however, people surreptitiously began to ooze back into Western Virginia.  Under the circumstances it is not surprising that they left few records of their passages.  When surveys began to be recorded in Abingdon, county seat of Washington Co., in 1781 references were made to persons already occupying land in the Saltville area.  Among these names are those of the Crabtree family, the Lee brothers, Alexander Outlaw, the McHenry brothers Thomas and Henry, and Basile Talbert (numerous spellings of both names).  As the names of these poorly documented settlers were to appear in the great lawsuits involving the land in Saltville, it is appropriate to record what is known about them.

             Jacob Crabtree was from Bedford.  He served as a salesman for the Patton and Loyal companies, and was especially active across Clinch Mountain from Saltville.  He married Mary Price of Elk Garden.  His surveys there are notorious for having been very poorly surveyed.  In 1775 he was among the 30 axmen Daniel Boone used to blaze the Wilderness Trail.  He was a militia spy against the Indians, and took part in the King’s Mountain expedition.

           James Crabtree was an older brother of Jacob, and lived on LO P-721 across the river from Watson Gap, a couple of miles up stream from Saltville. 

James Crabtree’s

Land just west

of Charles Campbell’s
Broadford tract

          William Crabtree, relationship to Jacob and to James is unknown, married Mary Lee.  Her relationship to Peter and Evan Lee is unknown.  These two Lees were brothers of Richard Henry Lee, who was a member of the House of Burgesses, and the First Continental Congress, where he moved for the adoption of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.  They were distant kin of Robert E. Lee. 

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