REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
THE MOUND BUILDERS
A chorus of cordial appreciation greets
the sumptu-
ous volume entitled The Mound
Builders, by Henry
Clyde Shetrone, Director of the Ohio
State Archaeologi-
cal and Historical Society. Promptly on
its appearance
from the press, the following
appreciative review ap-
peared in the Cincinnati Enquirer:
THE MOUND BUILDERS
THE MOUND BUILDERS. By Henry Clyde
Shetrone. D. Apple-
ton & Co., New York.
Ohio should be proud that it is the
accepted cradle of Amer-
ica's greatest primitive people; it
should be proud that an Ohio
man is recognized as the greatest living
authority on that people's
life and customs, and it should find
source of lasting satisfaction
in the fact that this same Ohio man has
given to scientific litera-
ture a book that is certain to take its
place as the standard defini-
tive work on the subject.
"Scientific literature"
perhaps is hardly the most apt de-
scription of Mr. Shetrone's classic
effort, for he has combined
cold science with a happy and warming
medium of popular phrase,
and the result is a book that for layman
and student of arch-
aeology alike, packs honest romance and
really exciting reading.
Even a reader with little or no inherent
love or interest in
Ohio should find it hard to lay the
volume aside, once he has fairly
launched into it.
Mr. Shetrone, who is curator of the Ohio
Archaeological
Society, Columbus, has produced more
than what he set out to
write--"a book that will give me
the important facts regarding
the Mound Builders." It is this
reviewer's opinion that the book
will take its place alongside that one
real classic of early Amer-
ican archaeology, Ancient Monuments
of the Mississippi Valley,
by Squier and Davis, which, although laid on the
world's doorstep
in 1848, still is recognized as the
foundation, or keystone, of all
(845)
846 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications that has since been written on this particular phase of historical America. Certainly, considering its authorship, there is no denying of the fact that the book will receive marked attention among scien- tists who, digging in clay, challenge Mother Earth to divulge her secrets of the misty past. |
|
The Mound Builders, as already inferred, will be of particu- lar interest to Ohioans, for the Buckeye State, the very center of that primitive culture, contains a larger number of mounds than the other states put together. Thanks to the state, and to sponsors of the Ohio Archaeological Society and others who have seen fit to provide money and means for their exploration, these tumuli have been worked to greater degree than elsewhere, and, due largely to Mr. Shetrone's able directorship, have yielded abundant information on the people who were America's "first citizens." Cincinnatians will come into a new appreciation of their |
Reviews, Notes and Comments 847
locality by perusing the book, for the
mounds of Madisonville,
Ault Park and of the Miami Valley in
general are discussed in
detail, as to what they have revealed,
when explored, their signifi-
cance as evidences of the ancient
cultures, etc.
The mounds of Ohio, if it be not known
to the lay reader,
were built by a race that lived
throughout this section, probably
many centuries before the coming of the
Indian, as that designa-
tion is popularly used. In other words,
they roamed the hills and
valleys long before the coming of the
Europeans. They probably
were descendants of Mongols, who
migrated across the Bering
Straits.
Their primitive mode of living, in bark
and skin tepees, per-
haps belied the remarkable development
of their aesthetic and
utilitarian senses, and certain
evidences of their handiwork, as in
the fashioning of pottery, tobacco
pipes, beads, armor and in the
weaving of shawls and other textile
products are hardly surpassed
in quality and workmanship, even today.
Oddly enough, even with such highly
developed skill in pro-
viding the articles of every day use,
the Mound Builders, by their
very act of constructing mounds,
apparently laid greater stress on
some mystical belief in the hereafter.
Their burials of the dead,
many of which have been revealed in
tumuli explorations, have
given evidence that they believed
stoutly in a future after death.
Influenced perhaps by an inherent
reverence and respect for
leaders of their people, they buried,
with the bodies of their tribe
members, beads, shawls, flint arrowheads
and ceremonial pieces,
armor--hand-beaten from native copper or
magnetic iron--and
gaming discs. In many instances, trophy
skulls have been found,
resting alongside perhaps a conqueror in
war's foray.
Small, round stones, exactly like young
America's marbles
of today, have been found, and in one
instance, as they were
brought to light alongside the skeletal
remains of a young boy,
called forth the cogitating remark from
a mound workman, that
"He must have been the champion
marble player of the village"
--an observation that Mr. Shetrone believes may be more
truth
than poetry.
The Ohio field is marked by three
distinct cultures, in the
ascending order of their importance: The
Adena, the Fort Ancient
and the Hopewell. Each is treated fully.
Archaeological fields
in other states also are examined in the
course of Mr. Shetrone's
book, as their importance, or the
knowledge of their contents,
justifies.
The Mound Builders is just the book that has been wanting
in the field of archaeological
literature. Of cut-and-dried, cold
and wearisome formal reports there have
been many, but books
848 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
combining science and
popular fancy have been few. Here is a
companion piece for
books on the subject for all time, and one
that certainly will
find its way into every college and university
of the country, as a
standard reference work.
This work appears in a
beautiful and dignified
volume of 508 pages,
with an excellent index which will
please the librarian
and the general reader. In topog-
raphy, paper and
illustration it is worthy of the message
that it bears. It is lucid in style and comprehensive in
scope. It has its appeal to the scholar and the
general
reader. There is not a dull page in the book. The
prominence that it
gives to the Mound Builder in Ohio
is due to the fact
that this state is peculiarly rich in
prehistoric
remains. Adequate consideration is
given
to every section of
the Union. In recent years many
interesting
archaeological discoveries have been made in
this field. All the
important information that has been
gleaned from it to
date is presented in this volume.
Attractive and
instructive illustrations are found on
almost every page. The
price of the book is $7.50. It
may be had by
addressing the publisher in New York
or the author in
Columbus, Ohio.
A NOTEWORTHY BOOK BY
LANDON C. BELL
Cumberland Parish,
Lunenburg County, Virginia, 1746-
1816. By Landon C. Bell, Ph. B., M. A., LL. B.
The William Byrd
Press, Richmond, Virginia,
1930.
In a recent book
entitled The Great Awakening in
Virginia, 1740-1790, we are
told that "at the opening of
the eighteenth
century, not more than one in twenty were
Reviews, Notes and Comments 849 members of the church, and a smaller proportion in the other southern colonies." By "the church" is evidently meant any church. In Cumberland Parish, Lunenburg County, Virginia, 1746-1816, Mr. Bell presents the ex- tent, influence, and power of the established Church of |
|
England in that colony, which would seem to warrant a different conclusion. The Episcopal Church seems to have been generally organized there and to have reached every county of the colony. We quote from opening paragraphs of Mr. Bell's introduction to his book: In Colonial days and until the Statute of Religious Freedom and the "dis-establishment" of the Episcopal Church in Virginia, Vol. XXXIX--54. |
850 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
the Church was not only a religious
institution, but it was also
in a very real sense a public, official, governmental
agency. The
whole institution was supported from
public revenue. The Church
houses were built, the glebes were
purchased and equipped, and
the parish ministers or rectors were
supported by public taxes.
The repression of all forms of
immorality and vice, the support
and relief of the poor were matters
within the jurisdiction of
the vestries. The establishment and
maintenance of the lines
or boundaries of the lands of the
various owners, through a
proceeding known as
"processioning" were functions of the
Church acting through the vestries or
their appointees. And the
only records of births, marriages and
death officially kept were
parish or church records.
Originally, and for a very long time,
marriage ceremonies
could be validly performed, technically,
only by duly accredited
ministers of the established church; and
the publication of banns
was a legal substitute for a marriage
bond. In other words, a
marriage might be validly celebrated,
under the law, pursuant to a
license obtained upon execution of a
"marriage bond," or pursu-
ant to publication of banns, without a
marriage bond or license.
This latter fact seems to be overlooked
by many learned and skill-
ful genealogists, who evidently are
under the impression that in
the Colonial era every marriage would
be, or at least should be
evidenced by a marriage license bond, as
a necessary prerequisite.
This is an erroneous assumption. There
has been, apparently, such
real confusion of understanding
respecting the subject that a
brief review of it may serve a useful
purpose.
Then follows a review of acts by Great
Britain reg-
ulating the solemnizing of marriages by
the Church of
England from 1631 to the Revolution,
and the act passed
by the Legislature of Virginia in
October, 1780, by
which the ministers of all Christian
denominations were
authorized "to celebrate the
rights (rite) of matri-
mony." The approach to this
tolerant act had been
gradual. At the beginning of the
colonial period au-
thority to celebrate marriages had been
reserved almost
exclusively to the Episcopal Church.
The fees for civil
marriage by "Marriage Bond"
were much higher than
Reviews, Notes and Comments 851
for the celebration of the ceremony by
the "publication
of banns" by the "Established
Church."
The rise of the "Dissenters,"
Presbyterians, Baptists,
Methodists and other minor
denominations, together
with increasing political hostility to
the mother country
finally led to equal recognition of all
Christian denomi-
nations.
It is with the exercise of the special
privileges and
powers of the Established Church
through the period
designated that Mr. Bell writes in his
ample volume of
633 pages. Following the introduction
are chapters de-
voted to (1) "The Parish,"
(2) "The Vestry," (3) "The
Churches" (4) "The
Glebe."
The Cumberland Parish at first included
a large por-
tion of southwestern Virginia. It was
afterward di-
vided into ten counties with each a
separate parish.
Cumberland Parish and Lunenburg County
continue to
occupy a portion of the original
territory with greatly
restricted boundaries. A carefully
executed map re-
veals at a glance the different
divisions and the dates of
their establishment. This is a distinct
aid to the text.
The opening paragraphs of the chapter
on the "The
Vestry" are so illuminating that
we quote two of them
in full:
The Vestries were, in the Colonial
establishment, one of
the two most important local institutions. The other
was the
County Courts. These two bodies were
the great repositories of
power in Colonial Virginia; and the
Vestries were second only
to the County Courts in influence, if
not indeed, in power. Theo-
retically, the Vestries represented the
popular will or sentiment
of the communities as they were chosen
at intervals by a ma-
jority of the qualified voters, while
the County Courts were a
self-perpetuating body, and the members
served for life. And
while these facts suggest that there
would be a very great dif-
852 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ference in their points of view and
wishes, such was not in fact
the case; and if so at all, it was true
in far less degree than
might be assumed, for in the main the
members of both bodies
were drawn from the more prominent,
influential and aristocratic
element of the population.
Bishop Meade contends, not without
considerable reason to
support his position, that the Vestries
were the real depositories
of power in Colonial Virginia. Thus he says:
"They not only
governed the Church by the election of
ministers, the levying of
taxes, the enforcing of laws, but they
made laws in the House
of Burgesses; for the burgesses were the
most intelligent and in-
fluential men of the parish, and were
mostly Vestrymen."
Among the important powers of Vestrymen
were
the "Processioning of Lands,"
fully described in a subse-
quent chapter. By "processioning" as used here, is
meant the determining of the metes and
bounds of prop-
erty in lands. The county courts were
required by law
to "direct the vestry of each
parish within their county
respectively to divide their
parishes" into precincts and
to appoint two or more freeholders to
procession every
person's land in the precinct and make a
report to the
Vestry. The processioning of the lands
three times and
the entering of the required records in
a register of the
Vestry, was declared "sufficient to
settle such bounds, so
as the same may never afterward be
altered."
The chapter closes with a complete list
of the vestry-
men and church wardens of Cumberland
Parish.
"The Churches," and "The
Ministers" of the region
embraced in the work have been the
subject of tireless
investigation by the author. Starting
with perhaps a
single church prior to 1846, the vestry
authorized the
building of four new churches in that
year. The num-
ber steadily increased with the
settlement of the colony
until the coming of the Dissenters and
the advent of the
Reviews, Notes and Comments 853
revolutionary spirit. As far as
possible from the rec-
ords, the lives of the ministers are
traced. "Of some
of these" we are told, "but
little is known; and of none
are all the details that might be
wished available. Pos-
sibly the sketches of Reverend James
Craig and Rev-
erend John Cameron here presented, are
the most exten-
sive accounts of them, and it is hoped,
the most accu-
rate anywhere to be found."
Extended chapters are
given to each of these and their
numerous descendants.
An informing chapter is devoted to
"The Glebe."
The glebe was the estate owned by the
church and made
the home of the minister. It was his to
use while he
served the congregation. The "mansion
house" on the
glebe corresponded closely to the
modern parsonage.
For a long period every parish was
required by law to
provide a glebe for its minister and to
erect and main-
tain thereon a mansion house and other
buildings.
The chapters of "Genealogical
Notes," collected dur-
ing his investigation of the church and
legal records,
the author tells us he might have
omitted entirely, but he
finally concluded to publish them.
Doubtless many a
genealogist will thank him for this. The
list includes
names of prominent early families of
Virginia whose an-
cestors at that period were officially
identified with the
Church of England.
Reverend John Cameron's Register
contains a list
of four hundred and fifty-nine
marriages kept by him
(1784-1793) for Bristol Parish. This is
published in
full.
"The principal purpose of this
volume," the author
tells us "is to present in print
the Vestry Book of Cum-
854 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications berland Parish, Lunenburg County, Virginia." The manuscript of this important record is in the Library of the Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Virginia. A photostat copy is in the State Library at Richmond, Vir- ginia, and another is in the possession of Mr. Bell. It was never before published. In printed form it covers 241 pages. It is practically complete for the seventy years (1746-1816) covered. The volume contains a wealth of genealogical ma- terial of interest to a vast, and increasing number of descendants of the families of colonial southwestern Vir- ginia. It is extensively documented and concludes with an excellent index of sixty-four pages. The author, Mr. Landon C. Bell, is a college grad- uate with the degrees of Ph. B., M. A., and LL. B. He is a native of Lunenberg County, Virginia, is married and has an interesting family. He is an attorney and for the past seventeen years has been a resident of Co- lumbus where he has a wide circle of friends who ad- mire him for his talent, his sincerity and geniality. For the past year he was President of the Kit-Kat Club. His work in two volumes, entitled, The Old Free State, a Contribution to the History of Lunenburg County and Southside Virginia, was reviewed in a previous issue of the QUARTERLY. |
|
REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
THE MOUND BUILDERS
A chorus of cordial appreciation greets
the sumptu-
ous volume entitled The Mound
Builders, by Henry
Clyde Shetrone, Director of the Ohio
State Archaeologi-
cal and Historical Society. Promptly on
its appearance
from the press, the following
appreciative review ap-
peared in the Cincinnati Enquirer:
THE MOUND BUILDERS
THE MOUND BUILDERS. By Henry Clyde
Shetrone. D. Apple-
ton & Co., New York.
Ohio should be proud that it is the
accepted cradle of Amer-
ica's greatest primitive people; it
should be proud that an Ohio
man is recognized as the greatest living
authority on that people's
life and customs, and it should find
source of lasting satisfaction
in the fact that this same Ohio man has
given to scientific litera-
ture a book that is certain to take its
place as the standard defini-
tive work on the subject.
"Scientific literature"
perhaps is hardly the most apt de-
scription of Mr. Shetrone's classic
effort, for he has combined
cold science with a happy and warming
medium of popular phrase,
and the result is a book that for layman
and student of arch-
aeology alike, packs honest romance and
really exciting reading.
Even a reader with little or no inherent
love or interest in
Ohio should find it hard to lay the
volume aside, once he has fairly
launched into it.
Mr. Shetrone, who is curator of the Ohio
Archaeological
Society, Columbus, has produced more
than what he set out to
write--"a book that will give me
the important facts regarding
the Mound Builders." It is this
reviewer's opinion that the book
will take its place alongside that one
real classic of early Amer-
ican archaeology, Ancient Monuments
of the Mississippi Valley,
by Squier and Davis, which, although laid on the
world's doorstep
in 1848, still is recognized as the
foundation, or keystone, of all
(845)