USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V. 2 > Part 7
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was the greatest of all the Fairfaxes. Milton referred to him in one of his poems as "Fairfax whose name in arms through Europe rings, filling each mouth with envy or with praise." His wife was the daughter of Lord Vere de Vere. His daughter married the profligate Duke of Buck- ingham. This great soldier resigned command of the army rather than invade Scotland. The fourth Lord Fairfax was Henry, a cousin, and the fifth was his son Thomas ; the sixth was Thomas, Lord Fairfax, who came to America. Through his mother, who was a daughter of Lord Cul- pepper, he inherited about one-fourth of Virginia. He came over to the Virginia wilderness to see his estate and was so enraptured with the beauty of the scenery and the fine hunting that he decided to locate here and did, erecting a fine home called Greenway Court, about eight miles from where Winchester, Virginia, now stands. He came over in 1739 and died in 1782, in the gIst year of his age. Probably forty years before Lord Thomas Fairfax came to Virginia, another member of the family, John Fairfax, came over and located in Charles county, in the Province of Maryland. He married Catherine, daughter of Henry Norris, and his only son, John, Jr., inherited the Norris homestead. John Fairfax II married Mary Scott of Baltimore county. In 1720, nine years before Baltimore was incorporated, Mary Scott Fairfax dis- posed of her parental estate on Elk Ridge, now Baltimore. John Fair- fax II died in 1735, and his only son, William, married first, Benedicta Blanchard. They had two sons and three daughters. His first wife dying, William Fairfax married Elizabeth, daughter of Peyton Buckner of Virginia. By this union he had two sons and three daughters. In 1789, he disposed of his Maryland property and crossing the Potomac located at Occoquan, Prince William county, Virginia, and died there in 1793. John Fairfax, the third son of William Fairfax, and the first by his second wife, was the first of this line to become a Virginian. In 1783, just after resigning the command of the Revolutionary army, General George Washington sent across to Maryland for young John Fairfax and offered him the position of assistant to Lund Washington, the General's nephew, in the management of his extensive properties, consisting of 55,000 acres of land. As John Fairfax was born December 10, 1763, he was not yet twenty years of age when he accepted this important position. Within two years Lund Washington resigned to accept a public office, and John Fairfax succeeded him as superintendent of Mt. Vernon and all General Washington's property. He held the position seven years, till 1790, when he resigned to take possession of
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an extensive tract of land in the Monongalia Glades and located in what is now Preston county, about one mile south of where Reedsville now stands and near Arthurdale, where he erected what was considered a fine house in that day and age, a large two-story log house with a big porch in front and rear, and slave quarters built in a semicircle back from the mansion house. He died December 25, 1843, and lies buried in sight of the old home. He was married twice, first to Mary, daugh- ter of Samuel Byrne of Virginia. She was born in 1770, and married John Fairfax in 1792, and died July 22, 1803, aged 33 years. To this union was born George William, in 1793. He died July 3, 1816, aged 23 years. William, the second son, was born July 31, 1795, and died in Missouri: Buckner, the third son, was born March 22, 1798, and died March 30, 1880, at Cranberry Summit, now Terra Alta. The fourth son, John, Jr., was born January 6, 1800, and was of a roving disposition and would not stay at home. He was killed in a steamboat explosion on the Mississippi River. The only daughter by this marriage was Mary Byrne, born May 29, 1802. She married Aquila Martin and died April 24, 1832, aged nearly 30 years. Isaac Parsons Martin of Kingwood is a grandson of this marriage. After the death of his first wife, John Fairfax married a widow, Nancy Loid Franklin, a daughter of Francis Boucher Franklin of Charles county, Maryland. She was born November II, 1772, and died September 18, 1850, aged 77 years Io months and 7 days. Her first husband was a cousin named Franklin, and by him she had two daughters, Harriet and Julia. Harriet married Colonel Thomas Haymond and lived and died in Marion county, near Fairmont. Several children of this union attained prominence, among them Alpheus Haymond, who served twelve years as Judge of the Supreme Court of this state. Julia married Major William B. Zinn, one of the most prominent men of Preston county. They had no children and lived and died at what is now known as Brown's Mills, two miles south of Reedsville. Colonel John Fairfax by his second marriage had four children as follows: Francis Boucher Franklin (named for the grandfather), born January 17, 1807; Elizabeth Loid, born January II, 1810; George Washington, born December 5, 1812, and Chloe Ann, born February 18, 1814, and died April 24, 1815.
In 1794, Governor Brook of Virginia appointed John Fairfax a justice of the peace and later he became presiding justice, the first for the county. Three times he was elected to the House of Delegates of Vir- ginia, and served as sheriff of the county, and several years as colonel of the 104th Regiment of Virginia troops. Throughout his manhood
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he served in positions of trust and responsibility with honor to himself and credit to his country. Colonel Fairfax was a man of fine personal appearance, over six feet in height, blue eyes, fair complexion and dark hair. The original tract of land in Valley district which Colonel Fairfax had acquired from Philip Doddridge not being considered enough for his growing family, he came down to the Cheat River Valley and pur- chased of James Morgan 400 acres of the finest land in the county for the sum of $2,000. This was between 1810 and 1815. In 1817 he began the erection of a fine dressed stone residence, since known as Fairfax Manor. The work was in charge of his sons Buckner and William, who lived in a log house at the foot of the hill east of the stone house and afterwards used for darkey quarters. Before the house was completed it was occupied by Buckner and William, and it was many years before the work was finished. William K. Hall had the contract for the carpenter work and Hezekiah Pell was an overseer on the building. Both these men were prominent in the early history of this section. Most of the rough work on Fairfax Manor was handled by the slaves of Colonel Fairfax, as he had about thirty negroes. This residence is probably the most historic in the county and was the scene of many brilliant assemblages in ante-bellum days. At his death Colonel Fairfax willed it to his daughter, Elizabeth, who lived there until her death, on February 2, 1882. She never married, and now lies buried in the Kingwood cemetery. After her death without issue or will, the property was sold and purchased by William G. Brown of Kingwood, member of Congress for the Second district. He added to it and made extensive improvements to the' place. Colonel Fairfax moved to this property and died there on Christmas night, 1843. He had retired as usual with his wife, and Hattie, a little three-year-old granddaughter, was sleeping with them. This child was raised by her grandmother, as her mother died when she was a little over a year old. 'She was a daughter of F. B. F. Fairfax and mother of the writer of this sketch. Colonel Fairfax had not been well for several days, but was not considered dangerously ill. Along in the night his wife woke up the little girl and said, "Hattie, your grandpa is gone"" The child felt over to him and said, "No, he is not, grandma, he is here"" Like a sage and philosopher, he had wrapped the drapery of his couch about him and passed away peacefully and quietly in his sleep.
Of the children of Colonel Fairfax, Buckner acquired the most prominence. He was born in Valley district at the old home, and named for his maternal grandfather's family. At twenty
FAIRFAX MANOR HOUSE
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Erected by Colonel John Fairfax in 1806 and is now owned by William G. Brown.
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years of age he was appointed county surveyor and directed to run the line between Monongalia and Preston counties. March 30, 1828, he married Rebecca, daughter of James Parsons of Romney, Hampshire county. He represented Preston county in the Virginia Assembly in 1837-38 and in 1846-47 and in 1851. In 1849 the General Assembly of Virginia elected him General of the 10th Brigade, 3rd Division of the Virginia Militia. He was a justice of the peace many years and member of the County Court. His children were : James Baldwin; Mary Catherine (died when about grown); Susan Louise, who married Colonel John Allen Fairfax Martin (her first cousin, son of Aquila Martin and Mary Fairfax) on October 19, 1852. She died on the birth of her first child, Isaac Parsons Martin of King- wood. The fourth child of General Buckner Fairfax was Parthena Gregg, who married a man named Smith. She lost him and several children by him, and then married Charles W. Vickery. Both lie buried in the Kingwood cemetery. Two children survive this marriage: Florence, the wife of Felix Elliott, cashier of the Bank of Kingwood, and Rupert, still single. The fifth child is Sarah Rebecca, unmarried and living in Kingwood, and Ann Elizabeth, the wife of Dr. S. M. Scott of Terra Alta, is the youngest.
Colonel John Martin, who married the second daughter of General Fairfax, attained almost as much prominence as the General. He served as Colonel of the 148th Regiment of Virginia Militia; deputy sheriff several times; member of the Legislature of Virginia in 1853 and 1855 and in 1881 ; president board of directors of the Asylum for Insane at Weston. He died January 24, 1898, and lies buried in the Terra Alta cemetery. .
General Buckner Fairfax lived many years at the old Dunkard Bot- tom farm on Cheat River, two miles east of Kingwood. In his later years he moved to Terra Alta and died there March 30, 1880, and is buried in the cemetery there.
Colonel John Fairfax's sons by his second wife, Franklin and George Washington (named for the "Father of his Country"), both became prominent and were commissioned colonels in the military service of Virginia.
F. B. F. (grandfather of the writer) married Mary Elizabeth Garrett, April 23, 1835. The latter was a daughter of John P. and Elizabeth Garrett of Frederick, Maryland, who were married April 16, 1801. The daughter was born March 1, 1806, and was twin to Allen W. Garrett,
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who died February 23, 1835. The sister died November 29, 1841, aged 34 years, 8 months and 29 days. Colonel F. B. F. Fairfax and Mary Elizabeth Garrett were married by Bishop John Johns at Frederick, Maryland. To this union was born a son, March 8, 1837, named John Philpot. It was dead born or only lived a short time. April 27, 1838, twin daughters were born, and named: Sarah Virginia, who died May 10th, aged 14 days, and Elizabeth Ann Loid, who grew up and was married to Henry Marshall Grimes, September 22, 1859, by Rev. Spencer King, and died February 22, 1875, in her 37th year, leaving a family of eight children. July 4, 1840, another daughter was born to Colonel F. B. F. Fairfax and named Harriet Virginia Caroline. She was married to Charles Mercer Brown on February 22, 1861. He died November 26, 1868, leaving two boys, Jefferson Slidell and Benjamin Loid. No- vember 19, 1872, the widow married Charles R. Morgan of Marion county and had one child by him, May Fairfax, now the wife of Charles W. Wolfe of Kingwood. December 27, 1897, Mrs. Morgan died and is buried in the Kingwood cemetery by the side of her aunt Elizabeth, the daughter of Colonel John Fairfax by his second wife. Mary E. Gar- rett Fairfax died November 29, 1841, aged 34 years, 8 months and 29 days.
On July 7, 1842, Franklin Fairfax was married to Emily Fortney by Rev. Daniel Fortney. The second wife was born November 26, 1817, and died July 22, 1903, in her 86th year. September 2, 1843, a daughter was born to this union and named Frances Henrietta. She died September 20th, aged 18 days. Olivia Elvira was born October 25, 1844, and is single and living near Reedsville at the old home. Marianna Josephine, born February 18, 1847, died July 5, 1851. Francis Robert Henson, born December 22, 1848, died October 29, 1857. Julia Vandelia, born April 28, 1851, and married to Clark J. Bayles, March 18, 1885, by the Rev. David Rogers, is living on the old homestead near Reedsville. Rebecca Kate, born June 4, 1854, married Dr. John D. Hall, October 18, 1876. They had one child, Walter Eustace, who died in Kingwood, April 17, 1881, of scarlet fever, and is buried in the Kingwood cemetery. They moved to Indiana, where the doctor died, and the widow is living at the old homestead near Reedsville. Helen Bell, born June 12, 1856, died of typhoid fever November 4, 1893. Martha Louisa, born May 27, 1859, married Joseph W. Bixler, now living in Morgantown. Albert Sidney Johnstone (a girl), born June 5, 1862, married Lafayette Ralphsnyder and is living in Georgetown,
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Monongalia county. Franklin Fairfax died July 13, 1888, and is buried in the Reedsville cemetery.
The youngest son of John Fairfax, born December 5, 1812, and named after our first President, also attained distinction. He served as colonel of the Virginia Militia about 1840, and in 1844 as sheriff of the county. He resided in Morgantown for a time and served as deputy sheriff of Monongalia county under John T. Fleming about 1854. He moved back to Preston county in 1858 and built a fine home on the old original Fairfax plantation, where Arthurdale now stands. He was married to Margaret Stewart Gay, April 29, 1846. She was a daughter of Robert Gay and was born in Tyrone county, Ireland, in 1819, and died February 13, 1859. She came across the ocean in 1831, when twelve years of age, and lived in Morgantown with her uncle, Matthew Gay, until her marriage, as her father went to Illinois and died there. Four children were born to George Washington and Margaret Gay Fairfax, as follows: James Mathew Gay, born July 10, 1847, now living near Reedsville; Emma R., born September 14, 1850, married Daniel G. Watson and lived and died in Reedsville, leaving several children, now grown ; Ann C., born July 8, 1853, and married to a man named Shields and now living in Mendocino county, California; George Washington, Jr., born August 9, 1856, and died August 26th of same month. Colonel G. W. Fairfax died suddenly October 25, 1885.
The Fairfax name has long been associated with the history and development of Preston county, as one of the most prominent families of the Commonwealth, but bids fair to become extinct and merged into other family names. While the older generations nearly all had large families, they were mostly girls who married and lost the name. The few boys born died in infancy or moved away or died without issue, so that but one is left to perpetuate the name in this county, Ralph, the only son living of Dr. J. M. G. Fairfax of near Reedsville, who has but two children, a boy and a girl.
JOHN MATHEWS GAY FAIRFAX.
Colonel John Fairfax of Fairfax county, whose daughter Anne mar- ried Lawrence Washington, half-brother of General George Washing- ton, was the grandfather of John Mathews G. Fairfax, the subject of this sketch. Colonel John Fairfax, for seven years superintendent at Mt. Vernon for General Washington, on the advice of his employer
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purchased of Philip Doddridge some choice lands in the Glades of Valley, and in the following year, 1790, settled there.
John Mathews Gay Fairfax, son of George Washington Fairfax, resides near Reedsville and is a successful agriculturist. He was born July 10, 1847, and raised a farmer. His education was obtained in the district school, in Morgantown, and in Baltimore, Maryland. When twenty-one years of age he took a course of training at the West Vir- ginia University, and in 1865 supplemented that with a good knowledge of bookkeeping in a business college at Baltimore, Md. In 1876 he obtained the title of D. D. S. from a Dental College in Philadelphia, and practised dentistry about four years, but too long accustomed to outdoor pursuits he became restive at one so sedentary, and went back to farm life. March 17, 1876, he married Miss Sadie A. Reed of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, since which time he has followed farming and become a raiser of fine blooded stock. The farm is a very valuable one consisting of about three hundred acres of land, and very productive. The stock raised consists of the Durham shorthorned cattle, Shropshire sheep, Berkshire swine, and chickens of the White Wyandotte breed.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Fairfax are as follows: (1) George William, born January 26, 1878, died July 3, 1893. He was killed by being thrown from his vehicle against a post by a runaway horse. It happened in his first year at college. (2) Ralph Bernard, born September 23, 1881, married Nellie M. Dent of Morgantown, August 29, 1902. They have two children: (a) Margaret Gay, born January 23, 1903; (b) William Dent, born March 26, 1904.
Mr. Fairfax and family are members of the Presbyterian Church. Aside from his religious activities and a membership of twenty-five years in the I. O. O. F. Lodge, Mr. Fairfax maintains a quiet, secluded life, though a public spirited citizen of the county and state. He is an educated man, a great reader, and in some respects a remarkable factor in the general commonwealth. He was born a ventriloquist, and as a good reader of character, could have succeeded in that line. He was twice rescuscitated from drowning, and lives today with a broken neck, apparently as hardy in body as he is strong in mind, which is by no means of ordinary caliber.
HON. JAMES H. CARROLL.
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HON. JAMES HAWLEY CARROLL.
Anthony Carroll, a sailor of the British Navy, patented land on Deckers Creek in 1789, but is not known to have himself lived in Preston. James, his only son, and grandfather of the subject of this sketch, settled on a farm one mile north of Kingwood in 1790 or 92, the date apparently being that of his marriage.
James H. Carroll was a son of Hon. William Carroll, who was a member of the Virginia Legislature in 1834, 35, 36, 39 and 40. He was born in Preston county, September 2, 1820, and died at his residence Thursday evening about 6 o'clock November 20, 1890. His funeral was attended by a large crowd of friends and relatives. The Kingwood Bar was present in a body as pall bearers.
Mr. Carroll received a good common school education, and in the fall of 1841, he received an appointment from the Government at the Sac and Fox Indian Agency and spent the winter in Iowa. He taught school, was appointed postmaster in Kingwood in 1843, and in 1849 was appointed clerk in the post office at Wheeling under George W. Clutter, post master. He was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court of his county in 1852, and was retained in that office until 1863, when he resumed the practice of law. In 1846 he raised a company for the Mexican War, but the State's quota was full and the Company's service was not required. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1845. In 1852, at an election in May, Gideon D. Camden was elected Judge of this Circuit and lawyer Carroll Clerk of the Court, beating John P. Byrne by one vote. He was re-elected in 1858. In 1870 Mr. Carroll embarked in the newspaper business and founded the Preston County Herald. In 1877 Henry Clay Hyde having assumed control changed it into the West Virginia Argus.
Mr. Carroll was married to Miss Josie McKee, daughter of Squire McKee of Brandonville. She died June 18th, 1906, at the age of fifty. Two children are the result of this union. The youngest, James William Carroll, was born August 8, 1883, at Kingwood and educated in the public schools of his native town, and at the Franklin School, Washing- ton, D. C. He now holds a position as clerk in the Document Office in the House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. On June 7, 1904, he enlisted in Company G, First Infantry of West Virginia, and held the position of regimental buglar for six years, or until his last year in the service of that regiment. He is a member of Brown's Lodge, No. 32, K. of P., of Kingwood and of the Military Department,
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Washington, D. C. His only sister, Mary McKee Carroll, born May 28, 1881, at Kingwood, is now a resident of Washington, D. C., also. She was educated at Kingwood public school, Miss Bristol's school and Dupont Seminary.
HARDIN DUVAL CARROLL.
The Carroll family are of English descent, and were early settlers in West Virginia. Anthony Carroll, born about 1725, the pioneer of the family in Morgantown, settled first at Annapolis, Maryland. He was of the same family as Charles Carroll of Carrollton, and lived in the same town, but the relationship is not known. His emigration to America took place after he had been released from military duties in England, because of over age, and his coming here must have been soon after the French and Indian War and not long before the War of Independence. Nor could he have remained at Annapolis long, before his removal to Morgantown, as the Indians were still molesting the white settlers after his arrival in Monongalia county, on account of their troubles with the Morgans. Because of those savage raids on the whites, Mr. Carroll and others moved with their families into the fort at Granville, and subsequently to Rock Forge, where he died in 1832, at the advanced age of 107 years.
Anthony Carroll was a soldier in the British navy, and a weaver by trade. He followed that pursuit while living in the fort at Granville. Subsequently he purchased the Kerns stone-house farm at Rock Forge and moved on it. Later he bought a mill of one of the Morgans at Uffington. He also built a mill at Dellslow and operated both mills and the farm for several years.
Anthony Carroll was a remarkable man. When 96 years old he walked from Morgantown to Kingwood one day, and walked back a few days later. He was married four times. His first wife was a Miss Donaway, whom he married in England. Two children came of this union, James and Mary. Mary, an ancestor of Hon. William Gorden Worley, married William Gordon and moved to Ohio. His second wife died not long after marriage, leaving no children. His third wife was a Miss Rose Hall. By her he had one daughter, Mar- garet, who married Godfrey Guseman of Morgantown. His fourth wife was a Mrs. Walls. No issue from this marriage.
H. D. CARROLL
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James Carroll, the grandfather of Hon. James H. Carroll whose sketch follows this one and great-grandfather of Hardin Duval Carroll of this sketch, was born at Annapolis, Maryland, May 10, 1771, but spent his early life in the fort at Granville and on the farm at Rock Forge. In 1792, he married Sarah VanKirk, a young Scotch woman, and moved into a cabin in the woods near Kingwood, on a 400 acre tract of land, which had been patented by his father.
His children were: (1) Anthony, (2) William, father of Mrs. Peter R. Smith and Honorable James H. Carroll of Kingwood. (3) Mary, who married Solomon Herndon, one time hotel proprietor of Kingwood. (4) James, father of Alfred Carroll of Kingwood.
Anthony Carroll, 2nd, was born March 20, 1793, and was married twice. His first wife was Sarah Minor, and by her he had one child, James M. His second wife was Temperance Alley, who bore him eight children : (1) Eugene, (2) Mary, who married Dr. William Hern- don; (3) Col. John S. P., who commanded the 14th Virginia Infantry ; (4) Lucinda, (5) Katherine, who married Dr. J. C. Kemble; (6) Margaret, (7&8) two younger, who died in early life. He bought a 200 acre tract of land upon which there was a cabin and a clearing of James Dent and lived there between the years 1829 and 1856. This farm is about three miles northeast of Masontown, and belongs now to H. D. Carroll.
James M. Carroll, born October 29, 1815, was one of the prominent men of Preston county. He attended school several years in the Kingwood Academy, when Nicholson was principal, and, subsequently, attended the Academy at Morgantown. His earlier years were spent with his grandfather, but, about 1830, he returned home and there remained in active life until his death. He was public spirited and filled several positions of honor and trust, was constable over 20 years; first lieutenant of the 148th Regiment of the Virginia Militia, commission dating from May 1, 1858; was a member of the Board of Education, for which position he was well qualified by education and experience. His wife, Mrs. Elizabeth, daughter of William and Miss Harriet Reed Burke, bore him nine children. Their names are Sarah, Louise, Mary, Martha, Catherine, Joanna. John, Paul and Hardin Duval, the youngest, and now the only one living. Sarah is the mother of Edward C. Everly, clerk of the county court; Louise married Oliver Dunn of Morgantown. The others died young. He died January 27, 1906, in his ninety-first year.
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