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Library-Potomac State College of WVU
2 6726 00000275 8
History of Keyser, West Virginia 1737-1913
By William W. Wolfe
THE CITY OF
K
RSARY OF
FOURDER 1811
INCORP RATED-187
AINNY
1874 - 1974
EYSER, WEST VIE
L.LOOL
G
F 249 . K49 W64 1974
Reference
WEST VIRGINIA
Mary F Shipper Library Potomac State College of WVU Keyser, WV. 26726
REFERENCE
TOMAR 3 0 2018
Ref F249. K49 WHY 1974
The First Postmaster At Keyser, West Virginia And His Wife
Colonel and Mrs. Isaac McCarty
He was appointed postmaster at Pattytown Oct. 30, 1811. In 1835 he founded the town of Oakland, Md., and became its first postmaster. He died in Fairfield, Iowa, in 1867. Both of his grandfathers were killed by Indians on Patterson Creek in 1761.
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The original McCarty General Store and Paddytown, Virginia Post Office built before 1811, at the mouth of Limestone Run.
History of Keyser, West Virginia 1737-1913
The story of Keyser, West Virginia, from the early years of the 18th century. Taken from facts of historical material available from local libraries, citizens and city and county court records.
By William W. Wolfe
Published 1974
Printed by Keyprint, Inc.
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FIRST EDITION
Copyright1974 by William W. Wolfe. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or parts thereof, in any form, except for the inclusion of quotations in reviews.
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DEDICATION
To the people of Keyser, West Virginia, past and present, all of whom have helped to make this city what it is - a uniquely attractive and congenial place in which to live,
(I have never heard anyone say, "I would hate to live in Keyser").
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The active co-operation of the following is gratefully acknowledged:
The Clerk of the County Court, Mrs. Willie Valentine and her assistants.
The Clerk of the Circuit Court, Mr. James A. Dixon, and his assistants.
Miss Mary Shipper, formerly librarian at Potomac State College. Mr. Phillip Jordan, Post Master at Keyser, W.Va.
The Mayor of Keyser, Mr. Irving Athey and his predecessor, Mr. L. Raymond Wolford.
Mr. Harry P. Emmart, the Clerk of the City of Keyser.
Mrs. Marietta Millar Welch, Keyser, W.Va.
Captain Richard V. Hoffman, Los Angeles, California, Mrs. Woodrow P. Beavers, Keyser, W.Va., and many others.
Westvaco, Luke, Maryland.
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INTRODUCTION
This history of Keyser, West Virginia, has been written originally at the request of Mrs. Mary Handlan, librarian of the Keyser- Mineral County Library, to whom as well as to her assistants, I am much indebted for permitting me access to the local historical and other material in that institution.
This is a history of Keyser, not a history of Mineral County, and approaches the subject from a strictly objective view point. The emphasis is on facts; however, no claim is made that it is without mistakes.
To give all the details in a local history can be very boring and also it is often best not to tell all. I have tried to keep this within these limits.
I hope this book may serve to further interest in our local historical heritage. It is now being presented to the public in connection with Keyser's Centennial of Incorporation.
Wm. W. Wolfe
Keyser, W.Va.
February 2, 1974
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER 1 - Before the Whiteman
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CHAPTER 2 - The First Whitement
1
CHAPTER 3 - The First White Settler at Keyser 2
CHAPTER 4 - The McCartys 3
CHAPTER 5 - The Singletons and the Angus McDonalds 7
CHAPTER 6 - The Coming of the Railroad-New Creek Depot 11
CHAPTER 7 - The Civil War Period 14
CHAPTER 8 - The Post War Period 20
CHAPTER 9 - The Town of Keyser, West Virginia 23
CHAPTER 10 - Keyser Becomes Modern 27
CHAPTER 11 - South Keyser 29
CHAPTER 12 - The Town Becomes the City of Keyser
31
CHAPTER 13 - A Burial List of the Mt. Hope Presbyterian Churchyard 32
CHAPTER 14 - List of Victims of the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 34
CHAPTER 15 - The Indians Come Back to Keyser 37
CHAPTER 16 - The Hampshire County War Dead of the War of 1812, 38
Some of them from Keyser 39
CHAPTER 17 - Biographies of Keyser's Leading Citizens of 1893
42
CHAPTER 18 - Interesting Wills of Two Sisters 44
CHAPTER 19 - Some Keyser Anecdotes 47
CHAPTER 20 - Comdensations and Excerpts of July, 1898
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(Special Edition of Keyser, Tribune, Vol. 29, No. 17) A Bonus Gift To The Reader .
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CHAPTER 1 Before the White Man
In the early years of the eighteenth century Keyser was still Indian hunting ground, with the nearest permanently inhabited native villages at Oldtown below Cumberland, Maryland, and at Oldfield, near Moorefield, West Virginia. There were few if any permanent Indian residents at what is now Keyser, as the severe winters of the Allegheny Front mountains caused the area to be used only in summer and autumn, as a hunting ground.
The Shawnees had villages along the South Branch of the Potomac River both above and below the present town of Romney.
The Delawares were found along the Cacapon River.
The Senecas had villages along the South Branch, one being opposite "Hanging Rock" now known as "The Rocks" four miles north of Romney, on the river. This tribe also extended to the sources of the South Branch and its tributaries, having a village at the mouth of what is now called Seneca Creek at Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County.
Indian implements such as pipes, hatchets, and ceremonial stones found in the Upper Potomac Valley are similar in material and workmanship to those found in the Ohio Valley. It is probable that the tribes from that valley passed over the Alleghenies and had contact with or were part of the tribes of the Potomac Indians.
When excavating the basement of the house at 308 North Main Street in Keyser, an Indian grave, presumably of an adult man, was uncovered, containing necklaces, stone ax-heads, arrows and other artifacts.
It is believed that Indians came to Keyser in summer and raised corn on "Hominy Island" (Long's Island).
CHAPTER 2 The First White Men
King Charles II of England, while in exile, contracted heavy gambling debts, some of which he paid off by giving a land grant in the "northern neck" of Virginia. An ancestor of Lord Fairfax, Lord Culpepper, bought up this grant from the four "Noble Lords" to whom it had been granted. When Thomas, Lord Fairfax, inherited this large tract, he came to Virginia to develop it. This land extended to the "headwaters" of the Potomac River.
The first white men of whom we have any record, to pass through Keyser, were the surveyors sent by Lord Fairfax in 1736 to determine the source of the Potomac. They camped during the winter of 1736-37 at what is now Bloomington, Maryland. The head of the group was William Mayo. His assistant, George Savage, was a blind mathematician and astronomer from London. During the winter's stay at Bloomington their food supply was nearly exhausted. George Savage is said to have gone outside their hut one morning and accidentally caught a wild turkey which was stuck in a deep snow bank. Some say the river at that place was called the Savage River for this man.
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Legend also has it that on the return journey down the river in 1737, they found a stream of water they had overlooked when ascending the river. They indicated it on their map as "New Creek." At least in Lord Fairfax's grants of 1752, it is stated the land was at the mouth of New Creek, so this name was applied to this stream before 1750.
CHAPTER 3 The First White Settler at Keyser
After the Mayo Expedition had determined the extent of Lord Fairfax's domain, he began issuing land grants and lined off Patterson Creek Manor.
The first land grant at what is now Keyser was issued by, - to give him his full title, "Thomas Lord Fairfax, Baron Cameron, in that part of Great Britain called Scotland." This grant was issued to Christopher Beelor, by full patent bearing the date of March 20th, 1752, and is registered in the Proprietor's Book II, folio 146. This book is now at Richmond, Virginia.
The grant contained 3871/2 acres. It's boundaries were - from the mouth of New Creek to what is now Cross Street, which was the mouth of a small "run" at that time; then west on what is now Lincoln Street, over Fort Hill to the E Street run; down the E Street run to the Potomac River, taking in most of Hominy Island (Long Island); thence down the river to the mouth of New Creek.
The land to the south of Lincoln Street, Fairfax had already granted to John Lindsey and took in the present Potomac Heights and the Airport Addition to Keyser.
Christopher Beelor built a cabin on the river bank at Welch Street, now the site of James Smith's home. He lived here for several years, until marauding bands of Indians from Ohio forced him to flee to Fairfax County, during the French and Indian War. By 1774 he was deceased; his will dated March 30, 1773, is recorded at the Fairfax County Courthouse. In it he devises his estate including his land at New Creek to his wife, Mary Beelor. Apparently he had no other heir.
His widow, Mary Beelor, later married George Kyger, by whom she had the following children: -
Catherine Kyger, married Moses Royse
Mary Kyger, married Mr. Dunkle
Elizabeth Kyger
George Kyger, married Ruth
Daniel Benjamin Kyger
John Kyger, --
all of whom lived here at Keyser
By 1807, her husband, George Kyger, was deceased. On Sept. 12, 1807, she and her children sold the farm here to James Mosley of Baltimore, Maryland, for the sum of 2,000 pounds current Virginia money.
James Mosley lived on his farm until his death about 1850. His family and widow occupied it until the Civil War.
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CHAPTER 4 The McCartys
James Mosley married Mary McCarty, a sister of Patrick McCarty for whom Paddytown was named. All of the McCartys and Mosleys here were descended from two men who were captured and killed on Patterson Creek by Indians.
The McCartys came to what is now Mineral County as early as 1755. Patrick McCarty was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, about 1730. He, with his wife and one child, came to the Patterson Creek Manor in 1755, with a close friend, Wendell Millar, a Scot. McCarty and Millar built a long log cabin divided in the middle for double occupancy on Lot. No. 8 of the Manor. In one end McCarty and his family lived; in the other end Wendell Millar and his family.
The two men, McCarty and Millar, were stacking flax in a field (now a part of the Whipp farm) in the late summer of 1761 when a roving war party of Indians under the leadership of "Killbuck" attacked them. Wendell Millar was killed instantly. McCarty tried to escape to a block house called Fort Cocke on the hill across the creek from the farm. While he was climbing a fence, the Indians overtook and captured him. He was taken by them to Ohio where he was later burned at the stake.
Patrick McCarty was survived by his wife, one son, Edward McCarty, born 1756, died 1828, and four daughters. This Edward was the actual founder of Paddytown, which was named for his son, Patrick.
Wendell Millar was survived by his wife, and several children, one of whom was a daughter, Eilizabeth Millar, born 1757, died 1819 (at the Old Stone House on Armstrong Street).
Edward McCarty, only son of the martyred Patrick McCarty, married Elizabeth Millar, daughter of the slain Wendell Millar. They had fourteen children and lived at what is now the eastern party of Keyser.
Among their fourteen children were:
Patrick McCarty, died 1828, married Ruth Cresap
Issac McCarty, born 1790, died 1867 at Fairfield, Iowa.
(first Post Master at Keyser 1811) who married Anne Devecmon. Edward McCarty, Jr., born 1784, died 1849, married twice -
first to Sarah Cresap in 1812.
secondly to Ruth Cresap in 1827.
Elizabeth McCarty, who married Col. William Armstrong of Romney and Keyser.
Mary McCarty, who married James Mosley, the purchaser of the Beelor-Kyger farm.
This Edward McCarty, son of the Indian martyr, owned the land on the eastern bank of New Creek, including what is now Armstrong Street, Extended, Keys Street, Millmeadow, Wildcat Hollow, the Keyser Industrial Park, the site of the Keyser Sanitation Plant, the site of the Mineral County Poor Farm, and most of Black Oak Bottom. He and his sons built the large stone house on Armstrong
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Street Extended about 1815. Hereafter in this narrative this house will be referred to as "the Old Stone House" or the "Stone House."
The McCarty's business enterprise here was diversified. They had a general store where they sold provisions such as salt, corn, wheat, tea and whiskey, knives, forks, tin cups and plates; they had the post office, did threshing of wheat, cut cord wood and put on roofs. They had a forge and iron foundry where the Keyser Sanitation Disposal Plant now is; a salt well where the Industrial Park is; a flour mill'in Mill Meadow, a saw mill and a lime kiln.
At their forge they made "Franklin stoves," horse shoes, hammers, hoes, skillets, ovens, log chains, axes, picks, shovels, etc.
Their largest individual account was that of James Daily, Sr., of Romney which amounted to $7715.48 in 1815. Other customers were Benjamin Pennybacker, Hugh Perrill, John McCord, Daniel Taylor, William Vandiver, James Little, William Tasker, Timothy Corn, and John McDowell, whose account in 1815 was $2002.02.
One year they hired John Shoemaker to make shoes for their slaves. One of their customers paid $300.00 on his bill by giving them a negro woman slave. They paid Timothy Corn $100.00 for some hay.
They sold an iron skillet for 67c, a skillet with a lid for $1.121/2, an ax was $2.25. Beans were one dollar a bushel, "stone coal" at 7c per pound, tea cups were $3.00 the dozen, a good bay mare for $95.50.
Their iron wares were shipped to Georgetown, D.C. by flat boat when the river was sufficiently high. There is a rock in the river near Twenty-first Bridge called "The Boating Rock." When the water in the river covered that rock flat boats could navigate down stream to Georgetown.
During the presidential campaign of 1824, a parade for Henry Clay for president was held in Romney, in which was a flag and bunting decorated, horse-drawn float filled with products from the McCarty's Paddytown Iron Furnace.
The first post office at Keyser was established October 30, 1811, and named Paddytown, Virginia, after Patrick, son of Edward McCarty. The first post master was Isaac McCarty, also a son of Edward McCarty. Isaac was twenty-one years old when appointed post master, and served until October 15, 1814, at which time his sister Elizabeth McCarty's husband, William Armstrong became post master. William Armstrong served until April 20, 1818, when he was succeeded by his brother David Armstrong. David Armstrong was succeeded on July 20, 1820, by Isaac McCarty's brother, Patrick McCarty (the one for whom Paddytown was named). It will be apparent from this that the post office here was a McCarty family institution.
Isaac McCarty, after the McCarty business at Paddytown failed, went in 1826 or 27 to the Youghiogheny Glades and founded what is now the town of Oakland, Maryland. There he organized the first Sunday school, had a general store, and a farm, organized a Methodist Church, built the first church building and became the
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first post master at what is now Oakland.
About 1853 he failed in business and moved to Fairfield, Iowa, where he died in 1867.
During the depression of 1824 the McCartys here went bankrupt, being in debt to the Bank of the United States. The father of the family, Edward, son of Patrick, the Indian martyre, died in 1824 or 1825. Patrick, his son, died in 1829. There was a forced sale. All the McCartys had left here was the "Old Stone House", a few acres of ground including Mill Meadow, and forty negro slaves. Most of the McCartys left this community.
Soon after this the remaining McCarty farm land, the "Stone House" and much additional farm land was purchased by James Singleton, who owned it until his death in 1842 (his name was John).
In the "Itinerary of Virginia" published in 1835 appears the following reference to Paddytown, Va .:
"Paddytown, Va. post office vacant 1835. Is a small, romantic village, 214 miles from Richmond and 135 miles Northwest from Washington. Has 6 dwelling houses, 1 mercantile store, 1 manufactoring flour mill, and in immediate vicinity 1 forge and iron furnace. Romantic scenery, especially Slim Bottom Hill (Queen's Point). Lands in immediate vicinity belong to James Singleton."
Due to many causes there was a decline in the economic importance of this little village. The Paddytown Post Office was discontinued January 6, 1844. George Washington Mosley, whose mother was the granddaughter of Patrick McCarty, the Indian martyr, was its last post master.
The name Paddytown was perpetuated in the name of the Paddytown Company of the Battalion of the 77th Regiment and 3rd Division of the Virginia Militia, which held drills jnd muster days here. A favorite place for these was a large grove of trees, in which wasa spring, where the St. Francis Parochial School now is. The actual drilling was in a Mosley field where the B&O RR machine shops were later situated. These muster days were holiday outings much like picnics, whole families attending. The local name of this militia company was the "Buck Tails," the "Paddytown Buck Tails."
One of the Muster Rolls of the Buck Tails has survived and is as follows:
"Muster Roll of the Paddytown Company for 1843. Date of Commission 25th August, 1830.
The Paddytown Company Battalion, 77th Regiment and 3rd Division Virginia Militia, April 1843.
William Boley
Peter Fleek Richard Baker John Spencer Thomas I. Hooper Jacob Fleek, Jr.
James Culp
Solomon Elifritz
Maredeth Adams
Francis Martin
Nicholas Ravenscraft Thomas Daniels
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Simon Umstott Thomas Dobbins John S. Rogers Sephns Culp Moses Greenwade Vans Dobbins William James Michael Hull David Miller William Urice Henry Fleek Joseph Martin William Dawson Noah James John Waxler Harmon Ravenscraft
Joseph C. Perkins Arthur Fleek Sollomon Urice William H. Nesbit John Urice James Pwell John Baley
Samuel Arnold
Edward Fleek
John Fridley
Johnson Dobbins James Ravenscraft Sheldon Long Edward Gilpin Amos Culp Othey Spencer John Ravenscraft John Haggerty Edward Ravenscraft Samuel Byser James Davis Peter Umstott Wileby Dean James Rogers Thomas Hull John T. Singleton Wm. H. Rafter John T. Hart Lawrence Burns John Wineour Silas Lees James H. Dawson Jacob Miller
John T. Ward Jacob Hart
After 1845 the village of Paddytown began to decline. The coming .of the B&O RR brought new life and growth to the village. The railroad passed through both the Singleton (earlier the McCarty) farm and the Mosley farm. The city of Keyser would develop chiefly in the western bank of New Creek; Paddytown would become the eastern and smaller part of Keyser east of New Creek.
View of Bull Neck, by Mrs. Cornelia Peake McDonald Sketched 1853
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CHAPTER 5 The Singletons and the Angus McDonalds
The last of the McCarty holdings at Paddytown including the "Stone House," forge, store, mill, etc., were purchased in 1829 by John Magruder Singleton, born September 1, 1775, died February 22, 1842. Mr. Singleton was born in Hardy County, the son of John Singleton and his wife Susanna Magruder, born March 20, 1743. Susanna's first marriage was to Carleton Tawnyhill of Winchester, Va. John Singleton was her second husband.
John and Susanna had one son, John Magruder Singleton, the purchaser of the McCarty farm here. John Magruder Singleton married on January 22, 1807, Mary Thompson, born April 13, 1788, died at Downey, Iowa in 1869.
Their children were:
Susan Singleton, born June 22, 1810, who married Joseph McCarty, born May 22, 1810, died Nov. 19, 1888.
John T. Singleton, born April 20, 1812, married on September 6, 1831, Mary Cresap.
Aaron Singleton, born January 25, 1818, married November 1, 1836, Mary Myers of Romney.
Mary Ann Singleton, born May 13, 1822, married February 1840, Romullus Thistle.
James R. Singleton, born June 22, 1828, died March 16, 1899, married Harriet Hayward, born June 6, 1817.
Barbara Singleton, born 1813, married on March 10, 1832 to John G. Lynn of Cumberland.
When John Magruder Singleton died in 1842, he left a will containing bequests amounting to several thousands of dollars and appointed Col. Angus McDonald, attorney, of Romney, his administrator. Col. McDonald refused to serve. He evidently had ther plans. By this time it was known that the B&O RR would come through this farm inducing his aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Tidball of Winchester, to buy the Singleton farm at public auction; he later bought the farm from her. The Singletons realized very little money from the sale of their farm. The bequests of John Magruder Singleton's will could not be paid for lack of funds. The Singletons moved to Iowa and Missouri. The B&ORR came through the farm in 1852, increasing its value. Col. McDonald profited much by buying it. Col. McDonald was a cousin of Dr. Hunter Maguire, Surgeon General of the Confederate Army and was from Winchester, Va., and a West Point graduate.
Col. McDonald moved to Paddytown, occupying the "Stone House" and farm in 1853. He continued to reside there until 1857, when he moved back to Romney.
After the final settlement of the James M. Singleton estate all of the children with their mother, Mrs. Mary Tompson Singleton, moved to Iowa, except one son, Aaron T. Singleton, who remained here and was constable of this district. He and his wife helped organize the first church in this village, the First Methodist Church,
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in 1850. They and the Mosleys helped built the first church building in Keyser, the Methodist Church on Welch Street, where Shaffer's Electric Co. now is. This building was burned by soldiers during the Civil War. In the late 1850s Aaron Singleton and his wife moved to Iowa.
Col. Angus William McDonald's aunt, Mrs. Eleanor McDonald Tidball, lived in the "Old Stone HOUSE" AT Paddytown from 1847 to 1852, at which time he came here and lived in it.
Col. McDonald was born in Winchester, Virginia, of Scotish Jacobin ancestry. His parents were - Angus McDonald &1769-1814) and his wife, Mary Maguire (1776-1808). He graduated from West Point Military Academy, was a colonel in the army for a few years, and became a lawyer, residing at Romney. He married a Romney girl, Leacy Ann Naylor (1803-1843), by whom he had eight children. After her death he went to Hannibal, Missouri, living there for a few years and did military service against the Indians.
While in Hannibal, he married Cornelia Peake, daughter of Dr. Humphrey Peake, of Alexandria, Virginia and later of Hannibal, Missouri. Dr. Peake, during his stay in Hannibal, was the family doctor to Mark Twain's parents, the Clements family. He was a gentleman of the "old school," imposing, formal, impressive, and impoverished. He wore knee breeches, buckled shoes and a ruffled shirt. He was no more a success financially than Mark Twain's father. Mark Twain devotes several pages of his biography to Dr. Humphrey Peake. He later visited at the "Old Stone House."
Col. McDonald and his second wife returned from Hannibal to Romney and later came to the "Stone House." He had nine children by his second wife, who, with the eight he had by the first wife, made a total of seventeen children.
The colonel moved to Paddytown in 1853 and lived here until 1857. Two of his children were born here -
Ellen McDonald, born 1854 and
Roy (Rob) McDonald, born 1856.
With the coming of the railroad, a post office was re-established here on January 22, 1852, named Paddy Town (two words), Virginia; the post master was a son of Col. Angus W. McDonald by his first wife, Edward Hitchcock McDonald. Col. McDonald's wife, Mrs. Cornelia Peak McDonald, who had been educated in a young ladies seminary in Alexandria, Va., and who was proficient in French, well read in English literature, and could paint and sketch, did not like the name Paddy Town. To her it was unesthetic and wholly unacceptable. She used her husband's influence to have the name of the office changed to Wind Lea, Virginia, which the Post Office Department did on January 22, 1855.
Mrs. Cornelia McDonald had considerable skill as a writer. After the Civil War, in 1875, she published a book, "A Diary, With Reminiscences of the War and Refugee Life in the Shenandoah Valley 1860-1965." One of the illustrations in this book is her sketch of the "Old Stone House," another is her sketch of Paddy Town, the only picture of this village in pre-Civil War Times.
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Mrs. McDonald missed the social life of Alexandria. There is no record of her having any social contact with the other residents here. In all her writings she never mentions the other people here such as - Col. Edward Armstrong, the Mosleys, Mrs. Sarah McCarty, Col. James Dayton, the Reitzels, the Grimes, James I. Barrick, Mrs. Cornelius Long, the Smoots and others who were substantial and prosperous people of the community. Wind Lea was not exactly her "cup of tea," although she had many slaves to wait on her.
There was an elaborate wedding at the "Old Stone House" on December 20, 1855, when Anne Sanford McDonald, born October 30, 1830, died February 10, 1912, a daughter of Col. McDonald by his first wife, married James W. Green; he died 1884. McDonalds, Naylors, Peaks, and Maguires came from near and far for this wedding.
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