Pennybacker House

There are several "Lincoln Houses" at Linville Creek and out toward Lacey Springs and their histories are a bit shrouded. This house, called "Lincoln Hall" is sometimes called "Pennybacker House" after a long time resident who descended from Jacob Lincoln. It's also called a Bryan house since it may have been built originally by John Bryan (1), subsequently being sold to Jacob Lincolns as Bryans migrated toward Tenessee.

This house is said to have no remarkable architectural features. It has hand-wrought iron hinges and hand-planed doors. The parlor features imported black Italian marble mantel. Rather shabby samples of an ornate wallpaper remain. The original shake roof is in tact under the tin one.

This house stands on land secured by Cornelius O'Bryan and passed to his son Cornelius, and down to Thomas and John. Many believe that the house was started about 1823 by Jacob Lincoln Jr., the son of Jacob. Jacob Jr. married a widow with two children who bore him nine more. In 1840 she went insane and spent the last 26 years of her life in a hospital. Jacob died under unexplained circumstances in Ohio in 1848; his body discovered when vultures were feeding on it in a field. A doctor, Richard Maupin, who had married into the Lincoln family was appointed guardian of the minor children. He's though to have bought out the children as they came of age, thus gaining posession of the house and land. He died, leaving a widow who married John Pennybacker, by whom she had three more children. While some of the children carried Lincoln names, some started calling it the Pennybacker house. Pennybacker seems to have been a commuter; he was a businessman involved in establishing a bank in Harrisonburg. He was also a state senator and involved in the Confederate army. Pennybacker was a distinguished name in Virginia -- it was attached to Congressmen, judges, and a U.S. Senator for the State of Virginia.

Link: Please See Jerry Bryan's Web Pages for a good description of likely Bryan lands at Linville Creek.

(1) John Bryan was a brother of Thomas, and both had inherited land from Cornelius Bryan. John's lands were generally south of those held by his brother. Further south from here, though details haven't been assembled, we're generally entering the lands of Chrismans and then Brennemans.