History

GEORGE CHRISMAN HOUSE is a private residence located in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  The 18th century stone house was placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register on September 6, 2006 and the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 2006.  It has been in continuous use as a residence with the exception of the 40-year period between 1918 and 1958.  Shenandoah Valley historian and author John W. Wayland (1872-1962) wrote in a 1957 letter to former owner Fred Holm that the house is "probably one of the oldest in Rockingham County."

The Chrisman Family (c. 1787-1829)

Captain George Chrisman was born in 1745 in what is now Stephens City (Frederick County) Virginia where his parents, German immigrant Jacob Christman (1706-1778) and Magdalena Hite (1713-1771), a native of New York, settled in the early 1730s.  George was the ninth of their eleven children.

Jacob Chrisman and Magdalena Hite married in Pennsylvania and the young couple and their first child (Jacob Jr., born 1730) made the pioneering journey from there to Virginia in 1732.  They traveled as part of a wagon train along with more than a dozen other families, including Magdalena's siblings and their families.  That trip was one of several that Magdalena's father, Jost Hite (1685-1761), organized and led.  Hite is considered to be one of the first pioneer settlers of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.   

George Chrisman grew up in a community built by his father, the Hites and their extended families, which included Bowman and Froman.  The Hites were acquainted with George Washington who, as a teenaged land surveyor in 1748, lodged at the inn owned by John Hite, George Chrisman's uncle.  Washington spent several years in the area and his documented writings include diary entries about lodging at Capt. Hite's in Frederick Town and having his baggage sent there.  The Hites obviously made an impression on the young man as nearly twenty years later Washington recalled their success when he wrote in a letter, "...Only look to Frederick, and see what Fortunes were made by the Hites and first takers up of those lands: Nay how the greatest Estates we have in this Colony were made..."

In 1761 when he was 16 years old, George Chrisman acquired 376 acres of choice Augusta (now Rockingham) County land along Linville Creek from his parents.  Around the same time they deeded 300 acres of adjoining land to George's 22 year-old brother Johannes (John).  The land was about 60 miles south of the family home in Frederick County, but the brothers would be neighbors who could help each other as they built their respective homesteads and raised the next generation of Chrismans.

George's wife Hannah McDowell was born in 1747.  Her parents, General Joseph McDowell (1715-1771) and Margaret O'Neill/O'Neal (1723-1780) emigrated from Ireland soon after their 1739 marriage and made their way to the same area in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where the Hites, Chrismans and other pioneering families had settled several years before.  Hannah and her siblings were born in this community so she and George would have known each other as children.  In 1761, when Hannah was 14, the McDowells migrated to Quaker Meadows, North Carolina where they settled permanently, leaving Hannah behind in the care of the Chrismans or some other respectable family.  It is likely that Hannah was already betrothed to 16 year-old George who received his 376 acres in May of that year.  She would have assisted with household chores to earn her keep until she and George married and set off on their own.  George and Hannah's wedding date is unknown, but an educated guess would be between 1763, when Hannah turned 16, and 1765, a year before they welcomed their first child.  

The stone house that stands today was built between 1761 and 1787.  It is where George and Hannah raised their seven children -- Joseph (1766-1828), Hugh (1769-1849), John aka "Gentleman Jack" (1773-1815), Charles (1775-1812), Margaret (1777-1855, m. John Spears), Elizabeth (1779-1835, m. Conrad Custer), and Hannah (1784-1841, m. Joshua Kring), and it was home to George and Hannah for the rest of their lives.   

IIt appears that all seven Chrisman children received their Christian names from the McDowell side of the family.  The boys were namesakes of their mother's four brothers and the three girls carried the names of Hannah's mother  Margaret (nee O'Neill), her older sister Elizabeth (wife of John McKinney), and Hannah herself.  If Hannah Chrisman had been blessed with one more daughter it is highly likely that she would have been named Jane after Hannah's last remaining sister.       

George Chrisman received his captain's commission with the Rockingham County militia on March 26, 1781 during the American Revolution and his unit was involved in at least two battles near Williamsburg that summer--the Battle of Hot Water (aka Spencer's Ordinary) on June 26th and the Battle of Green Springs Plantation on July 6th. 

Like his father and most of his relatives, George Chrisman owned slaves, which was typical for the time period and area.  In 1788 he had four, which made him the fifth largest slave-holder in Rockingham County (behind those who owned 7-12 slaves) and in 1810 when George and Hannah were in their mid-sixties and living alone at the house, the couple had 15 slaves. 

A prominent citizen in the community, Chrisman was a contemporary of Captain Abraham Lincoln and his wife Bathsheba (nee Herring) who owned land just two miles away.  In 1780 when Lincoln sold 250 acres before moving to Kentucky, Chrisman signed as a witness on the deed of sale.  Young Thomas Lincoln who made the trip with his parents would later become the father of the sixteenth president of the United States.  

Captain and Mrs. Chrisman lived long, full lives considering the time period.  He was 71 years old at the time of his death on August 29, 1816 and Hannah was 70 when she passed away five months later on January 24, 1817.  After both were gone, ownership of the stone house and land fell to their daughter Elizabeth and her husband Conrad Custer who raised their own family there for the next twelve years.

The Chrisman name was well known in Rockingham County for more than a century.  Among George Chrisman's descendants is his great grandson and namesake, Major George Chrisman (1832-1915), a Confederate officer during the Civil War and commander of "Chrisman's Boy Company."  The major, who was a lifelong resident of Rockingham County and a valuable member of the community, was one of three founding members of what is now the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society.  Hundreds were in attendance for his funeral on Thanksgiving Day 1915.

The Shaver Family (1829-1948)

In 1829 the Custers sold to the Shavers, coincidentally another George (1783-1866) and Hannah (nee Seitz or Sites, 1788-1873) and the Shaver family retained ownership for the next 120 years.  First the home was passed to their daughter Catherine J. Burkholder (1809-1907) and her husband Jesse (1811-1898), then to Catherine's youngest brother George Washington Shaver (1832-1906) and his wife Elizabeth (nee Burkholder, 1832-1920), and finally to George W. Shaver, Jr. (1873-1959) and his wife Lucy (nee Dovel, 1880-1964).  George and Lucy were the last generation of Shavers to own the house, finally selling it outside of the family in 1948.

The ruins of Shaver Mill, a circa 1830 limestone gristmill are located on the property and though the house was known locally for many years as "The Old Shaver Place," when it received its historic designation in late 2006, the house was officially named in honor of its original owner.  For more on SHAVER MILL, see our Architecture page.

In 1906 George and Lucy Shaver took up residence at the stone house where all three of their children were born -- John George (1909-2002), Mary Lucille (1911-1997) and Janie Elizabeth (1913-1992).  The City of Harrisonburg (once known as "Rocktown") was less than 10 miles away and had been providing electricity since 1905.  The streets in town were soon lined with many new, beautiful homes and exciting businesses.  The appeal of modern conveniences must have been great to those who were still living in the surrounding rural locations without electricity.  George Shaver wanted to improve his family's situation and by September 1918 the Shavers were living within the city limits at 299 Franklin Street, a large Victorian house built in 1910. 

Until the stone house was sold in 1948 to the Kline family, the Shavers made regular trips back to the old homeplace to work the farm, and of course the children would not have been able to resist playing in the creek.  In 2011, George Shaver III related that his grandmother, Lucy Shaver, was "very fond of the place and sad to leave."  That same sentiment was not shared by George's father John who was nine years old at the time of the 1918 move.  Years later John Shaver shared memories of his early childhood on the family farm with his own children.  He vividly recalled breaking ice in the wash basin during the cold winter months so he could wash his face and hands in the freezing water.  Young John Shaver was probably very happy to leave that and other unpleasant experiences in the past.    

In 1938 when electricity finally made its way into the rural areas of western Rockingham County, the Shaver-owned house was bypassed.  By then it was more than 150 years old and had been unoccupied for 20 years.  It would take more than two decades and as many owners before the house would be fitted with electric lights and indoor plumbing to accommodate the needs of a modern, 20th century family.

Restoration: 1948 to Present

Homer and Goldie Kline purchased the property in 1948 after the stone house had been vacant for three decades.  The initial plan was to restore the house as a residence for their son Ronald and his wife Janet, but work on the house and grounds stalled out when the young couple bought an old brick house just a few miles away instead. 

The house stood vacant for nearly another decade until it was sold in 1956, along with a surrounding 4.51-acre tract, to Fred (1924-2003) and Mary Bob Holm (1927-2017).  The Holms installed electricity and indoor plumbing for the first time in the home's history, completed renovations in the 1960s, and later built a one-story limestone addition to the north end using stones from the mill ruins on the property. After raising her family and residing there for 46 years, Mary Bob Holm sold the house and 4.51 acres to Dan and Susan Pinnell on December 30, 2022.    

The 1787 Circa Date

It is believed that the house was built in the 1770s or early 1780s.  Architectural details are helpful, but it is impossible to assign a firm date of construction without a date stone or substantiating documentation.  Unfortunately, many early Rockingham County records were lost as the result of courthouse fires in 1787 and 1864.  (The latter was an intentional burning by Federal troops during the Civil War.)

The following is excerpted from the National Register of Historic Places registration form for George Chrisman House, prepared in June 2006 by Preservation Consultant Sarah Edwards:

"The construction of the two-story limestone main house helps to illustrate the economic success of George Chrisman and his place within the local gentry.  While the existing fragments of tax records for Rockingham County begin at 1787, the rate of tax and the total value that the Chrismans paid suggests that there was a substantial structure located on the property on Joe's Creek.  The tax value on their property is almost triple what many other residents in the district paid, thus supporting the date of the house's construction prior to 1787."  

George Chrisman's Confusing Epitaph

George Chrisman's tombstone is located in Cook's Creek Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Rockingham County, Virginia. The bronze plaque/marker next to it is in recognition of his service in the American Revolution.  (See image of tombstone on our Photo Gallery page.)

The tombstone is inscribed: "George Chrisman Son of Jacob Chrisman a native of Swabia in Germany who emigrated to Virginia about 1740. He died Aug 29, 1816 Aged 71 years"

Many early tombstones ended up under water in 1823 when a dam was put in place to create Silver Lake Mill in Dayton.  This headstone is one of many that were replaced in the 19th century because of that project.  Whoever provided information for the new stone was obviously trying to be helpful, but unfortunately the misinterpretation of this epitaph has resulted in the dissemination of false information for more than 130 years.

Many who read the stone's narrative attribute all of the details to the deceased; however, only the first and last parts of the epitaph pertain directly to George Chrisman. The middle portion ("a native of Swabia in Germany who emigrated to Virginia about 1740") is about his German immigrant father Jacob who came to America around 1710 as a small boy and then migrated to Virginia from Pennsylvania with his wife and first born child in 1732 (which is "about 1740").

In an 1884 published biography of Capt. Chrisman's great grandson and namesake, CSA Major George Chrisman (1832-1915), it is incorrectly explained that the major's great grandfather (George) was the founder of the family in America and in Virginia. It was actually Jacob Chrisman, one generation earlier. Additionally, the 1884 bio cited 1740 as the year George came to America from Germany. George was a native of Virginia, born in 1745.

It seems likely that the 1884 account of the major's ancestry was based on the words etched into George Chrisman's tombstone (which had been misinterpreted) so some details in the major's bio were simply untrue.

To make matters worse, the flawed 1884 biography was used as a source for the major's obituary so the falsehoods were perpetuated. Those who unequivocally accept the Chrisman family origins from the 1884 bio, the 1915 obit, or any subsequent works based on those tributes are regrettably misdirected.

Chronology of Ownership  

Although it appears to have changed ownership numerous times, the house remained in the same two families, Chrisman and Shaver, for more than 160 years.  In its 240-year existence only four families have occupied the house, Chrisman/Custer, Shaver/Burkholder/Dovel, Holm, and Pinnell, with the chronology of ownership as follows:

1. 1780 (estimated) to 1817 (approx. 37 years): Captain George Chrisman (1745-1816) & Hannah (McDowell) Chrisman (1744-1817)

George Chrisman built the stone house on the 376 acres he had obtained from his parents in 1761 when he was 16 years old.  Construction on the house was likely completed in the late 1770s or early 1780s and it was the homeplace of Capt. Chrisman for more than thirty years.  It is where he and his wife Hannah raised their seven children and presumably where he and his wife took their last breaths in 1816 and 1817, respectively.  

2. JAN 24, 1817 to APR 06, 1829 (12 years): Conrad Custer (1771-1845) & Elizabeth (Chrisman) Custer (1779-1835)

Elizabeth Chrisman, daughter of George and Hannah, married 27 year-old Conrad Custer (of Brocks Gap, Virginia) in 1799 when she was nearly 20 years old.  In 1810 the Custers and their five children, born between 1800 and 1809, were residing in Harrisonburg.  Seven years later they were living at the stone house, which had been purchased at auction following the deaths of Elizabeth's parents.  By then the household included two more children (born 1812 and 1814) and the oldest, George Washington Custer, was 17.  Elizabeth had grown up in the stone house and was well acquainted with the rural lifestyle it required; it is also possible that she herself had been born there in 1779.  Elizabeth's last child, Ann Eliza, was born in the summer of 1818, most likely at the house.                 

3. APR 06, 1829 to MAR 29, 1855 (26 years): George Shaver (1783-1866) & Hannah (Sites) Shaver (1788-1873)

This sale marked the end of the Chrisman family's ownership of the stone house and land.  George and Hannah Shaver were the first of three generations to own the property and the Shaver family maintained ownership for the next 119 years, until the mid 20th century.         

4. MAR 29, 1855 to OCT 09, 1868 (13.5 years): Jesse Burkholder (1811-1898) & Catherine (Shaver) Burkholder (1809-1907)

Catherine Burkholder was the daughter of the previous owners, George and Hannah Shaver.

5. OCT 09, 1868 to MAR 01, 1906 (37.5 years): George W. Shaver, Sr.   (1832-1906) & Elizabeth J. (Burkholder) Shaver (1832-1920)

George Shaver was the brother of previous owner, Catherine (Shaver) Burkholder.

6. MAR 01, 1906 to SEP 27, 1910 (4.5 years): George W. Shaver, Jr. (1873-1959) & Lucy V. (Dovel) Shaver (1880-1964)

George Shaver Jr. was the son of the previous owner, George Shaver Sr.

7. SEP 27, 1910 to SEP 09, 1914 (4 years): John E. Dovel (1826-1914) & Jane A. Dovel (1841-1915)

Lucy Shaver’s 84 year-old father insisted on assuming ownership while he and his wife resided with their daughter and son-in-law.  This was a temporary ownership that would revert back to George and Lucy Shaver upon John Dovel’s death.

6. SEP 09, 1914 to JUN 08, 1948 (34.5 years): George W. Shaver, Jr. & Lucy V. (Dovel) Shaver

Per their 1910 agreement with the Dovels, the Shavers regained ownership after the passing of Lucy's father.  In 1918, George, Lucy, and their three young children moved to a house in Harrisonburg with modern conveniences leaving the stone house unoccupied for the first time in 130 years.       

7. JUN 08, 1948 to MAY 18, 1956 (8 years): Homer R. Kline (1905-1997) & Goldie M. (Summers) Kline (1905-1998)

By the time the Klines purchased the house it was known locally as "The Old Shaver Place."  The house was unoccupied during this initial restoration phase.  

8. MAY 18, 1956 to DEC 30, 2002 (46.5 years): Frederick L. Holm (1924-2003) & Mary R. (Monahan) Holm (1927-2017)

Four decades had passed since the Shavers moved out in 1918 and the house had fallen into disrepair to include complete collapse of the north wall.  The Holms completed renovations and raised their three children in the old stone house, which they called "Mill Meadow."  

9. DEC 30, 2002 to PRESENT (> 20 years): Dan Pinnell & Susan (Klender) Pinnell

Among the many accomplishments during this current ownership period are the home’s designation as an historic state and national landmark, fireplace restorations to include returning the large, walk-in kitchen fireplace to wood-burning condition, construction of sympathetic outbuildings, reveal of 18th and 19th century interior wall colors (which had been painted over in the 1960s), kitchen and bathroom renovations, reconstruction of an interior wall on the main level to recreate the original footprint, installation of a high velocity mini duct air conditioning system, and creation of this website to share information about the history of the house and its former owners/occupants.