Journey to the Wilderness

Living first at Oyster Bay on New York's Long Island, the English family of Isaiah Harrison moved to Delaware, where he owned substantial acreage. About 1732, the family moved south, landing by ship at the port of Alexandria. From there they traveled over land and crossed Thornton's Gap into Virginia's Page Valley near present day Luray. Isaiah Harrison's sons Daniel, John, Thomas, Jeremiah, and Samuel settled temporarily with their families on the banks of the Shenandoah River. After exploring the surrounding area, each claimed land near a spring or water source in what would become Rockingham County. Daniel Harrison, born about 1701 at Oyster Bay, chose to settle on Cook's Creek and came to own 1200 acres of land, with flax and hemp as his cash crops. He built his limestone home in 1749 and became a prominent member of this remote wilderness community. He established a mill and distillery, was licensed for an ordinary, served as an undersheriff in then-Augusta County, and was a captain of foot soldiers in the Augusta County militia before the start of the French and Indian War in 1755. Daniel Harrison died in 1770.

Dayton, Virginia · United States