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Randolph GO
DR. A. S. BOSWORTH
A History of Randolph County West Virginia
From its Earliest Exploration and Settlement to the Present Time
ILLUSTRATED
BY
DR. A. S. BOSWORTH
1916
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 609665 A ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1932 L
PREFACE
No literary merit is claimed in the presentation of this book. The purpose of the writer was to present facts and if any event of historical value will be saved to future genera- tions, the author will feel compensated for his labors. An undertaking embodied within this volume involves labor and research little understood by the average individual. En- couragement and assistance have been received from many sources not practicable to enumerate, but none the less cherished and appreciated.
I acknowledge with gratitude assistance from the follow- ing individuals in procuring subscriptions : Jesse W. Bird, B. Y. White, G. W. White, Felix R. Tuning, Rev. Robert Grey- nolds, Wm. H. Conrad and Samuel H. Godwin.
Valuable assistance which the writer acknowledges with pleasure was given by Hon. T. J. Arnold, Capt. W. H. Cobb, Col. S. N. Bosworth, Jesse W. Robinson and Geo. W. Crawford.
1
In the preparation of this volume valuable information was obtained from Maxwell's History of Randolph, Hay- mond's History of Harrison, Price's History of Pocahontas, Morton's History of Pendleton and from Harper's Magazine.
A. S. BOSWORTH.
Elkins, W. Va., 1916.
€
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
Physical Features-Chapter I 7
Pre-historie Randolph-Chapter II 12
Pioneer Period-Chapter III 17
Among the Records of Randolph-Chapter IV 38
Harrison County Court Proceedings-Chapter V 80
Early Military Matters-Chapter VI 86
Early Land Patents-Chapter VII 93
Early Roads in Randolph-Chapter VIII 102
Annals of Education-Chapter LX
106
Civil War Period-Chapter X 114
Laws Ancient and Obsolete-Chapter XI 158
Randolph County Lawyers-Chapter XII 177
Physicians and Surgeons of Randolph-Chapter XIII
181
Porte Crayon in Randolph-Chapter XIV
193
Miscellaneous-Chapter XV. 229
Family Histories-Chapter XVI 287
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Dr. A. S. Bosworth
PAGE Frontispiece
Big Falls of Cheat 9
Mountains and Valleys. 10
Entrance to the Tunnel of Gandy 11
Indian Trails
12
Stone Hatchet 16
A Pioneer Cabin
17
The Historic Site of Tygart Cabin 18
The Joe White Tub Mill 33
A Pioneer Kitchen
34
A Pioneer Barn 35
Randolph's First Court House 38
Signatures of Early Sheriffs and Justices of the Peace 68
Rich Mountain Battle Field. 156
The Country Store 194
Soldier White 198
Noosing Trout 200
Goose-plucking 208
The Dance 210
A Flirtation 223
Henry Clay Dean 247
A Primitive Industry 251
Historical Round Barn 255
Dr. Squire Bosworth 307
Mr. Bernard L. Brown 313
Abram Crouch 318 Colonel Elihu IIutton 348
Mr. J. D. Wilson 395
Captain Jacob W. Marshall 430
Mr. James Pickens. 433
7
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
CHAPTER I.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
"This our life exempt from public haunts finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything."
THE pioneers of Randolph partook of their rugged environ- ment in their mental, moral and physical characteristics That period produced a superior class of men because the struggle for existence was ameliorated by easy access to the soil, giving opportunity for culture and the social amenities and fostering a generous and hospitable spirit. The extent and direction in which man is compelled to expend his energy in obtaining food, shelter and raiment materially influence his life and belief. In the field of biology it is a well known law that every leaf, limb or branch is developed because of the necessity of the organism to obtain support from its en- vironment. The organism is strong or feeble, depending upon the munificence with which the surroundings bestow their gifts.
The proverbial utterance that "mountaineers are always freemen" is largely true for the reason that a people living in the seclusion of valleys, surrounded by high mountains are enabled by Nature's fortresses to impel invading foes. More- over, the birds in the illimitable air and the animals that roam at will in the wilds of the woods suggest to man the inherent right to freedom and independence.
Randolph is the largest county in the State with an area of 1,080 square miles. The contour of the county exhibits a series of mountain ranges with parallel valleys. The valleys are drained by the several forks of the Cheat, the Valley River, Middle Fork, Buckhannon, Elk and Gauley Rivers. Tygarts Valley is about 40 miles long and averages one mile in width. The head of the valley is known as Mingo Flats. The high- est point in the county is Snyder's Knob in Mingo district on the Pocahontas line. Its altitude is 4,730 feet, being only 130 feet below Spruce Knob, in Pendleton County, the highest point in the State. The lowest point in the county is at the
8
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
Randolph-Tucker line, on Cheat River with an elevation of 1,765 feet. At the Southern extremity where the Elk River enters Randolph, the altitude is 2,390 feet and at the Ran- dolph-Webster line it is 2,000 feet. The Valley River has a fall in Randolph of 1,325 feet. Cheat River has a fall in Randolph of 1,930 feet, more than it has in its subsequent course of 3,000 miles to the Gulf.
The following table will show the elevation of some of the places in Randolph :
Midd'e Fork Bridge
1,900
Elkins
1,950
Kerens
2,000
Beverly
2,000
Lick
2,000
Orlena
2,000
Montrose
2,050
Valley Bend
2.050
Huttonsville
2,080
Lee Bell
2,100
Cassity
2,100
Long
2,100
Crickard
2,100
Roaring Creek
2,100
Elkwater
2,200
West Huttonsville
2,300
Helvetia
2,400
Alpina
2,400
Harman
2,400
Day's Mills
2,450
Mouth Fishing Hawk
2,480
Valley Head
2,500
Kingsville
2,500
Job
2,600
Laurel Hill B. and B. Pike
2,600
Mingo Flats
2,700
Pickens
2,700
Blue Springs
2,900
Florence
2,900
Glady
2,900
Monterville
3,000
Rich Mountain Battle Field
3,000
Osceola 3,400
The Sinks
3,400
Rich Mountain
3.400
Nettly Mountain
3.400
Currence Knob
3,500
Lone Tree
3,570
Cheat Bridge
3,600
Bickle Knob
4,020
Bayard Knob
4,150
Yokum Knob
4,330
Ward Knob
4,400
Crouch Knob
4,600
9
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
The rocks of Randolph, with few exceptions, are lime- stone, sandstone and shale. Nearly all of these rocks are of sedimentary origin. Limestone was formed of the remains of the shells or skeletons of sea animals, more or less broken to fragments or even ground to powder in the waves of shal- low waters. It is much more soluble in water than other rocks. Sandstone was formed from waste of such rocks as granite. The sand was washed into the sea or other body of
Big Falls of Cheat.
water and was there spread out into layers which in the course of ages accumulated in great thickness. Infiltering waters, carrying some mineral substance in solution was de- posited between the grains and bound them more or less perfectly together. The finer waste of granite rocks formed shale and slate. Millions of years ago the only dry land in North America was a mountain ridge lying east of the Alle- ghenies. This primitive mountain by an internal force was forced up out of the bed of the ocean. The rocks forming this mountain were not sedimentary in origin. The action of air, wind and water in the course of a long period wore down this mountain to a base level and deposited its silt and sedi- ment layer upon layer in the bottom of the ocean. The land formation crept steadily westward. There were alternate intervals of upheavals and subsidences. The coal beds of
10
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
Randolph formed by compressed vegetation, mark successive terrestial. surfaces. At the time of the formation of the Ap- palachian plateau, there were no deep valleys or high moun- tains. The dry land was plastic and formative. There were anticlinals and synclinals that in the course of long periods of time by the action of floods, frosts and other agencies sculped out deep valleys and formed high mountains.
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A
B
The Mountains and Valleys of Randolph as They Probably Ap- peared in an Early Geological Period.
No lake, probably, ever existed in the present formation of Tygarts Valley. The outlet of the Valley, with the excep- tion of temporary land slides, perhaps, has ever been on a lower plane than its floor. However, that the flood plane of the valley has been gradually degrading or eroding, is evi- denced by river terraces in different parts of the valley, cov- ered by sandstones worn smooth by agitation in a stream with a rapid current. These terraces are particularly prominent on the M. J. Coberly farm two miles above Beverly and on the opposite side of the river on the farm of D. R. Baker. Cheat River as it passes through Randolph County is being eroded or degraded at the rate of two inches per annum.
The Sinks.
Perhaps the greatest natural curiosity in Randolph County is the sinks, where Gandy Creek makes a remarkable subterranean passage beneath a spur of the Allegheny moun- tains. The stream issues from its lethean channel in three arched passages side by side on the face of a perpendicular
11
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
cliff, which abridges the glen by an arched opening fifty feet wide by twenty feet high. Into this orifice Gandy's waters incessantly glide. At a low stage of the water a few persons have succeeded in making their way from entrance to exit.
Entrance to the Tunnel of Gandy.
12
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
CHAPTER II.
PRE-HISTORIC RANDOLPH.
R ANDOLPH COUNTY was never the settled abode of the Red Man. To him it was only a large game reservation, into which he made periodic incursions for the hunt and the chase. When the first white men visited the county there
er
Valley River
Parsons
Block Fix
Leading Ch =l
Showers FA.
Dr har.
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2
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Beverly
Gladly FX
Laurel
Sentre
C DLETON CO.
1
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Tom
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Vall
RIVE
El
Greenbrier. R.
100
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Indian
/ trail
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Inchant
Valley Bend
Ganduck,
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Rodzing ck
DEirins
FIX
Senerota
FAIRS
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North FR
Indian Trails.
was little evidence of any except temporary occupation by the savages. Squaw patches, or small clearings were found in some localities : however they were of such a character as to indicate only transitory habitation. Indian mounds are
13
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
still to be seen in some localities, but as a rule are found on or near old trails. A mound of considerable size is still visible on the farm of Archibald Lytle, near where the old fort stood, about three miles south of Elkins. This mound is on an Indian trail which passed up Westfall Run to the West side of Rich Mountain, through the Caplinger settlement on the East side of the mountain, thence up Chenoweth's Creek. Excavations in this mound have revealed fragments of human skulls and stone implements. An Indian burial ground existed also in Valley Bend district on the Currence farm, once owned by Henry Clay Dean.
The Indian population in what are now the two Virginias was never very dense. It is conjectured that at the time of the discovery of America, the territory embraced in these two states contained a population of about 8,000 savages. The Shawnees were the white man's greatest foes during the first half century of his occupancy of the New World. They were a branch of the Algonquin family. The remnants of this family live in the Indian Territory, in a condition of semi- civilization. They are a superior race mentally and physical- ly. Tecumseh, a member of this tribe, was a man skilled in the arts of warfare and of dauntless courage. He was a Brigadier General in the British army in the war of 1812, and was killed in the battle of the Thames.
The ethnic stages as adopted by most archaeologists are savagery, barbarism and civilization and in each of the two lower stages there are three subordinate periods. The dis- tinction between savagery and barbarism is marked by the point where the manufacture of pottery is begun. In the lower status of savagery men lived in their original restricted habitat and subsisted on fruits and nuts. Articulate speech may be supposed to have begun in this status. All existing races of men had passed beyond it at an unknown antiquity. In the middle status of savagery men had learned how to catch fish and to use fire. The invention of the bow and arrow marks its close. The upper status of savagery, in which some of the lowest American tribes still continue, such as the Athamaskans of Hudson Bay, ends, as above stated, with the invention of pottery. They know nothing of horti-
14
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
culture, make no pottery and depend for subsistence entirely on roots, fish and game. They have little or no village life. The lower status of barbarism exhibits the domestication of animals other than the dog. In 1492, at the time of the dis- covery of America, the dog was the only animal domesticated by the North American Indians. This was true of all the American aborigines, except the Peruvians. The absence of domesticable animals is no doubt important among the causes that retarded the development of the American Indians. The horse, which is shown by fossil remains to have existed in six or seven species, had become extinct, and was reintro- duced by the invaders. The regular employment of tillage with irrigation, and the use of adobe brick and stone in archi- tecture, marked the end of the lower status of barbarism in America. The middle status of barbarism was marked in the Eastern Hemisphere by the domestication of other ani- mals than the dog, and there as well as in the Western Hemi- sphere, by the development of irrigation in cultivation, and the use of brick and stone in building, by great improvement in the manufacture of stone implements, and ultimately the introduction of implements of copper and bronze. The middle status may be regarded as ending with the discovery of the process of smelting iron ore ; and this process becomes more and more important through the upper status of barbarism and is finally associated with the production of written records by means of a phonetic alphabet or of advanced hieroglyphics. Among the influences which have affected the more or less rapid development of races the following suggest themselves : The condition of soil and climate as favoring or impeding the aquisition of ample and varied means of sustenance, the existence or absence of the various animals suited for domest- ication, notably, sheep and cattle : the opportunities for con- tact, by migration, commerce or war, with races occupying a higher ethnic scale: inherent ethnological defects or advant- ages in special races.
The Indian that made incursions into this section, be- longed to the lower status of barbarism. He practiced a limited agriculture. However, he domesticated no animal except the dog. He discovered the tobacco plant, smoked
15
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
but never chewed. Smoking was a civil and religious rite and was indulged as a means of communicating with the Great Spirit as well as emphasizing the sancity of treaties between tribes. Thus originated the phrase "smoking the pipe of peace." The Indian raised corn and had many ways of pre- paring it for food. "Green corn" was an important food with the Indians. Many tribes celebrated its season with festivals and religious ceremonies. The Indian cleared land by dead- ening the trees with the stone tomahawk. However, his main subsistence was upon game and fish. His hut was made of long poles bent together and fastened at the top, and covered with bark. There were two openings, a place to go in and out and a place for the smoke to escape. Clothing was made from the tanned skins of animals. His weapons were bone and stone instruments and the bow and arrow. He was un- acquainted with firearms until the white man came. The tradition that the Indian visited lead and other mines has no foundation in fact. Implements used in the hunt and the chase were burried with the Indian because he believed that the soul took its flight to the happy hunting ground. The coward and the deformed were denied admittance to the Indian's paradise. In scalping and mutilating an enemy, he prevented his foe from entering this abode of bliss.
The Indian had great skill in finding his way through the forest. The moss and bark on the trees revealed to him the prevailing direction of the wind and the rays of the sun. In this way he was enabled to distinguish the points of the compass. Foot-paths were as a rule established along water courses, but in crossing from stream to stream dividing ridges were followed. Although not provincial, each tribe claimed a definite territory, and any infraction thereof was a cause of war with neighboring tribes. Individual ownership of land never prevailed and all claims thereto were of a tribal nature. However, individual rights to cultivated patches were re- spected, but his use of the land gave him no permanent title. Tribes consisted of groups, each living in a separate village. Their laws were founded upon custom. Matters of tribal interest were settled in council.
The Indian was sometimes a cannibal, but not often, and
16
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
was closely associated with economic necessity. The custom was practiced only under circumstances of the direst ex- tremity. The custom of leaving old men in the woods to die, is bad enough but not as bad as supposed. They carried the old man with them until he himself grew tired of being a burden and begged to be killed. When this point was reached he was given more than his share of food and left in the woods to die. He believed in revenge, but it was to be measured by the offense. His revenge was only directed against his ene- mies and he at all times defended the members of his own tribe. Within the tribe everything was shared in common. However scant the food, it was shared by those present.
Stone Hatchet Taken from Indian Grave on Isner Farm, Lower Cheat.
17
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
CHAPTER III.
PIONEER PERIOD.
0 RANGE County, Virginia, was formed from Spottsyl- vania county in 1704 and was made to include all the territory West of the mountains. In 1744 that vast region was divided into the districts of Augusta and Frederick and was to be organized into counties as soon as they attained
A Pioneer Cabin.
sufficient population. Monongalia was formed from part of Augusta in 1776: Harrison was formed from part of Monon- galia in 1784 and Randolph from part of Harrison in 1787.
18
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
In 1856 Randolph gave part of its territory to the formation of Tucker county. Randolph also contributed part of its territory along with other counties in the formation of Nicho- las, Pocahontas, Upshur and Webster.
Although settlement was made in the adjoining county of Pendleton in 1747, the first white men to visit the valley were Files or Foyle and Tygart or Taggart, in 1753. Foyle located his cabin in the present site of Beverly, a little north of the Baker Mill, near the mouth of the creek that bears his name. Tygart selected a location farther up the river, on the west side, now the John D. Weese Brick House Place three miles
The Historic Site of Tygart Cabin, Weese Farm, Valley Bend District.
from Beverly. Nothing is known of Tygart or Files that would throw light on their antecedents: however, the tide of emigration must necessarily have been from the east. The Tygart family and young Files departed from the county into Pendleton. These circumstances coupled with the fact that the name was probably Taggart rather than Tygart and the Taggarts were among the first settlers of Pendleton and other eastern counties, the presumption is very strong in favor of the hypothesis that these families came into the valley from the settlements west of the Alleghenies.
Perhaps. Files and Tygart were induced to push into the wilderness in pursuit of game. The fertile lands of the valley, also no doubt, were an inducement.
The difficulties in the way of procuring breadstuffs for
19
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
their families, coupled with the perception of the dangers from Indians on a remote and unprotected border induced Files and Tygart to a determination to abandon the valley. Before they carried their plans into execution Robert Files, wife and five children, the youngest of which was ten years old, were murdered by the Indians, who were returning from the South Branch to the country west of the Ohio. An elder son not being at home escaped, but being nearby heard the disturbance and approaching the house learned of the horrible fate of his relatives, and realizing the utter impossibility of giving any assistance, resolved to give warning to the family of David Tygart. a few miles up the river. Young Files and the Tygart family immediately abandoned the country. Withers says that Files and Tygart had discovered that their location was near an Indian trail and an Indian village. No Indian village existed in dangerous proximity. Mingo on Mingo Run, 32 miles above, had been many years before the site of an Indian village. However, it had been abandoned by the Mingoes many years previous to 1753. Their cabins were near the trail that entered the valley at Elkwater and Huttonsville and passed down the river on the east side, and thence up Leading Creek and over the mountain to Cheat river.
Tygarts Valley did not attract emigrants for a period of eighteen years after the disaster attending the efforts of Files and Tygart. In the meantime hunters from Greenbrier visit- ed the valley and on their return gave a glowing description of the region to the settlements. These reports induced many settlers to seek homes west of the mountains and most of the level land in the valley was occupied by permanent posses- sors during the year 1772. Withers mentions among those who were first to occupy the valley the names of Hadden, Conley, Whiteman, Warwick, Nelson, Westfall, Riffle, and Stalnaker. Westfall found and buried the remains of the Files family. Settlements were made in what is now Lewis, Taylor and Harrison counties in the same year. The region that now comprises Upshur County had been the abode of John and Samuel Pringle since 1764 and by several other families since 1769. John and Samuel Pringle were deserters from the
20
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
army at Fort Pitt and sought safety in the seclusion of the wilderness by ascending the Monongahela and making their abode in the trunk of a sycamore tree on the west fork of the Buckhannon, near the mouth of Turkey Run. They made visits to the South Branch for amunition and their reports caused others to seek that section for settlement.
Indian hostilities, which had been in abeyance since 1765, were renewed in 1774. There is a diversion of opinion as to the cause. Some think that the unprovoked murder of several Indians caused them to seek revenge, while others are inclined to the opinion that they were instigated to out- rages upon the whites by British emmisaries and that the savages who committed the deeds were ignorant of the out- rages committed upon the members of their own race. Three Shawnees, friendly to the whites, were killed near Wheeling by the settlers. Three Indians were killed on the South Branch while on a friendly visit to that country. Among the number killed were Captain Peter and Bald Eagle, two In- dians of prominence in their tribes. About the same time a few white men exterminated Chief Bull and five families of Indians on the Little Kanawha, in cold blood, in what is now Braxton county. Bull and his little band were on terms of intimate friendship with the settlers, visiting and hunting with them. The people expected renewed hostilities on the part of the Indians and in 1774 two forts were built in Ran- dolph. The Westfall fort. evidences of which still remain on the farm of Daniel Baker. near the mouth of Files Creek and the Currence fort which was built near the present town of Mill Creek. These forts were constructed of logs, with chimneys on the inside to keep the Indians from reaching the roof. Holes were left between the logs to shoot through. There was no visitation this year from the Indians. However, the settlers kept scouts in the mountains, watching the trails leading into the valley. On the first indication of danger. the settlers took refuge in the forts. The Revolutionary war brought Indian troubles in 1777. On the frontier this year was known as the bloody year of the three sevens. The British were instrumental in causing the Indians to make an effort to exterminate or drive back the western settlers. The
21
A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
whites were apprehensive and vigilant. Leonard Pedro and William White were sent out as scouts to watch Indian trails leading into Randolph. They were watching the path that ascended the Little Kanawha. in Braxton County, when being pressed by the necessity for food, shot an elk. A number of Indians being in the neighborhood, heard the report of their gun and stealthily followed them to their camp, and were in the act of making an attack when they were discovered by White. A savage sprang upon them and White made a futile strike at the Indian with a tomahawk. Realizing that re- sistance was useless, White pretended that he had attempted to do the Indian harm only when half awake, and assumed an air of friendliness. He told the Indians that Pedro and him- self were on their way to join the Indians. Perhaps his ruse would have been successful if Pedro's dejected countenance had not contradicted his pretentions. They were tied for the rest of the night. In the morning Pedro was marked for the tomahawk and scalping knife by being painted black. How- ever, the Indian abandoned their purpose of killing Pedro and returned to Ohio, taking their two captives with them. White stole a gun, killed an Indian, appropriated the horse of his fallen foe and returned to Randolph in 1777. Pedro was never heard of afterward.
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