There were few cash crops in the hills of Virginia, farming confined to "hollows" and valleys. Corn did well up there, but was hard to transport and didn't bring in much money. Turning corn into liquor made a lot of sense and a little money for the otherwise extremely poor farmers. Making moonshine became not only a tradition in the South, men handing down their stills and recipes from father to son, but for some the only way to feed their families.
After the Civil War, one of the many ways the North contrived to punish the South financially (and pay off the War debt, in the bargain) was to place an exhorbitant tax on alcohol. Of course, the Southerners resented and often refused to pay the tax, which was directed at them. The "revenooers" went into the hills to find and arrest the moonshiners. Often the Army was sent in, as the local constabulary frequently refused to do so.
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THIS STORY circulates around our family, as an explanation as to why we Rakes moved to Nebraska:
There were two brothers who were moonshiners in Virginia. It seems the brothers had a plan that if they were caught, they would jump their captors and try to get away at a certain point in the trail coming down the mountain. If they managed to get free, they would light out for Nebraska and then send for their families.
Sure enough, one day the worst happened, and they were caught. They followed the plan and both brothers managed to get away, but killed the man who had captured them. They separated, since the authorities would be looking for the two of them together, and made their way to Nebraska. Now, only one brother sent for his family, the other brother finally went back to Virginia several years later. He sent word back that he had seen the man they thought they had killed, and stayed back in Virginia.
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No names were attached to this story and I wondered if the brothers were Adam and a brother or brother-in-law, or some other Rakes relatives. John Carter Rakes and his family were in Cass County NE before 1855. His brother William Jackson Rakes was also an early settler, making them possibilities. (These men were cousins of Johnston Rakes, Adam's father).
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I think the brothers in the story were Adam and elder brother Andy, for several reasons:
1) I don't believe the two sets of brothers knew of each other, either in Virginia or Nebraska. If they were in contact with each other, we would probably have also heard the story of Gallant Rakes, son of John Carter Rakes, murdering a woman in Otoe County and being sent to prison. There was quite a scandal and is still mentioned, nearly a hundred years later.
2) John C. Rakes wandered through Kentucky and Missouri before settling in Nebraska, but once there, he stayed and so did his brother William. Many of their descendants are still there....
3) It isn't likely that Adam and Laura moved to Nebraska only to be near Laura's family. There was probably still some "bad blood" between Laura's brothers and Adam (they eloped when Laura was only 13 and were first cousins). Laura's mother and most of her siblings had already moved to Nebraska a several years before Adam and Laura arrived.
4) The time frame fits: Adam and Laura moved to Nebraska between 1887 and 1891 from Virginia, their eldest child Kent, was born in Virginia and the next son, Charley, was born in Paddock, Holt Co., NE. Andy and his wife Mary Catherine Spence had two daughters, Connie L., born 1880 in Tazewell Co., and Maggie, born about 1882, also in Tazewell. Thirty years later Andy married Mary C. Rakes, both groom and bride listed as divorced on the marriage license, January 27, 1915 in Tazewell Co., VA. (He and his wife divorced and remarried.) So where was Andy between 1887 and 1915? Hmmmmm.....Probably in Nebraska.......