Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 20, 1995 TAG: 9507200039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: AMSTERDAM LENGTH: Medium
Nancy Downs could sense the family history as she walked through the home of her great-great-great-great-grandfather, Michael Cloyd, for the first time Wednesday.
"No doubt his mother and father had visited him here," she said Wednesday, after learning earlier this week he had lived in the house. "I will stand here often and think of that."
The 18th-century home of Michael Cloyd, one of Amsterdam's founding fathers, could just as easily have fallen to the wrecking ball, but it has been purchased by a Fincastle shopkeeper planning to restore it.
"I'm humbled and excited," Downs said. "I feel great happiness that the building has been saved."
Downs, who until recently lived in Clifton Forge, said she had driven back and forth to Roanoke many times in 40 years. She knew that her ancestors had lived in Amsterdam, just north of Daleville in Botetourt County, but never knew exactly where.
"I knew we were related to Michael Cloyd," she said. "I never knew about this."
Ironically, she had visited the building many times as a shopper, when it was occupied by the Quail and Tulip, which specialized in early American home goods.
She had always had an interest in gift items with a country theme. About a decade ago, her interests broadened to her family's history.
But she never knew the building belong to Cloyd until her daughter read it in a story Tuesday in The Roanoke Times.
Her first time inside the house as an aware descendant of its original owner began in the kitchen.
"It had to be hot in here," she said.
Her feelings about the living room were more pleasant.
"It's just wonderful," she said.
As a restoration crew pried through the remains this week, it found many surprises.
One fireplace contained a furnace plate dated 1788. Some walls and windows had inscriptions of initials and names. Workmen even found a petrified rat in a wall.
Downs was simply intrigued by the family connection. She had moved to Fincastle from Clifton Forge earlier this spring to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren, the eighth and ninth generation of descendants of Michael Cloyd.
The history of the Cloyd family is rich.
The family came to Pennsylvania from Ireland, where James Cloyd, Michael's grandfather, was born.
David Cloyd, Michael's father, had bought land from the daughter of William Penn before moving to Virginia in 1745. He later brought his family to Botetourt County, where Michael's mother and brother were killed during an Indian raid in 1764.
According to the book "Kegley's Virginia Frontier," Michael Cloyd was among the search party that went looking for the Indians, who had stolen silver and gold.
County court records indicate that Michael Cloyd paid taxes on a log structure with a clay chimney as early as 1783. He was married to an English woman, Elizabeth Nealy. The couple had nine children.
Tim Robinson, a restoration expert from Culpeper, believes the family may have lived in three large rooms. The cabin appears to have a living room, a large room upstairs and a summer kitchen, which was detached from the rest of the house to keep the heat down in the summer months.
Robinson bought the chestnut and oak cabin after learning it was about to be destroyed and sold it to Lisa Farmer, a Fincastle shopkeeper who plans to have him restore it.
To salvage the house, Robinson's crew must label the logs so they can be reassembled in the order they are taken down. Some are beyond repair and are given a red tag.
If plans stay on course, a crane will arrive today and start to disassemble the cabin and store it on a flatbed trailer until it can be rebuilt.
As Nancy Downs toured the house Wednesday, curious onlookers rode past. Some stopped with cameras and questions. Some neighbors grumbled and cursed about cars lining the side of narrow Roanoke Street.
Downs said she is just happy that her family's history is being preserved.
"Some of my family will be coming up this weekend to see it," she said. "I'll be spreading the word."
by CNB