Thomas B. Hash Mill on Big Fox Creek - by Larry Hash By Larry Hash Thomas B. Hash Mill On Big Fox Creek One of the corner stones of the development of the early frontier settlements was the water powered mills located on the streams of Grayson County, Virginia. In the days of a society based on the strength and durability of horses, a cheap source of power was exploited by hardy settlers who chose a homestead site by the availability of running water. Fresh water was a priority but a fast running stream was an economic boon to a rapidly expanding settlement. At first, settlers were not able to pick a site and develop that area to its full value. The Indians were a constant threat to their very lives. More common and more deadly was disease that killed the weak and elderly. Some disease didn’t care about age or fitness. Early settlers died from simple things such as measles, smallpox, infections, childbirth, and many other illnesses that are controlled today by medicines we take for granted. The lives of our forefathers were a constant struggle just to stay alive and be able to raise a family. Little time was available to develop trades beyond the basic skills needed to survive. However, as the volatility of the area calmed, the industrious families started looking for an easier way to live and provide the shelter and basic needs for their families and neighbors. By the first part of the 1800’s, some trades evolved towards community support. Locals found that they had some time to spend on building a trade that would not only fill their own needs but those needs of neighbors. As these trades started expanding in Grayson County, areas began being known by those trades. An example was the streams of the area. Although most were named early on, some creeks and streams were simple designated by the type of trade it supported. Many creeks and streams were mill streams or had mill dams and locals called them by what they represented. One such stream was Fox Creek. Most old local maps called this stream Big Fox Creek, Middle Fox Creek and Little Fox Creek. This stream runs north to south on the north side of New River. Its mouth is located between Bridle Creek to the east and Wilson Creek to the west. This stream carried a large volume of water into the New River. As the stream continues north, the volume dwindles as the stream narrows and branches out into smaller feeders. In the area just north of New River, the Fox Creek is a vigorous and fast running example of Mother Nature’s power. The Fox Creek flowed so hardy that few could ford the creek near the New River. Halsey Ford was later located on the Fox Creek near its mouth. When settlements began in the Appalachian Mountain regions, native timber was the only source of materials for homes, farm buildings, and many other needs. Axes were the basic tools used to transform a tree trunk into a timber used in a log home or structure. Many such structures were built by the sweat of a man’s bough and the strength of his back. In addition to wood, some crops required extra labor to make them as useable as they could be. Corn and grains were very common crops raised by these struggling families. These grains required grinding and much effort was used to perform this task. Early efforts to find an easier way to do these chores was in the form of water powered mills. First came the grist mills that ground flour into food items for the settlers and for their livestock. Many farmers near a good running stream attempted to harness the flow of water in these streams by damming the stream and, with the use of water wheels, they could use the power of the running water to turn machinery that was geared to other various types of machinery. Thomas B. Hash was one of these hardy millers who developed a trade on the Fox Creek. A grist mill was established about 2 miles upstream from New River and was known as the Hash Mill. Probably built around the time of the Civil War, this mill was a grist mill and served the locals well. The Hash family was well established in the area as “Old” John Hash had been one of the original settlers on the New River in Fincastle County. Virginia was going through many changes and this territory was originally Fincastle County. In 1793, Fincastle County was abolished and this area on the river became Montgomery County. Fincastle County was a large territory and its county seat was in Newbern, Va. Many of the papers that have been saved from that early period have come from the old files stored continuously in the courthouse in Newbern. When Grayson County was established, the seat was to become Independence, Va. Beginning in 1793, the records would be stored in the courthouse vaults of the courthouse. Grayson County has an area of 500 square miles. “Old” John Hash came into the New River area around 1765. Prior to that time, the area was very hostile to settlers – the local Indians were trying to protect their hunting grounds and had run several earlier individuals from the river area before they could establish permanent settlements. Andrew Baker had claimed land on the New River around 1754 but had been forced out by Indians. He later returned around 1765 with families of Hash, Cox, and Osborne to resettle lands abandoned earlier. The Hash, Cox, and Osborne families were from the area of Upper Dublin and Whitemarsh, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Land and tax records show these families in this area and later records indicate these families intermarrying to form a diversified settlement in the new frontier of the New River. Records indicate that as these families migrated down the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, “Old” John Hash’s first born son, John—by his first wife- stopped off in Shenandoah County and settled there. 1785 tax records list a John Hash in Shenandoah County. “Old” John’s family that settled on the New River included his wife 2nd Elizabeth Sturgill and several children by his 1st wife. Records show that a John, James, and William Hash were in the area. “Old” John and James probably were brothers and William probably was “old” John’s son. “Old” John and Elizabeth Hash settled on the mouth of Bridle Creek on New River. This family lived on these lands several years before the land was granted in December of 1773. His 250 acre land grant included land on both sides of Bridle Creek and bordered the New River. These land grants were for military service and records show local groups of militia and their members including members of the Hash family. Soon descendents of this “Old” John Hash settled most of the land north of New River including several miles of lands up Bridle Creek. Within two generations those lands included most of the lands from New River up the Fox Creek. “Old” John’s son, William Hash, was granted 430 acres up the Bridle Creek near Buck Mountain. William and his wife, Eleanor Osborne, bore at least 6 children in the area. One son, John Hash II, was raised on Bridle Creek and married another Rebecca Anderson around 1793. This John Hash II and Rebecca bore at least 10 children, one of which was a son – Allen C. Hash. He was born September 13, 1803 near Flatridge, VA. This Allen C. Hash married Elizabeth Rutherford on June 1, 1826. Elizabeth was born August 16, 1807 in Grayson County. Her parents were Thomas and Elizabeth Rutherford. Elizabeth and Allen Hash had 10 children- five sons and five daughters. Allen Hash owned at least one slave. One of Allen Hash’s first land acquisitions was 60 acres of land transferred to Allen in 1833. Allen’s father, John Hash, sold to Allen this tract of 60 acres on March 15, 1833 for a sum of $ 250.00. This 60 acre tract was purchased by John Hash from David Cornett who had purchased the same tract from William Sparks. William Sparks had purchased this tract from James Cordell in 1796. This original 60 acre tract remained intact from its first grant to James Cordell to Allen Hash in 1833. This tract transferred to Allen Hash in 1833 contained the old log home place that remains today as the home of Paul Trachy. It is widely assumed that this log structure was the home of Allen Hash, Sr. and his wife Elizabeth. The last of their children were probably born in this house -- Thomas, Elizabeth, Rebecca, and Allen, Jr. Allen Hash, Sr. became a large land owner in the Fox Creek area and at the time of his death in 1869, he owned most of the land from the mouth of Fox Creek to above the old T.B. Hash Mill and east encompassing the Fox Cemetery and most of the land north of Rt. 58 for about 1 mile east of the mouth of the Fox Creek. Records show at least nearly 500 acres of adjoining lands. However, he did not own the land at the mouth of the Fox Creek. Family members have told that Allen, Sr. was mostly a farmer and that he had lived in the log home most of his later years and that he had died there. Allen was buried directly above his home on a knoll that overlooks a large portion of the Fox Creek valley. The first grave on this knoll was Allen Hash, Sr. He died February 21, 1869. He was 65 y, 5 m, and 8 d old. Polly Ann Rutherford Hash died November 8, 1869. She was 62 y, 2 m, and 22 d old. In the following year, two more graves were added to this small knoll. Lee Melvin Hash, b. March 18, 1865, d. August 27, 1867 and Allen Marion Hash, b. December 13, 1855, d. September 1, 1867. These two small boys were sons of John C. Hash and grandsons of Allen Hash, Sr. This small Hash Cemetery located above the old log home of Paul Trachy is a clean knoll today. There is not any evidence of there ever being a cemetery on this site. The only positive marker is the daffodils that bloom in the spring at the head stones of Allen and his family. After this land was sold out of control of descendents of Allen Hash, Sr., the fences and gate to the cemetery were allowed to crumble into the ground. Although not abandoned completely, the site was left unattended over the years. Around 1990, two of Allen’s family elected to move the headstones from their original posts to be relocated in the nearby Fox Cemetery. Virginia McMillan Porter and her cousin Kelly Hash moved the headstones from the knoll to the Fox Cemetery. Virginia and Kelly placed three of the stones adjacent to the headstone of Lewis Bryant Hash. Virginia is a daughter of Manley E. and Rosa Eudora Hash McMillan, Dora is a daughter of Lewis Bryant Hash, and Lewis is a son of Allen Hash, Sr. Virginia is a wife of Dr. Walter Porter of Galax, VA. Both Virginia and her husband are buried in the Felts Cemetery in Galax. Manley and Dora McMillan, the parents of Virginia Porter, owned the tract of land containing the house and cemetery from 1915 to 1921. Kelly Gleason Hash is a son of Charlie Gleason Hash. Charlie is a son of Alexander Norman Hash who is a son of Lewis Bryant Hash who is a son of Allen Hash, Sr. Kelly Hash is still living and told the story of the headstones. According to Kelly, Virginia (Kelly’s 1st cousin once removed) wanted to move the stones to her grandfather’s burial site in the Fox Cemetery. She was unhappy about the condition of the old cemetery site and did not have any hopes of the site being improved and maintained. She enlisted the help of Kelly and together they moved the stones to the Fox Cemetery in the back of Kelly’s pickup. Kelly does not remember about the headstone of Polly Hash. He cannot recall if there was a stone or not. There has been no luck in locating this stone if it existed. Both Virginia and Kelly wanted the stones protected from the cattle that were trampling the old grave site. The bodies have never been moved or tampered with. Following the death of Allen Hash, Sr. in 1869, his land holding were divided among his children. 115 acres of land east of the Fox Creek were sold to Lewis Bryant Hash for a total of $800.00 on December 30, 1869. On December 30, 1872, 265 acres of lands acquired by his father, Allen, were sold to Lewis Bryant Hash. These lands were west of the Fox Creek and included Allen Hash’s home place and cemetery. Lewis Bryant Hash was born to Allen and Polly Hash on July 27, 1828. Lewis married Mary Halsey on July 12, 1859 in Ashe Co., NC. Mary was a d/o William Halsey and Juda Peak. She was born July 13, 1831. Lewis and Mary Hash had 11 children, seven sons and four daughters. Following his fathers death in 1869, Lewis and Mary took the old log home place as their home. Lewis was a large land owner and he farmed and did some trading. Lewis died on March 11, 1915. Mary died May 15, 1912. Both were buried in the Fox Cemetery on lands owned by Lewis. Alexander Norman Hash was the fourth son born to Lewis and Mary on January 1, 1859. He married Susannah Caroline Kirk on December 28, 1879. She was a d/o Jones and Susannah Kirk and was born September 10, 1863. Alex and Susannah bore 10 children, five girls and five boys. Alex died on March 15, 1830 and Susannah died February 9, 1956. Both are buried in the Fox Cemetery. Charlie Gleason Hash was born the fourth child of Alex and Susannah Hash on November 20, 1888. He married Christie Halsey, a d/o John and Maggie Hash Halsey, on February 25, 1913. Christie was born December 25, 1892. Charlie and Christie were third cousins descending from William Halsey and Rachael Cobb, their common ancestor. The Hash and Halsey family are intermarried several times in this family tree. Charlie and Christie Hash had 10 children, 7 daughters and 3 sons. Ruth Montana Hash and Kelly Gleason Hash are two of these children and both have supplied valuable information to this author. Charlie Hash died May 4, 1970 and Christie Hash died October 8, 1980. Both are buried in the Fox Cemetery. Following the death of Lewis Bryant Hash in 1915, the executor of his will (Ira Cebert Hash) sold 204.5 acres including the old home place and cemetery to Manley E. McMillan and his wife Dora. The price was $9,611.50. The McMillans sold 84 acres of the original 204.5 acre tract to Charlie Gleason Hash and his wife Christie in 1921.Charlie and Christie Hash moved their family to the old Allen Hash home place and stayed there raising their 10 children on the Fox Creek. Charlie Hash sold 20.16 acres of his holdings to John Halsey on Oct 15, 1924. In the early 1960’s, APCO tried to locate a hydro-electric dam on the New River to enable more power to be generated for the area. By 1966 they had bought up much of the several thousand acres of river bottom for this project. However, locals and others fought with so much vigor that APCO dropped the idea in the mid 1980’s. They started selling off the land soon thereafter. During this period, Charlie Hash had been forced to sell his remaining 65.46 acres to the APCO holding company- Franklin Real Estate. Charlie and Christie signed over the deed to their home on March 28, 1966. Franklin Real Estate held the lands acquired for APCO for several years as APCO attempted to get permits for their project. After the dam was stopped, APCO allowed Franklin Real Estate to sell off the land to the original owners if possible. Much of the land holdings went to Charles Cassell. He was a prominent land holder in the area and stood to make a tidy profit from the resale of the lands. Franklin Real Estate sold 64.71 acres of the original Allen Hash lands to Charles Cassell on January 2, 1981. He immediately resold this tract to Paul Trachy and his wife Catherine on January 29, 1981. Paul and Catherine own the track today and operate a mail order leather business from there. Paul had a low water bridge built to cross the Fox Creek. It replaced the old swinging bridge that was located 100’ below the new bridge. Today, the Trachy family lives in the old log house that has stood for about 170 years. Comparing the log structure to other similar structures in the area, this author places the date of construction about the time that Allen Hash bought the lands from his father in 1833. Allen possible used slave labor to build the home from timbers cut from the immediate area. Following the death of Allen Hash, Sr. in 1869, his heirs sold 115 acres of land on the Fox Creek to Thomas B. Hash, the 7th child of Allen and Elizabeth Hash. T.B. (Thomas) Hash was born July 19, 1836 in his father’s home just north of the old mill site. On March 28, 1870 T.B. Hash purchased 115 acres of land on the Big Fox Creek from his siblings. This tract of land lies just below the Paul Trachy holding and contains the T.B. Hash Mill site. Thomas was still a single man and wanted to make his mark in the area. Thomas set about building a dam on the Fox Creek to provide a constant source of water to operate a grist mill. More than likely the mill was established during the Civil War era. Kelly Hash remembers as a youngster playing around the dam constructed of logs and stone. The mill pond was a sizeable pool of water that was at times a fast flowing body of water. The T.B. Hash Mill was operated for several years as a grist mill. The local farmers would bring in small quantities of grains to have ground for the preparation of meals and into chop for livestock. The miller would keep a portion of the grain for his services and sell meals and chop to other patrons who did not have grains to grind. After the mill was well established, T.B. Hash added a sash mill to the grist mill and operated a multi-purpose mill on the Fox Creek. Heavy machinery was purchased to cut and form lumber being used in homes and buildings. All of these machines were powered by the water-powered wheel thru the use of belts and pulleys that varied in size to change speed and the power delivered to that particular machine running. T.B. Hash and his wife Malinda Brewer reared 4 children, 3 sons and 1 daughter. All three of these sons would become millers for the entirety of their lives. The eldest son, Mack Ellis Hash (Ellis) was listed as the owner and operator of a mill on Potato Creek. This mill offered millwright work and grist mill work. The second son, Eck Louisville Hash (Eck), helped his father in the T.B. Hash Mill and later helped his younger brother run the mill following the father’s death in 1915. The youngest son, Thomas E. Hash (Tommy), also helped run the mill with his father and older brother. The only sister, Callie Virginia Hash, was killed in the mill when her father started up the mill and she was crushed in the pulleys of the mill. She was just over 5 years old when she died on July 13, 1883. The accident was so traumatic to her father that he never ran the millwright again. Thomas and Malinda Hash lived in a large wooden house just below the mill. This house is gone but it was located directly across from the high knoll that T.B. selected to bury his darling Callie. As his sons grew older they set up housekeeping near the mill and lived there most of their lives. Thomas E. Hash built himself and his wife Anna Maria Mink a small house just across the Fox Creek directly below the cemetery where his parents and sister are buried. Following Thomas E. Hash’s death, his wife left a fire burning too hot in a sunroom and burnt the house to the ground. It was later rebuilt and her descendents now live there. The out-houses are original. Eck Hash built his family the small house still standing directly below the mill. Eck and his wife Mary Beatrice McKinney had one son, Fred Burlin Hash. Fred Hash was born June 24, 1916 and still lives in Independence, VA with his wife Mae West. Eck Hash moved his family to Maryland following the 1940 flood and he died there in 1956. Ellis Hash and his wife Rosa Martin operated a mill on Potato Creek. I do not have much info about this son. Following the death of their father, T. B. Hash, Eck and Tommy ran the Hash mill until high waters washed the log mill dam out in 1940. Tommy worked at the Cox Mill on Saddle Creek until his death in 1945 at the age of 59. Both Tommy and his wife are buried in the Fox Cemetery. Members of the T.B. Hash family established and operated the mill on Fox Creek for nearly 70 years and were well know to the local population. This mill offered a reasonable alternative to hand grinding of grains and hard sawing of millwork items. Today this old mill is still very visible to those interested in seeing a part of the past. Although the wood portions of the mill and dam have long since rotted away, the stones and heavy machinery are still in place. The old roadway leading to the mill and on up the creek is still there and further up the creek the old cables and anchors to the swinging bridge still exist.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 17:26:06 +0000
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