Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Amos JANNEY
In 1733 Amos and Mary Janney, members of the Society of Friends (Quakers), traveled south from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to the wilds of northern Virginia in search of open land and opportunity. They purchased 400 promising acres on the south fork of Catoctin Creek.
Amos, a surveyor for Lord Fairfax, as well as a farmer and entrepreneur, tapped the water power of the creek by building a grist and sawmill on its banks by the early 1740s. Most of the newcomers to the area were grain farmers like the Janneys, assuring the success of the mill. The little settlement that grew up around it came to be known as "Janney's Mill."
As other Quakers from Pennsylvania and New Jersey followed the Janneys south, an early priority was a church or "meetinghouse." In 1741 a log meetinghouse was built on Amos's land. In 1755 his son Mahlon deeded ten acres on the site for a cemetery and school as well—the Quakers were very serious about education.
Among the first to join the Janneys in Virginia was Mary's sister Jane and her husband Francis Hague. Hague bought 303 acres adjoining Janney's land and built a stone cottage for his large family. That cottage still stands today on a ridge above Bond Street.
Another Janney relative, cousin John Hough, quickly became the largest resident landowner in what is now Loudoun County. He and Hague both played important roles in the early history of the county. They were two of the original trustees of Leesburg and served as the county's first flour inspectors.
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