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Robert Looney |
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| also spelled Luna, Lune, Luney, and Lunie | ||||||
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Robert Looney was born about 1692 on the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man is in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. His wife was named Elizabeth. Thomas Looney (1718, married Jane Harmon), In 1724, the Looneys came to America. They settled in Philadelphia and later moved to Maryland. About 1740, they settled on Looney's Mill Creek in what is now Botetourt County, Virginia. Robert was granted 250 acres on the James River and and Looney's Creek in July, 1742. His land was not far from Natural Bridge in what was Augusta County in 1738. They ran the first ferry crossing on the James River with an inn and a grist mill. The crossing was on the Great Wagon Road. When Grubb passed through in 1753 things had changed. Not only did Looney operate a ferry at Cherry Tree Botton (Buchanan, Va.), there was grain enough for Mrs. Looney to bake bread for the Moravians. Looney's decision to move to Cherry Tree Bottom may have been influenced in part by a 1749 flood that lifted the bed in which his wife and two of their children slept, and carried it about "until they woke up." (from Digging up Bones) In 1755, during the French and Indian War, a fort was built near the Looney home. It was named Fort Looney and was at the junction of Looney Creek and the James River. Robert died on September 14, 1769 in Virginia. His wife, Elizabeth, and son, Joseph, were the executors of his estate. |
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