Boschong Subscribers, Back in January 2005 and then again in May 2012 I posted about Elizabeth Bushon. I have made some progress and here are a few clues that possibly will help with her identity. I'm sorry if this seems disjointed but I wanted to get all the information posted that I had found. -------------------- In my January 2005 post was the following: CHRONICLES OF THE SCOTCH IRISH SETTLEMENT IN VIRGINIA COURT RECORDS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIRGINIA 1745-1800 By Lynn Chalkley, 1912, in 3 volumes: Volume I, page 51, taken from the Augusta County Court Order Book "21 May 1752: Elizabeth Bushon, an orphan, bound to Ro. McClenachan" -------------------------- At some point long ago, while researching the Pennsylvania Bushongs, I remember reading something in the History of Berks County about Jacob Bushong being the Head of the Berks County Bushong family and that he was a member or supporter of the Ephrata Cloister. Also in this Cloister was William Dischong and Dietrich Dischong and wife Hannah with a daughter named Hannah. The lived in Earl Township in Lancaster County, PA. There are entries in a book kept at the Cloister so that is where I found these names along with some other familiar names. I believe that the Elizabeth Bushon that I have posted about before is somehow connected to this Cloister after reading a history of southern part of Virginia which was at that time Augusta County but became Pulaski, Montgomery, Wythe, Botetourt, Fincastle (dissolved) and others. Here is a little background to digest and my reasoning on this premise. --------------------------- EPHRATA CLOISTER This was a religious group who had been persecuted in Europe. The founder of this group was Conrad Beissell who was born in 1691 and immigrated into Boston harbor in 1720 and then made his way to William Penn's colony. He broke from the Brethren church in 1728, came back and then broke away again in 1732 when he started his religious group. In 1732, Beissel desired to create a retreat founded on his personal beliefs of Saturday as the Sabbath and celibacy for members, along with a strict religious discipline. A small community of followers joined him at Ephrata. Approximately eighty of the group were known as the “Brothers” and “Sisters” and practiced the rigid rules of the cloister. An additional support group, called the “Householders” were families who farmed or worked at the retreat and joined the group for worship. The last surviving member of this religious order died by 1813 but I recently read that the last surviving descendant of the membership of this Cloister, a woman, died in Pennsylvania this year at a very old age. The modern day 21st century remnants of this group are Amish, Mennonite, Morovians and Brethren. So someone from the Bushong family went down to Virginia and died there circa 1752 leaving a young daughter named Elizabeth Bushon. ---------------------------- This young girl Elizabeth and her family would have had to be in Virginia by very early 1750s with a group from Pennsylvania for this court record to take place. I wasn't sure where they lived since it wasn't that clear in the Court Record but while reading some history of New River which encompasses the area of Montgomery, Pulaski, Botetourt, Wythe, etc counties, I found some history about the Indian Wars of the 1760s and believe that her family must have been killed by Indians which spurred the Indian Wars of the 1760s down in the southern part of Virginia. Since Elizabeth Bushon was an orphan by 1752 as shown in the Augusta County court records, I believe her family might have been part of the Dunkards from Pennsylvania that went down to Virginia. This group included Brethren, Mennonites and Quakers. If you get a map of Virginia and locate Claytor Lake which is in present day Pulaski County you will see Highway 11. My late husband and I traveled this highway many times when he wanted a break from the Interstate. Highway 11 was the Wilderness Road and now parallels Interstate 81 down through the State of Virginia. The route 11 of the old, through the years, has been improved and changed. From Claytor Lake the highway runs to Dublin. At one time there was a turn in the road that lead over to Dunkard's Bottom. Dunkard's Bottom was an early Dunkard settlement mentioned in the early Augusta County Court records. These Dunkards came down from Pennsylvania in the 1740s and settled. The area was wild and overrun with Indians. During the 1760s an Indian War was fought and Dunkard's Bottom was the military outpost for the military. The river was dammed and now the area in Lake Claytor. New River Dunkard settlement was made in Virginia on the New River. the location is a few dozen miles from Christiansburg--Pulaski area in south west Va. The actual settlement is now buried under Claytor Lake, a state Park. The settlement was small, including a dozen or so people from the Ephrata Cloisters in Lancaster Co., Pa. The Cloister was a religious sect which broke away from the German Baptist Brethren group founded by Alexander Mack in Germany in 1708. The monastic community proselyted many Brethren and people from other religious groups. They tried to create new branches in Virginia, at what is now Strasburg in Shenandoah Co., Va. and at New River, and also at Dunkard Bottom near Kingwood in present Preston Co. Va. between the years 1745 and 1755. The Indians wiped out or scared away the New River settlement and the Preston County settlements. Alexander Mack, Jr. was one of the monastics at New River, ;but he soon returned to Pa. There were several Millers, as well as others. -------------------------------- To read more about this area where early Bushongs lived I suggest reading the following books: THE SAINT ADVENTURES OF THE VIRGINIA FRONTIER By Klaus Wust AND NEW RIVER EARLY SETTLEMENT By Patricia Givens Johnson -------------------- Researched and Submitted by Gloria Neiger Bushong