Catherine "Kate" Carpenter

Catherine "Kate" Carpenter
Born ca. 1730s
Died 1784
Residence White Sulphur Springs, Virginia
Nationality American
Known for Namesake for Kate's Mountain

Catherine "Kate" Carpenter, born probably ca. 1730s, died 1784, was a frontier wife and mother for whom Kate's Mountain in Greenbrier County, West Virginia is named.[1][2]

Kate Carpenter was the wife of Nicholas Carpenter,[3] who built a cabin at the site of White Sulphur Springs in about 1750 and was granted 950 acres there in 1755.[4] In 1756 they were enumerated "In ye lower end of Augusta County" VA.[5] In September 1756, Indians raided the settlements on the Virginia frontier in what was at the time in Augusta County, Virginia.[6] Legends vary, but generally agree that Nicholas and Kate had a very young daughter, Frances Carpenter, who was too young to travel fast enough to escape the attackers, so Kate took her up on the highest mountain near their cabin in hopes of finding refuge while Nicholas went for help from the forts on Jacksons River in present-day Allegheny County, Virginia.[7] He reached Dinwiddie's Fort (also called Byrd's Fort and Warwick's Fort), but was killed in its defense. After the danger subsided, Kate made her way to the settlements on Jacksons River and then to Staunton, Virginia where she decided to remain in safer circumstances. Frances grew up there, and in 1766 married soldier and statesman Captain Michael Bowyer II, a friend of Thomas Jefferson. Frances inherited her father's and mother's land at White Sulphur Springs, which later became the site of the Greenbrier Resort.[8] The mountain on which her mother had taken her for refuge became known as Kate's Mountain, as it is still known today.

References

  1. ↑ Jim Comstock: The West Virginia Heritage Encyclopedia, Richwood, W.Va., 1973-1976, Vol. 4, p. 824.
  2. ↑ Robert S. Conte: The History of the Greenbrier, America’s Resort, Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., Charleston, W.Va., 1989, pp. 2-4, including "A New Map of Virginia from the best Authorities", 1761, drawn by Thomas Kitchin, Geographer, on pp. 2-3.
  3. ↑ Nicholas Carpenter is sometimes mistakenly identified as Nathan Carpenter; Nicholas is correct as proved by reference to primary source records.
  4. ↑ Willard Rouse Jillson: The Kentucky Land Grants, The Standard Printing Co., Inc., Louisville, Ky., 1925.
  5. ↑ Lyman Chalkley: Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, originally published by The Commonwealth Printing Co., Rosslyn, Va., 1912, Vol. I, p. 419.
  6. ↑ Joseph A. Waddell: "Indian Wars in Augusta County, Virginia" in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 2, No. 4, April 1895, pp. 397-404.
  7. ↑ Lyman Chalkley: Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, originally published by The Commonwealth Printing Co., Rosslyn, Va., 1912, Vol. II. p. 511.
  8. ↑ Ruth Woods Dayton: Greenbrier Pioneers and Their Homes, West Virginia Publishing Co., Charleston, W.Va., 1942, pp. 111-112.