the Garden of Eden."

The Indians were very friendly and passed and repassed the settlement
without molesting them.

Then came the trouble with the French which has been referred to before.
The Indians swooped down upon Draper's Meadow without warning and killed
or wounded most of the settlers. Those whom they did not murder, they
carried off into captivity. Among the latter were Mrs. William Ingles
(nee Mary Draper) some of her children and another woman. They were
forced to march for days at a time until they finally reached the Indian
towns on the Ohio River. During the trying days, Mrs. Draper did her
best to keep in the good graces of the Indians. She tried to help them,
even after they took her sons from her. When they reached Big Bone Lick
she helped to make salt for the Indians and made shirts for them from
cloth which had been bought from the French traders.

She often thought of her home over seven hundred miles from the Indian
towns and determined to make her escape. She confided her resolves to
the other woman who at first objected to going. At last she convinced
her the time was at hand, if ever, for them to leave. She left her
infant son one night, and with her friend, stole away from the camp.
They lived for days on berries and nuts. They finally killed small game
and after many adventures reached the home of a settler forty long days
later.

Mrs. Draper's friend lost her mind, tried to kill her and then left her.
Mrs. Draper reached the homestead of Adam Harmon on New River. There he
heard her crying in his cornfield and went out to see who it was in such
distress. He and his family cared for her and made her rest before she
was taken back to her family.

The Ingles families moved up higher on New River and built another fort
near the present city of Radford, Virginia. This was at Ingle's Ferry.

Botetourt County was cut from Albemarle in 1770, and William Preston was
made surveyor of the lands. This was a well-paying position. He had
fallen in love with Miss Susannah Smith who lived in Eastern Virginia in
Hanover County. He built a house for her and called it Smithfield in her
honor. Soon the Pattons, Peytons, Prestons, the Thompsons and many
others were coming to build homes near them.

When the Prestons moved to Smithfield they took a young orphan boy with
them, Joseph Cloyd. His father had died when he was very little and his
mother had been killed by the Indians. He grew up with the other pi