This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4BC.2ACI/2172.1 Message Board Post: I believe you are referring to the Pettigrew faamily murdered on House Mountain. The following is a brief summary of their story which was emailed me by Angela Ruley several years ago. To: [email protected] Date: Thursday, November 13, 1997 3:06 PM Subject: Re: 1846 Snow on House Mountain The House Mountain Tragedy [Rockbridge County News, 20 April 1899, p. 3.] In the winter of 1846 we had a snow storm equal in severity to the stormy weather of last February. The snow fell to the depth of fifteen or eighteen inches and was accompanied by high winds. The thermometer fell to 10 below zero, making a storm period memorable in the history of the county. On the night of December 16th of that year the Petigrew family, living between the two House mountains, perished, making a tragedy still fresh in the memory of the older inhabitants of the county. Mrs. Petigrew and her six children lived in this rather secluded place, her husband, John Petigrew, being in the employ of Mr. Wm. Alphin, who lived about two miles from their home. John Petigrew was a plain, unassuming man and respected by all who knew him for his integrity of character. He was in the habit of visiting his family from time to time, arranging for their comfort and support. On Sunday he went home and to his great surprise and distress he found the home burned and his family lying around in the yard dead. Mrs. Petigrew was found in a sitting posture with some clothes thrown around her, her little boy lying across her lap in his night clothes. Two of the girls lay on the ground facing each other, half clothed, a third was sitting on a log and leaning against a stump, while the other two lay on the ground in their night clothes. Their bodies were covered with soot and ashes and frozen to the ground. An inquest was held at the home of Wm. Wilson by Coroner Samuel R. Moore and Dr.s Wilkinson and W. P. Rogers as medical experts, who gave it as their opinion that Mrs. Petigrew had come to her death from violence, there being some wounds on the head and throat. No marks of violence were found on the other members of the family. It was the opinion of many that the Petigrew family had been murdered and suspicion at once pointed to James nderson as the guilty party, who lived about a quarter a mile from their home. Anderson was a man of very bad character and had a reputation of being a great thief. He was once caught in a bear trap stealing corn from one of the Sniders living in the baths neighborhood, and on another occasion whipped at the whipping post for a similar offence. The night of the tragedy Anderson and a man from Augusta county went to Billy Brian’s, who lived in the Hackings neighborhood, and from there went to Augusta, Anderson not returning to his home for a week or ten days afterwards. He soon moved with his family to Botetourt county, and in the spring of 1851, five years afterwards, Sampson F. Moore, a brother of Mrs Petigrew, received a letter from a man by the name of Wilson, stating that he had information that Anderson had murdered the Petigrew family. Moore went at once to Botetourt and had Anderson and his wife arrested and brought to Lexington. A man by the name of Taylor had for some time been a frequent visitor in the Anderson family and had been confidentially told why they had left Rockbridge. In the meantime, Taylor and Anderson had a falling out, the former telling Wilson that the latter had murdered the Petigrew family. This circumstance led to Anderson and his wife’s arrest. For some cause Taylor and Wilson’s evidence could not be fully brought out in court. In all probability this was the turning point in the trial that cheated the hangman out of a job. On the 16th day of April a jury was empanneled composed of John A. Templeton, Tillman Hardy, Samuel M. Wilson, Samuel Wilson, Mathew H. Fry, Joseph W. Moore, Henry F.Lambert, James A. Miller, James East, Richard Parsons, and Wm. R. Moore. The prisoners were defended by Robt. L. Doyle, E. F. Paxton, and Samuel H. Letcher, the two latter making their maiden speeches at the bar. Mr. Doyle made one of his best efforts in behalf of his clients. The jury found James Anderson guilty of murder in the first degree but that Mary Anderson was not guilty of murder. Lucas P. Thompson, who was judge of the circuit court at that time, set the verdict aside, released Mary Anderson and ordered that James Anderson be tried in the circuit court of Bath county, where he was acquitted. Billy Brian, who would have been a very important witness in this case, could never be brought into court. A. J. H. ========= Subj: Re: 1846 Snow on House Mountain Date: 97-11-16 00:27:27 EST From: [email protected] (Jeremiah Ruley) Reply-to: [email protected] To: [email protected] I met a descendant of Mr. Anderson's at the Courthouse one day trying to find information regarding the trial. She was a very nice lady. I directed her to Bath County as that is where the trial took place. She too was seeking the truth of the situation, one way or the other. Angela ======================= From Morton's A History of Rockbridge County, Virginia, p 110 "The most distressing tragendy in the history of Rockbridge took place in the earlier half of the night of December 16-17, 1846. John Petticrew [sic], a native of Campbell county, fell into straitened circumstances, and in 1843 moved into a log house in the southward-facing cove between the two House mountains. The wife of Petticrew had been Mary A. Moore, of Kerr's Creek. The oldest of the six children was sixteen, the youngest was six, and all were healthy and strong. The evening of December 16th was snowy, and by midnight there was a high wind. Next morning the snow was much drifted, and for several days the weather was very cold. The fourth day was Sunday, and in the morning Mr. Petticrew came home according to his custom from his work at the distillery of William Alphin. To his horror he found his house burned to the ground. Lying near by were the frozen and partially clad bodies of the wife and all the children except the oldest, a daughter who was with her sick grandmother on Kerr's Creek. Strong men wept when they saw the corpses laid out for burial. Foul play was suspected on the part of James Anderson and his wife Mary, who lived a half-mile away. The Andersons did not bear a good name. The husband was not one of the crowd that gaqthered on the Sunday that Petticrew made his grewsome[sic] discovery, nor was he present at the burial. Pettigrew had had some trouble with the neighbor because of Anderson's cows breaking into his field. He was knocked down by Anderson, who tried to choke him. Armed with a search-warrant, a brother to Mrs. Petticrew visited the Anderson house and found therein a coverlet and some other articles that had belonged to her. The silverware of the Pettigrews was not found. Anderson was tried in Bath, but was acquitted on the ground of insufficient evidence. He went to Craig and never again lived in Rockbridge. It remained the common opinion that Anderson was really guilty, and there is a story that in a fit of remorse he made a deathbed confession. And yet as examination of the corpses was inconclusive as to whether death came from violence or from the intense cold following a fire either accidental or intentional. Within two years Pettigrew died of a broken heart. The daughter who was away from home subsequently married James G. Reynolds and had two children. The victims of the tragedy were buried at Oxford. The stone over the grave was shattered by lightning and was replaced with a monument paid for by friends of the family."