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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA EDWARD C. SMITH
Gc 975.401 L58s 1127371
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
1
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02276 6544
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyoflewisco00smit_0
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A HISTORY
OF LEWIS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
BY
EDWARD CONRAD SMITH, A. M.
Sometime Teacher of History and Civics in Weston High School.
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR WESTON, WEST VIRGINIA. 1920
Copyright, 1920 By EDWARD C. SMITH
The Morgantown Printing and Binding Co. Morgantown, W. Va.
1127371
TO MY FATHER Whose life has been devoted to the upbuilding of Lewis County.
"The annals, and records, and life, of quiet neigh- borhoods are historically important by their vital con- nection with the progress and science of the nation and of the world."
-JAMES MORTON CALLAHAN.
PREFACE.
The purpose of this volume is to trace the economic, social and political life of the people of Lewis County from the time the first settlers came to the Hacker's creek valley to the present. Believing that the group is more important than any of its component parts, it has been my aim to deal with the development of institu- tions rather than with family history, to present as fully as possible a record of the whole county rather than tales of illustrious pioneers and their descendants. In order to accomplish this purpose I have selected from a great mass of material those incidents which I thought would best depict the life of the county, and I have tried to arrange them in order so as to show cause and effect, advance and retardation, of development.
It is hoped that this volume will fill a long felt want. It is a rather remarkable fact, in view of the importance of Lewis County and its influence on the life of Virginia and West Virginia, that a history of the county has never been published in permanent form. There have been published at various times important works relating to certain periods, and to certain matters affecting the history of the county. The first of these was "Chron- icles of Border Warfare," by Alexander Scott Withers, which treats of the history of the frontier to the Treaty of Greenville, 1795. The same period has been treated lately by Lucullus Virgil McWhorter, in his volume en - titled "Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia." Both works are extremely valuable for a study of the early history of the county. About 1884, Hardesty's "Political and Geographical Survey of Lewis County" was pub- lished, which contains a historical sketch of the county very hastily and carelessly written.
Many writers have contributed sketches and recol-
lections to the county papers at different times. Under the pseudonym of "Ancient", John Strange Hall wrote a series of articles for the Weston Independent depict- ing customs, personages and institutions of the 'thirties. George F. Oliver contributed to the Weston Democrat a series of articles in which the author makes a compre- hensive survey of conditions in Weston and Lewis Coun- ty as they were in 1844. In 1917, John R. King wrote a series of articles for the Weston Independent which throw considerable light on the manners and customs of western Virginia in the period just before the Civil war. Within the past few years, Roy B. Cook, a native of the county, has made valuable contributions to the same paper in an extended "Pioneer History of Lewis County," and a collection of documents, annotated, on "Lewis County in the Civil War."
I first began a systematic collection of materials on Lewis County history in 1915. Though the work has been greatly interrupted at times, I never quite lost sight of my original intention to write the story of develop- ment of Lewis County.
Every effort has been made to guard against errors in statement, but I am conscious that some errors may have escaped detection. The necessity for depending upon traditional accounts in the absence of records for a part of the early period has made the task of sifting evidence somewhat uncertain. In all possible cases I have attempted to verify the traditional accounts by the records.
I have drawn the materials for this volume from many different sources-from old letters and account books, from public documents, from old newspapers and from personal interviews with participants in the affairs of the county, as well as from books and pamph- lets of earlier investigators.
It would be impossible to mention here the names of all those who have assisted in various ways in the preparation of this work. Cordial thanks are due to the publishers of the Weston Independent and of the Wes-
ton Democrat for free access to their files; to Mr. Roy R. Hale for lending his file of the Lewis County Record; to officials of Lewis, Harrison and Monongalia counties for valuable assistance in my search for records; to Miss Mary Strange Hall for a scrap-book containing the writings of her father; to Mr. Stark A. White for an ar- ticle on the Baptists of Lewis County; and to all those who have accorded me personal interviews. Mr. E. G. Davisson has made valuable suggestions concerning! the subject matter and has given much valuable ma- terial. Miss Edna Arnold has criticised portions of the manuscript.
EDWARD C. SMITH.
Weston, West Virginia, January 1, 1920.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I The Physical Basis for Development: 13
CHAPTER II
The Aboriginal Inhabitants.
22
CHAPTER III
The Beginning of Settlements
30
CHAPTER IV
Lewis County in Dunmore's War
44
CHAPTER V
Lewis County During the Revolutionary War
51
CHAPTER VI
The End of the Indian Wars
70
CHAPTER VII
The Beginning of Law and Order
84
CHAPTER VIII
Economic Beginnings 98
CHAPTER IX
Life of the Pioneers
111
CHAPTER X
The Extension of Settlements-Skin Creek
128
CHAPTER XI
The Collins Settlement. 136
CHAPTER XII
Freeman's Creek District. 143
CHAPTER XIII
Progress in Older Settlements.
150
CHAPTER XIV
The Formation of Lewis County
162
CHAPTER XV
The Beginning of Weston
176
CHAPTER XVI
Progress Under the New Regime.
197
CHAPTER XVII
Early Transportation
215
CHAPTER XVIII
The Irish and German Immigration
230
CHAPTER XIX
Territorial Losses.
.239
CHAPTER XX
The Great Business Boom, 1845-60
246
CHAPTER XXI
The Development of Education.
268
CHAPTER XXII
The Seccession from Virginia.
281
CHAPTER XXIII
Military Operations
297
CHAPTER XXIV
The Political Reconstruction 316
CHAPTER XXV
The Weston State Hospital 327
CHAPTER XXVI
Economic Development After the War
335
CHAPTER XXVII
The Coming of the Railroad.
352
CHAPTER XXVIII
Twenty Years' Progress, 1880-1900
368
CHAPTER XXIX
The Oil and Gas Development.
380
CHAPTER
X
The Twentieth Century
397
APPENDIX A :
Sketch of Col. Charles Lewis
414
APPENDIX B :
Justices of the Peace Under Virginia.
416
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Map of Lewis County, W. Va. Frontispiece
The Jackson Homestead and Mill 160
Presley M. Hale 288
Stonewall Jackson 1- 313
The Weston State Hospital.
328
Lewis County in 1872
336
Map of Weston (From Mitchell's Geography, Edi- tion of 1873) 344
The Copely Well
384
Judge Henry Brannon 400
CHAPTER I.
THE PHYSICAL BASIS FOR DEVELOPMENT
Lewis county is a homogeneous geographical divis- ion lying in central West Virginia. Save for a narrow strip along its western border which is naturally so like the remainder in soil, climate and natural productions that it may almost be said to be a part of it, and for a small district in the extreme south, the county occupies the upper valley of the West Fork river. On the east is Upshur County, including the more elevated valley of the Buckhannon river, on the south and west are Web- ster, Braxton and Gilmer counties with the more rugged hills and the narrower valleys of the head streams of the Little Kanawha; and on the north is Harrison Coun- ty alone geographically united with Lewis County but politically distinct because the whole region is too large to form one county. The area of Lewis County is 391 square miles.
With the exception of a negligible strip on the east the county includes the whole upper valley of the West Fork river and its tributaries. The main stream is formed by the junction of two forks of the river at Walk- ersville. From there the course of the river is generally north, and that of the tributaries generally northeast or northwest according to whether they empty from the west or east. The river is not navigable except for float- ing logs, although declared a navigable waterway by Secretary of the Treasury Gallatin as early as 1805. The principal left hand tributaries in Lewis County are Hacker's creek, Stone Coal creek, Skin creek, Sand fork and the Left fork. The principal right hand tributaries are Kincheloe creek, Freeman's creek, Polk Creek, Rush
14
A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
run and Right fork. Among the principal streams lead- ing into the Little Kanawha or its tributaries are Fink creek, Leading creek, Sand fork, Indian fork and Clover fork and both forks of the Little Kanawha river. As a rule the smaller streams have a rather rapid fall. In nearly all cases they have V-shaped valleys with flood plains of varying width depending more upon the char- acter of the geological formation than upon the size of the stream.
In general the surface is rough and broken. Steep slopes and low mountains, winding ridges and bold spurs, low-gaps and winding valleys abound throughout the county. Below Weston the river valley broadens con- siderably and the terrace formation becomes one of the conspicuous features of the topography of the country. The elevation of the bottom lands is about 1,000 to 1,100 feet above sea-level, and that of the hill-tops is from four hundred to six hundred feet higher. The lowest point in the county is on Leading creek just above Linn, where the elevation is about 775 feet and the highest point is near Cleveland where one of the hills reaches 2,000 feet.
The climate is mild and healthful. The winters are rather long but not so cold as in the higher altitudes to- ward the east and south. Extremes of very hot and very cold weather, though not uncommon, rarely continue for a long period. The average active growing season for crops is five and one-half months between the last killing frost in the spring and the first in the fall. The precipi- tation is 46.85 inches, well distributed throughout the year, but heaviest in spring and summer when most needed for growing crops.
The soils of the county have been, for the most part, developed from the decomposition of shale and the thin beds of sandstone in the upper coal measures. Clay and clay loam are the principal kinds of soils found. As a general rule they are fertile or respond readily to treat- ment. On account of the character of the bed rocks and the sluggishness of the West Fork river the contour of
15
THE PHYSICAL BASIS FOR DEVELOPMENT
the county is smoother than that of surrounding regions and the soil is more favorable for stock raising. For that reason, Lewis County is regarded as one of the three or four leading grazing counties of West Virginia.
Millions of years ago Central West Virginia was the bed of a great sea which scientists have called the Appa- lachian sea. The bed of the sea was some ten thousand feet below the present level of the valley at Weston. Streams flowing into this sea from a range of mountains which lay on the east toward the present Atlantic coast brought sediment into it and gradually filled it with sand and clay. Tiny animals like the corals lived on the bot- tom of the sea and their shells became built up layer by layer, until the deposit was several feet in thickness ; then another layer of sand and silt was deposited in the sea covering the shells, which were cemented together by pressure. The sea became filled up until it was a swamp. Then giant ferns and other plants, growing a hundred fold more luxuriantly than any of the terrestrial plants in existence today filled the swamp with verdure. The dead plants covered the surface, raising its level many feet. A sudden subsidence of the soil-one of the inex- plicable cataclysms of nature-made the layer of vege- tation the bottom of the sea, and other layers of silt were deposited upon it, until the sea was filled and again be- came a swamp. Again the giant ferns of the carbonifer- ous age grew, and flourished, and decayed. Then at long intervals there were alternate subsidences and fillings, alternate deposits of silt from the rivers and decaying vegetable matter from the carboniferous forests. As layer followed layer the heat of the earth and the press- ure of the deposits below changed the silt into solid rock, and the vegetable deposits into coal, or oil, or gas accord- ing to the amount of heat present in the earth. Then came a mighty upheaval of the earth and the whole sur- face underwent a violent change. The bottom of the sea became a great mountain range. In the small sec- tion which is now Lewis County was a plateau several
16
A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
hundred feet above our valleys. The water which fell upon the surface was carried off. Rivers were formed which bore silt with them into other seas. After thou- sands of years the rivers accomplished the tasks set by nature for them. The surface was reduced almost to the level of the sea, and made almost as smooth as the top of a table. The streams coursed their sluggish way to the ocean by many a meander. Not much silt was car- ried because the rapidity of the flow was insufficient to hold it in suspension. There came finally another up- heaval. Again the water courses had to descend a great distance in order to reach the sea, and again they be- came swift enough to carry silt in great quantities. They have now cut down several hundred feet below their original level, and the process is still going on and will continue many centuries before it is again completed. The streams, in cutting down to the new levels hold to some of their old meanders, and the valleys have serpen- tine curves much as we may imagine the streams were curved in long past ages.
The principal mineral wealth of the county is the re- sult of the growths of the carboniferous ages. The coal is found in layers or strata in practically all sections of the county. The strata do not run perfectly level but rise and fall, and are bent downward into synclines and upward into anticlines. The erosive action of the streams has exposed many of the veins so that it is pos- sible to mine coal on the surface. Others lie at varying depths below the floors of the valleys. The beds of veg- etable matter which have been changed into liquid and gaseous forms through having been subjected to extreme heat and pressure are found near anticlines as oil and natural gas. These deposits have been stored in porous rocks, or "sands", far beneath the surface. It is reasona- ble to suppose that deposits existed nearer the surface, which have been gradually exposed by erosion and have escaped. Gas is found at a depth of about 2,000 feet, near Weston, and oil has been discovered in the extreme
17
THE PHYSICAL BASIS FOR DEVELOPMENT
western part of the county at a somewhat lower depth. Some of the rocks of the county contain iron, but not in a form suitable for working. Limestone is also found in some sections in discontinuous beds or veins. There are traditions in nearly every part of the county that lead once existed in the vicinity. As evidence it is said that old pioneers used to go away from their homes, and after following a path unknown to other residents of the community and impossible to trail successfully, they re- turned with lead to replenish their stores. All trace of these mines died with their pioneer discoverers. There are stories of how some of the aged men have given di- rections for finding the mines to their sons, but they have been unable to discover any trace of the lead. The lead mine traditions may be set down as a myth. No geolog- ical formation can account for the presence of lead in this section. The traditions are probably pure invention or they rest upon the fact that some of the early settlers in their trips to Winchester returned with lead which they did not care to divide with their neighbors.
Long before the advent of settlers into this region the surface was covered with dense forests. In all but the wilder portions of the county the trees were decid- uous, but beginning at Duffy and extending through the "shoestring" section conifers are found, with under- growth consisting of dense thickets of laurel and holly. This type of forest growth is found also in some of the rougher land of the county-land which is stony and oth- erwise unfit for clearing. White oak and tulip poplar are the species of trees of greatest commercial import- ance. Other trees of more or less value are oaks, maples, beeches, hickory, chestnuts, walnut, elm and ash. The shell bark hickory, the chestnut, the black and the white walnut and the beech were valuable sources of food, which could easily be stored. Acorns were also valuable in fattening hogs. Practically all the valuable timber which once covered the slopes of the hills and valleys of Lewis County has been either felled by the lumberman
18
A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
or deadened and then burned to make way for agricul- tural operations.
The first settlements were made in clearings in this primeval wilderness. All the disadvantages of clearing land from which the larger growth had not been removed were felt by the pioneers. Wild animals which threaten- ed the lives of the settlers' families or their livestock roamed through the forests. The fierce panther prowled in the thickets ready to spring without notice upon the luckless settler who passed in his way. Another of the denizens of the forest which impeded the march of civ- ilization is commemorated in the name given to Wild Cat run. The wildcats had no hesitancy in attacking the livestock of the settlers or even man himself when they were defending their young. Wolf Fork commemorates another undesirable inhabitant. The gaunt gray wolves haunted the hills and valleys in packs, and woe to the pioneer who became lost after nightfall, or to the pion- eer's live-stock which strayed too far from the humble cabin from which the owner guarded his property with jealous care. Underfoot glided noiselessly the deadly rattlesnake which gave notice of his presence only at the last minute and the still more deadly copperhead which struck without any notice at all. Both reptiles were man's implacable enemies; and the settler made unrelenting war upon them. Most of Lewis County youths of the twentieth century have never seen a live rattlesnake because of the utter extinction of the spe- cies. The copperhead still persists in all parts of the county and is a source of danger on every rocky bit of farm land. Into the vast expanse of primeval forest which covered the slopes of all the hills in western Vir- ginia the hardy pioneers made their first settlements, af- ter the last of the wars with the French.
The wilderness was not inhospitable. The Indians were able to live and thrive without any of the comforts of civilization, and the rugged race of Virginia back- woodsmen had been steeled to endure hardships in their
19
THE PHYSICAL BASIS FOR DEVELOPMENT
ceaseless battle with the forest. They had quickly learned the ways of the savages in conquering the wil- derness dangers. Some indeed became the superiors of the Indians in woodcraft. The forests of Lewis County were capable of supporting a considerable population. On every hand there are abundant evidences of the num- ber of wild animals from which could be derived an abundant supply of meat. The Indians every fall came all the way from central Ohio to hunt. The supply was so great that the white men, who killed without thought for the future, did not exhaust the supply for nearly a century. The names which the early settlers gave to the natural features of the county show how great the supply was and how much importance it was in the lives of the pioneers. Buffalo lick, Buffalo stamping ground, Bull run, Calf run and perhaps others prove the presence in the county of small droves of buffalo or individuals met with by the hunters in their first incursions into the un- known wilds. Traditional accounts state that buffaloes destroyed the first corn crops planted on Hacker's creek. Bear run commemorates probably a hunt in which one or more of the tribe of Bruin went down before the rifle of some early hunter. Two streams by the name of Elk lick prove the existence of that noblest of all big game animals of the North American continent. Local place names telling of the presence of deer, an animal which furnished the most important part of the subsistence of every pioneer family, are legion. Deer run, Deer camp, Doe lick and Buck run are some of the larger streams. Every locality has its "lick", a spring where the deer went to drink. Skin creek was named from an enormous number of deer skins which were obtained by four hunters in a single day ; and Carrion run is said to have derived its name from the stench arising from the carcasses of deer killed in a great hunt, which had been skinned and left where they fell. Goosepen run, Turkey- pen run, Turkey Scratch run and Pigeon Roost run com- memorate the presence of wild geese, wild turkeys, and
20
A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
wild pigeons, the last named of which formerly existed in the county in such enormous flocks that the sky was darkened for hours. Raccoon run and 'Possum hollow were named for two humbler beasts of the chase which have not yet become extinct. Beaver and otter, though never numerous, furnished employment for the earliest trappers.
All the larger streams abound in fish of superior size and flavor-pike, bass, catfish and many smaller and less important varieties which were caught easily by gigging. Turtles were then plentiful, and the pioneer learned from the Indians the trick of digging them out of their winter retreats in the swamps. Frogs were also plentiful, and were much sought after. Mussels would have proved an important source of food, but the settler evidently did not relish them.
From early summer until late in the fall there were always luscious wild fruits to tempt the settler. Wild strawberries, glistening white in the dew, grew on the hill tops early in June. Before they were gone the red service-berries ripened on bushes standing everywhere through the woods, the sticky-sweet mulberries beckon- ed from a thousand trees, and wild raspberries grew wherever a little rotting wood gave the ground extra fer- tility. Next came blackberries and huckleberries and elderberries and wild gooseberries and wild cherries. All varieties of wild grapes ripened in the autumn; and in the thickets about the bases of the hills pawpaws grew in abundance. Persimmons ripened after the first frost and hung on the trees until midwinter.
Chestnuts, hickory nuts, black walnuts, butternuts and hazelnuts ripened in the fall and furnished a never- failing food which could be stored and used through the winter. Acorns furnished abundant food for the fatten- ing of hogs.
The pioneer's medicine chest could be filled from the products of the woods. Ginseng, yellowroot and snake- root were specifics for a great variety of diseases. Skull-
21
THE PHYSICAL BASIS FOR DEVELOPMENT
cap and bone-set, when gathered and steeped properly, proved efficacious in preventing or checking colds. The fat of the skunk was considered a cure for rheumatism when it was rendered under the proper conditions and phases of the moon. The smoking of "field balsam" and jimson weed was said to relieve asthma. Peppermint, wintergreen, pennyroyal and pinnikinnick leaves, sassa- fras roots and the branches of the spicewood bush were used in steeping teas.
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