1. Coming of Age on the Virginia Frontier
Four Young Men:
Andrew Lewis, William Preston,
William Ingles, and John Draper

2. Sources
• The Chalkley Chronicles… transcription of the Augusta
County Court Records
• Biographies by Patricia Givens Johnson, incl. William
Preston, James Patton, & Andrew Lewis
• Historical Novels by James Alexander Thom, incl. Follow
the River (Mary Ingles) and Panther in the Sky
(Tecumseh)

3. The Story Begins…in 1746
…When Andrew Lewis was 26, William Preston and William Ingles
were 17, and John Draper was 16…
• John Preston proved the importation (from Ireland into this
country) of Eliz, his wife; Lettice, Margaret and Ann, his
daughters; and William, his son. John Preston applied for a
license to operate an ordinary.
• Road ordered from the Ridge above Tobias Bright’s that parts
waters of New River from the branches of Roan Oak to the
lower ford of Catabo Creek. Tobias Bright, overseer.
William English and two sons, Thomas English and son,
Jacob Brown…

4. Ingles Mill…on a branch of the Roan Oak
• Two or three brothers (William, Thomas and John Ingles) had come into the
region, along with several sons (incl. Wm. Ingles, Jr.), but none of the older
generation stayed on the frontier once the Indian troubles began.
• In 1750, William Ingles (probably the middle-aged uncle) was one of the few
settlers who did not suffer damage in the “freshet” – a flood that was nearly
one mile wide on the Roan Oak. (His mill was located on Cedar Run, a branch
of the North Fork of the Roanoke, near Blacksburg)
• George Draper went hunting in 1748 and disappeared. His widow, Eleanor
Hardin Draper, was made administrator of the estate, in the “non-age” of her
son, John. About that time, George Draper’s claim to choice bottom lands
became widely acknowledged. Some say that Patton chose to name the site
after Draper as a memorial (Draper’s Meadows)
• Wedding bells….In 1750 Mary Draper married William Ingles, and a few years
later John Draper married Bettie Robinson

5. Attack at Drapers Meadows – July 31, 1755

6. What happened to our four young men?
August – December, 1755
• William Preston lost his powerful uncle (James Patton). He took on
added responsibilities as a ranger, and soon began thinking about
running for political office
• Andrew Lewis took on added responsibilities in Virginia’s military
defenses
• William Ingles, who had lost his mother-in-law and nephew (killed
in attack) and whose wife and two sons as well as his sister-in-law
were taken into captivity…was thrown into a terrible state of grief
and anxiety, with scant hope of rescuing his family
• John Draper lost his mother & his infant son (probably had to bury
them that same day), and lost his wife, too, as she was carried off
by the Shawnee (with a badly wounded arm.)

7. Four Months in 1755…
• Mary, Bettie, Tommy and George were taken to a large
Shawnee village on the Ohio River, where Mary became
separated from all her kin (with the possible exception of her
infant daughter – born on the trail.) Mary escaped with a
Dutch (German) woman, walked hundreds of miles, and
arrived at Gunpowder Springs (present day Giles County) in
late November, 1755.
• Unaware that Mary had escaped and was taking her destiny
into her own hands, William was determined to do something
to rescue his family, and went to Williamsburg (fall of 1755)
to talk to Dinwiddie. Ingles and Draper, along with two
others, went as a delegation to the Cherokee (in Tennessee).

8. Sandy Creek Expedition
Mistakes Made; Valuable Lessons Learned
After a tearful reunion with his wife, Ingles left
her with friends and neighbors at Fort Frederick
(Dunkards Bottom) to recuperate, and returned
to Williamsburg to try and convince the
governor to authorize an expedition (a
preemptive strike) against the Shawnee villages,
with the help of 130-150 Cherokee warriors.
The Sandy Creek Expedition was a dismal failure,
but it provided a valuable opportunity for
Andrew Lewis and William Preston to declare a
truce from their family feuds. In fact, everyone
learned skills that would be useful in the coming
decades of frontier fighting.

9. June 1756 – Fort Vause
• William Ingles took his wife (perhaps along with other women
and children) to a fort near Bedford (Montvale)
• French and Indian army attacked the fort, killing John Ingles
(probably younger brother of William Ingles) & John Robinson
(brother of Bettie Draper); wounding several others; &
capturing Mrs. John Ingles (another Mary Ingles!)
• Andrew Lewis went to Chota (Tennessee) to build a fort for
the Cherokee
• William Preston had just disbanded his company of rangers
when he got word of the attack. He did not get there in time
to help…

10. Significant Dates and Events
• 1758 – War against the Cherokee
began
• 1760 – Skirmishes with roving bands
of warriors. According to one
historian (Lee Pendleton) there is
evidence that John Draper may have
despaired of ever seeing his wife
again, and that he married Bettie’s
widowed sister-in-law, in 1760! The
marriage may have later been quietly
set aside once word came that Bettie
was being released from captivity.
• 1761 – Bettie Draper was ransomed
and returned home. The Drapers
lived near the Ingles (at Ingles Ferry)
for several years before moving
further into the southwest (Draper’s
Valley)

11. Dates, Cont.
• 1761 – William Preston married
Susannah Smith
• 1762 – William and Mary
returned to the frontier, and
established a ferry on the New
River (near present day Radford)
• 1763 – King’s Proclamation
• 1768 – Thomas Ingles (after
spending 13 years in captivity)
decided to come home to
Virginia. Imagine the scene!
• 1768 – Tecumseh was born
(Panther in the Sky)

12. More dates…
• 1772 – William Ingles obtained license to
operate an ordinary (Ingles Tavern – still
standing in Pulaski County)
• 1773 – Preston family moved from
Greenfield to Smithfield
• 1774 – Dunmore’s War – Battle of Point
Pleasant – Thomas Ingles served under
William Christian – another scene hard to
imagine!
• 1774 – Bettie Draper died; John Draper
married a widow, Jane Crockett
• 1775 – Fincastle Resolutions
• 1781 – William Ingles accused of being a
Tory – insufficient evidence against him –
huge bond required.
• 1781 – Andrew Lewis died

13. Continued Violence on the Frontier
• 1782 - Burke’s Garden – Thomas Ingles was working in the fields when he
noticed the smoke…He gathered up a posse to track them, but things
misfired. His wife, Eleanor Grills Ingles was severely wounded, William and
Mary (children) were mortally wounded, and baby Rhoda was unharmed.
• 1782 – Courts finally awarded William Ingles deeds (ownership rights) to
land at Ingles Ferry, and many other locations in Virginia & Tennessee

14. Deaths
• 1782 - William Ingles died
• 1783 – William Preston died
• 1815 – Mary Ingles died
• 1823 – Susanna Preston died
• 1824 – John Draper died
• Several descendants of the Ingles
and Draper families are now
working to gather and publish
information about the family tree.
• Andrew Lewis is now getting some
of the recognition he deserves,
especially through the efforts of
John Long at the Salem Museum.
• William Preston has many proud
descendants, at least two books
and one very fine museum
dedicated to his legacy.

15. A Place Called Draper…
Now Called Blacksburg and Virginia Tech

16. County Tree:
In 1746, Augusta County was Immense. This chart shows how it
divided into other Counties, as well as the State of Kentucky

17. Mary’s Story Lives On…
• The Long Way Home, an outdoor
drama… see photo of Mary Lewis
Jeffries(right) in costume as Eleanor
Draper
• Follow the River – a book by James
Alexander Thom
• Follow the River – TV Movie
• Ingles Farm Days – held at Bud
Jeffries’ farm, near Ingleside, home
built by John Ingles, c. 1790
• Ingles Tavern (in Pulaski County) –
recently put under a conservation
easement… Something bold could
eventually happen, linking the
properties on both sides of the river,
and recreating Ingles Ferry again.