a new king liberal enough to grant her a charter.
Governor Dinwiddle, a native of Scotland, trained to business in a West India custom-house, and recommended for promotion by his detection and exposure of some gigantic frauds practiced by his official superiors there, arrived in Virginia early in 1752, and immediately gave offence by declaring the king's dissent to various acts which his predecessor had approved. The Assembly remonstrated against this exercise of the royal prerogative, but in vain.
The biographers of the celebrated Daniel Boone state that he came from Pennsylvania on an excursion to Augusta, about 1748-'9, with his cousin, Henry Miller. The latter returned to the county, and built on Mossy Creek the first iron furnace in the Valley.
From the proceedings of the vestry, August 22, 1748, it appears that John Lewis had contracted to erect the public buildings of the parish for £148, and it was ordered that he be paid £74 on "raising the said buildings, and the remainder on their completion." From a bond executed by Colonel Lewis, with Robert McClanahan as security, at the date just mentioned, but not recorded till November 28, 1753, it appears that one of the buildings was a dwelling house for the parish minister. According to tradition, this was the old frame house which lately stood on the southwest corner of Augusta street and Irish Alley.
We continue the extracts from the records of the court:
May 19, 1749.—"Ordered that James Montgomery and
