USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V.1 > Part 10
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Saml Marvin
John Foreman Robert Foreman
Joseph Severns of Daniel
Isaac Hazel Absolem Brandon Ellis Willets Willm Chipps M- -
Henry Floyd
Benj Jeffers
Henry Hardesty
James Sevier
Robert Gibson
Thos Jenkins Joseph Severns Jonathan Jenkins
Abraham Jones Jesse Sevier
Elijah Gadd
Willm Strankin
Abraham Harris Willm Osborn Henry Sims James E. Burross
Saml Crane Christopher Sypolt Reuben Askins John Deberry Evan Jenkins George Matheny John Taylor John Matheny John Severns Robert Beal
Nathan Butler Willm Harris Benj Cress Willm Workman Elijah Hardesty David Graham Stephen Workman Joseph Butler, Sr. Joseph Butler, Jr.
Alvar Goff Shelburn Goff John Butler Thos. Butler
Jonathan Butler
Isaac Butler Daniel Connor Jonathan Emmets Willm Blunt Thos Williams Willm Crow Wildey Taylor
James Hose Willm Biggs Gevis Daugherty John Daugherty David Phillips Isra Horton Eastol L. Hill James McPeak Joseph Matheny Lewis Tosh ( ?) Thos Burchinal Thos Butler Jacob Winthorn Barton Winthorn Stephen Runyon Thos Roggers Henry Caler Thos Gibson
ยท Christian Wageman James Hamilton James Ervine Joshua Walls
Willm Benson
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Robert Sevier Saml Deweese Neil Douglass Evan Jenkins, Sr. Saml Chilton Leonard Cupp, Sr. Leonard Cupp, Jr. John Beal John Chips
?
Daniel Hill Nathl Hill, Sr. Nathl Hill, Jr.
George Lemmons, Sr.
George Lemmons, Jr.
Isaac Devit
John Flemming
Thos Powel
Thos Parks Augustine Wolf
Peter Herman John Wolf
Jesse Penrose
Abraham Penrose
Absolam Gadd
Thos Gadd
Amos Roberts
Nicholas Grewery (?)
Henry Averly John Heinor
Robert Ervine
John Kelley
Lewis Sickel
Hezekiah Rynear
Willm Waller
John Holt
James Connor John Martin
James McGrew
John Floyd -
M- Chipps
. Stephen Dunham Jas Spurgin Doctor Lewellin
Enoch Evans
George Baker
Willm Norris
Benj Norris Jarrett
Thos Warman
Willm Ashford
Jesse Dodd John Ramsay James Henthorn
James Henthorn ( ?)
Francis Collins
Daniel Kyger
James Adams
James Webster Elisha Briggs Stephen Workman Joseph Walsamot David Walsamot Robert Beal John Shites Richard Shites John Jenkins Daniel Severns Francis Ayres Samuel Taylor John Howel James Metheny James Brown
Henry Lewis, Sr.
Henry Lewis, Jr. Edward Jones Willm Johnson John Smith Saml Smith
Peter Cook
James Spurgeon Joseph Mires John Mires
Joseph Woods Joseph Sayers ( ?) Jesse Spurgeon Nathan Metheny George Sypolt - James Lemons John Metheny John Shay David Shay Nathl Spurgeon Willm Spurgeon Abraham Elliot
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Henry Henthorn Thos Kirkpatrick Daniel Taylor Chern Roses
George Robbarts Elihu Horton John Merrill John Watson
Petitions presented in 1799 and 1800 are indorsed in committee as "reasonable," thus showing that persistence was having some effect. A petition of 1805 discloses the signatures of David Trowbridge, Philip Martin, Benjamin Britton, Obed Meredith, Isaac Meredith, Abner Mere- dith, William Price, John Funk, and Matthew McGinnis. Another peti- tion of similar date asks that the dividing line run
from top of Laurel Hill to mouth of Bull Run, thence up same to head of its south fork, then direct to forks of Big & Little Sandy.
The Act of Assembly creating Preston County reads as follows :
1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY, That all that part of the county of Monongalia contained within the following bounds, to wit: beginning on the Pennsylvania line near Fickle's, including the same, thence a straight line to where Cheat breaks through the Laurel Hill, so as to include all the inhabitants of the Monongalia Glades settlement, including Samuel Price and Henry Carothers. from thence, including Gandy's, to the Clarksburg road on the Laurel Hill where it descends; from thence a direct line to the junction of the Big and Little Sandy Creek where the Randolph line is; from thence with the Randolph county line to the Maryland line; from thence to the Pennsylvania line, and with the Penn- sylvania line to the beginning, shall form a distinct and new county, and be called and known by the name of Preston.
2. A court for the said county of Preston shall be held by the justices thereof on the first Monday in every month after the same takes place, in like manner as is provided by law for other counties, and shall be by their commissions directed.
3. And in order the more impartially and correctly to ascertain the most proper place for holding courts and erecting the public buildings for the said county, Thomas Byrne, Felix Scott, William Irwin, William Martin, and John McWhorter shall be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, a majority of whom may act for the purpose aforesaid, whose duty it shall be, after having performed the services hereby required, to make report thereof to the court of the said county of Preston, whereupon they shall proceed to erect the necessary public buildings at the place so fixed on by the said court, or a majority of them, which when completed shall be the permanent place for holding courts for the said county. The said commissioners shall be allowed each the sum of three dollars per day, as a compensation for the duties hereby imposed on them, to be paid out of the first levy to be collected in the said county of Preston. The justices to be named in commission of the peace for the said county of Preston shall meet at the house of William Price in the said county upon the first court day after the said county takes place, and having administered the oaths of office to, and taken bond of the sheriff according to law, shall proceed to appoint and
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
qualify a clerk; and until the necessary public buildings are completed at the time pointed out by the commissioners or a majority of them, to appoint such place within the county for holding courts, as they may think proper: PRO- VIDED ALWAYS, that the appointment of a clerk, and of a temporary place for holding courts, shall not be made unless a majority of the justices of the said county be present.
4. It shall be lawful for the sheriff of the county of Monongalia to collect and make distress for any public dues or officers' fees, which shall remain unpaid by the inhabitants of the county of Preston, at the time it takes place, and shall be accountable for the same, in like manner as if this act had not been made.
5. The governor with the advice of council shall appoint a person to be first sheriff of the said county of Preston, who shall continue in office, during the time and upon the same conditions, as are by law appointed for other sheriffs.
6. The court of the county of Monongalia shall have jurisdiction of all actions and suits depending before them at the time the said county of Preston takes place, and shall try and determine the same and award execution thereon. The said county of Preston shall remain in the same judicial circuit, and in the same chancery district with the county of Monongalia: and the courts thereof shall be holden on the first Monday after the fourth Monday in the month of April, and the first Monday after the fourth Monday in the month of September in each year; and be of the same brigade district in like manner as if this act had not been made. In future elections of a senator and elector, and a repre- sentative to Congress, the said county of Preston shall be of the same district as the county of Monongalia.
7. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That the courts of quarterly session for the said county of Preston shall be holden in the months of March, May, August, and November in each year.
8. This act shall be in force from the passing thereof.
Preston began its independent existence with about 3,000 people, and with no subdivision into magisterial districts, this step not being taken until 1852. Kingwood, the only chartered town, the only post- office, and the only voting place, had less than 100 inhabitants.
More than a half of the counties of West Virginia are named for public men of the Old Dominion. Following this custom, the legisla- ture sitting in 1818 gave this county the name of the honored citizen who was then filling the gorernor's seat.
James Patton Preston was the grandson of John Preston, a Scotch- Irish immigrant, who in 1740 settled near Staunton in the Valley of Vir- ginia. The grandfather was a ship carpenter and cabinet-maker. His wife, whom he married as the result of an elopement, was Elizabeth Patton, whose brother James was the nabob of the Augusta colony, and one if its most forceful leaders. The Pattons, in fact, were people of great influence and conspicuous ability. To this strain may be largely
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
attributed the men of prominence who have appeared among the de- scendants of John Preston. The latter had several daughters, one of whom was the maternal ancestor of the Breckenridges of Virginia and Kentucky. His only son was Colonel William Preston, born in Ire- land in 1730. He was a man of culture, and was active in civil affairs and in the wars with the Indians and the British.
It was one of the five sons of Colonel Preston who became governor of the state. James P. Preston was born in 1774, and died at his home in Montgomery County in 1843. A planter by occupation, he had a military as well as civil record, and as a colonel in the second war with England was wounded in the battle of Chrystler's Field. He was gov- ernor of Virginia from 1816 to 1819, and afterward was postmaster at Richmond. Through his brother, General Francis Preston, he was the uncle of the eminent William C. Preston of South Carolina.
The organization of the county took place at the house recently oc- cupied by Mrs. Kemble, but which was then the tavern of Colonel Wil- liam Price. The first habitation of the county government was the "Old Red Courthouse," which stood nearly on the site of the Jenkins Hotel. This building is elsewhere described. In the rear was the jail of hewed logs. Standing in front of this municipal boarding house was a whipping-post, significant of an old-fashioned mode of punishment which Delaware still retains. It was not long until the insecure jail was burned by escaping prisoners, two white men and a runaway negro. The whites were discharged, one of them only after his back had been well warmed at the whipping-post. The negro was lodged in the court- house itself, but again broke out, and was never afterward heard from.
When Preston was admitted, the counties of Virginia west of the Alleghanies had about 84.000 people, the number in the whole state being nearly 1,000,000. With one-third of the area of Virginia, these counties held only one-twelfth of the population. ,
A large map of Virginia, published in 1827, is in certain particulars the best that has yet been executed, but some of the names we find on it have passed out of use. Smoky Mountain is placed against the Mary- land line. Mount Vernon is a crossroads two miles south of where the Craborchard is marked. Draper Run is the first tributary of the Cheat below Dority Run, and Butler Run is put at the upper end of the Dunkard Bottom. Across the river are the Big and Little Heater, be- tween Morgan's Run and Pringle's Run. Stony Run is a left-hand branch of Three Fork, and Brain's Run is a right-hand branch. From this map many county names of West Virginia are missing. Logan and
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Randolph are of enormous area, each being nearly as large as the state of Connecticut.
The Preston of 1818 was not so large as it is now. From the present northeast corner it ran west with the Pennsylvania boundary only eight miles. Thence a line ran southwest to where the present boundary crosses the Cheat. Randolph County came up along the Maryland bor . der for nine miles northward from the Fairfax stone. The southern boundary of Preston was a single straight line running northeastwardly from that point on Laurel Hill where the Preston-Barbour line begins. The line still running thence to the Cheat is the western part of the orig- inal south boundary.
Citizens of Randolph living next to Preston, and between the Cheat and the Maryland line, complained of going fifty miles to their own county seat, when they could reach Kingwood in half the distance. So in 1828 a strip of ground was transferred from the one county to the other. In 1838 a second slice was taken from Randolph. The two an- nexations covered a triangular tract, the base of nine miles resting on the Maryland boundary, and the point of the triangle resting on the Cheat. Thus a large portion of Union, including even the ground where Aurora stands, was formerly in Randolph. The new Preston- Randolph boundary was ordered to be marked for the convenience of the people living near it.
A third enlargement of Preston took place in 1841. This time it was another triangular section, and it was taken from Monongalia, the northeast corner of that county being moved back to the top of Chest- nut Ridge from a point near where the Big Sandy crosses the interstate boundary. The revised boundary is thus defined in the Act of Assem- bly :
So much of the county of Monongalia as lies east of the ridge of mountains called the Laurel Hill and north of Cheat River, next to and adjoining the county of Preston, and is contained within the following boundary lines, to-wit: Be- ginning on the line dividing said county at the point where it crosses Cheat River, and running thence a straight line to the England Ore Banks on the top of the mountain; thence a straight line to the Osborne farm, so as to include the dwelling house of said farm in the county of Preston; thence a due north course to the Pennsylvania line.
The effect of these annexations was to make the boundaries of the county less artificial and more natural than was at first the case.
Unlike many other counties of the two Virginias, Preston has never changed its seat of government and has never been reduced in size, either by division or by minor alteration of boundary. Yet neither re-
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
sult has been due to lack of active effort, and such effort began to ap- pear with the very organization of the county.
Elsewhere in this book we have pointed out that there is a certain lack of homogeneity in Preston, and that its districts are so individual- ized as almost to appear like counties in themselves. This internal di- versity has built up a half dozen towns of fairly equal strength, and rendered any one of them a potential claimant for the courthouse. Fur- thermore, it has given rise to movements for dividing the county, or for otherwise changing its boundary.
The sections of the county divided by the Cheat are equal in number and fairly equal in size and population. For a time they differed in poli- tics, and each side still claims its full share of political prizes. The rivalry between them even antedates the formation of Preston County. The earlier, and therefore the less familiar of the movements alluded to, we now proceed to mention.
Just after the establishing of the county we find a petition expressing pleasure at the fact, but also expressing great disappointment that the courthouse was placed on the west side of the river. The east side de- clared itself the more populous, and "after petitioning for twenty years for a division of (Monongalia) county," it wanted the courthouse on the Dunkard Bottom. A numerously signed counter-petition of 1819 says that over $1,000 had been expended on the public buildings, and that the evils in the case could as well be borne by one side as the other. The east affirmed, while the west denied, that the Cheat could be made navigable. In 1822 there were petitions and counter-petitions on re- moving the courthouse from Kingwood. A petition for its removal was in 1823 indorsed by a legislative committee as "reasonable." In 1851 there was a petition to divide the county on the line of the Cheat, and place the courthouse for the east side at Brandonville.
In 1846 there was an attempt to form a new county out of parts of Preston, Barbour, and Taylor. A petition in its favor speaks of "griev- ances too numerous to be set forth." The proposed line is thus de- scribed :
Beginning at the corner of Taylor, Marion, Monongalia, and Preston, thence in a direct line to Lunsford Jones' mill on Three Fork, thence to McDonnel's ford on the Tygart's Valley River, then with river to the mouth of Teator's Creek, then to Barbour-Randolph line near Isaac Phillips, then with Randolph line to Barbour, Preston, and Randolph corner, then with Randolph-Preston line to Cheat. then with Cheat to mouth of Tray Run, then a straight line to Cassel Run bridge near William Matlick's, then to old Clarksburg road, by a straight line from bridge on Brain's Run on Monongalia-Preston line at Micajah Smith's, then to beginning.
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Evansville was to be the new county seat, and favored the measure by a vote of 138 to 33, while Germany (Carmel) opposed it by 18 votes against 4, and Kingwood by 234 votes against 3. But in 1849, on a pro- posal to form a new county out of portions of Preston, Randolph, and Barbour, Germany gave 84 affirmative and 24 negative votes. In 1859 there was an attempt to add a portion of Preston to the new county of Tucker.
Index to surnames of petitioners occurring in this Chapter :*
Adam
Deweese
Horton
Archer
Dewitt
Hose
Ashford
Dodd
Howard
Askins
Doran
Howell
Ayers
Douglas
Huggins
Baker
Dunham
Jarrett
Beal
Easton
Jeffers
Benson
Elliott
Jenkins
Biggs
Ellis
Johnson
Blount
Emmett
Jones
Boyce
Ervine
Joseph
Brandon
Evans
Kelly
Briggs
Everly
Kelso
Bright
Fickel
Kincaid
Brown
Fleming
Kirkpatrick
Burchinal
Floyd
Kyger
Burross
Forman
Lapp
Butler
Funk
Lemon
Cale
Funker
Lewis
Caler
Gadd
Llewellyn
Chilton
Gibson
Martin
Chipps
Glover
Marvin
Clark
Goff
McClain
Clutter
Graham
McCollum
Coldzeiger
Grewery
McGinnis
Collins
Gribble
McGrew
Connor
Hamilton
McPeck
Cook
Hardesty
Meredith
Crouch
Harris
Merrill
Crane
Hatfield
Messenger
Cress
Hays
Metheny
Crow
Hazel
Moore
Cupp
Henthorn
Morgan
Darby
Herman
Morris
Dawson
Hill
Morton
Daugherty
Hiner
Munyon
DeBerry
Holt
Myers
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
101
Norris
Scott
Tosh
Severe
Trader
Shay
Trowbridge
Shites
Vansickle
Parsonet
Simple
Wagner
Simpson
Waller
Penrose Phillips
Simms
Walls
Potter
Smith
Walsamot
Powell
Solard
Warman
Price
Sovereign
Watson
Ramsay
Spencer
Webster
Rice
Spurgeon
Willett
Roberts
Squires
Williams
Rogers
Stewart
Winthorn
Roses
Strahin
Wolfe
Runyon
Sypolt
Wood
Ryner
Tannahill
Woods
Sayre
Taylor
Workman
Scammons
Thompson
Worley
Orr Osborn Parks
*The spelling conforms as a rule to present usage.
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
CHAPTER XI
SUB - PIONEER PERIOD.
The National and Other Roads - Voting Places - Postoffices - Iron Furnaces - Progress of Local Development - The Martin Tragedy - Preston Gaining Upon the Parent County.
Our Sub-Pioneer Period was a time when better roads were being agitated, and when good commercial outlets were being realized. Until Preston became a county, the only highway within our limits that was at all worthy of the name was the Winchester and Clarksburg road, crossing in the center. But in 1818, when the period in question began, the National Road was completed. It almost touched one corner of the county, and provided an excellent outlet for the northern settle- ments. At the middle of the period the Northwestern Pike had been built through the south, thus developing the opposite end of the county, and when the period closed the locomotive engine was screaming on the banks of the Cheat.
During all these years there was a loud call for internal improve- ments throughout the United States. Whether the national government should assist enterprises of this sort became a very live issue in the poli- tics of the time. At the opening of this period the wagon-way and the waterway were the only known avenues of travel. When neither a navigable stream nor a canal could be used, the thoughts of the people turned to wagon roads of scientific construction, such as were already in use in France and England. The metaled road, the big stage-coach, and the huge conestoga wagon held the same place in the transporta- tion methods of 1818 as do the steel track, the passenger car, and the freight car in the methods of 1913. Yet the building and the mainte- nance of turnpike roads was a heavy tax on the public purse. It was too great for the communities immediately on such lines, and state or federal aid, as the case might be, was called for.
Preston being a rugged region, drained by tumultuous streams, waterways were out of the question. So long as there was no better way of getting out than by the wretched roads which were all but uni- versal throughout the Alleghanies, the people of Preston were doomed to linger in the backwoods. But with truly serviceable roads, they could buy more, as well as sell more, and keep in effective touch
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
with civilization. In the north of the county the natural outlets were Cumberland and Pittsburg. In the middle and south the outlets were Winchester in the east and Clarksburg and Morgantown in the west. The more enterprising of the citizens labored to bring these outlets within easier reach. Therefore they strove for a pike to pass through the county on its way from the Valley of Virginia to the Ohio River, for a cross-line to connect this road with the National Road, and for still another road to reach the navigable waters of the Monongahela. All these efforts were in time measurably successful, and would have been entirely so but for the appearance of the locomotive to supplant them.
By the usual plan for securing a road of the better sort, a charter was secured, a company was organized, and the capital stock was raised by means of a lottery or by selling shares. The road was expected to yield a revenue through the clumsy device of the tollgate. To raise funds for a public purpose through a lottery was once a common prac- tice. A more healthy sentiment has placed the lottery under a ban, yet the gambling impulse is still with us, and it finds expression in word and guessing contests and lot sales.
So the state Capitol was besieged with applications for charters, a number of which were granted, though not always with a material re- sult to follow. There were paper pikes in those days, just as there were paper railroads in later years.
Yet, in spite of various abortive efforts, the Northwestern Pike was built through the county between the years 1833 and 1838. This im- portant enterprise is mentioned at some length in another chapter. The connecting highway between the National and the Northwestern roads was not quite finished when the railroad came in 1851. Yet the route was very serviceable, and was traversed regularly by a stage line. Nei- ther was quite complete the road that was to pass from Aurora, on the Northwestern Pike, to Kingwood, and thence to Morgantown. By means of the Brandonville and Fishing Creek Turnpike Company, re- chartered in 1838, a road was built from Brandonville to Morgantown. Considerable sums of money were expended on these enterprises, partly by individuals and partly by the state.
In 1838 the Board of Public Works was authorized to appoint Har- rison Hagans, Israel Baldwin, Benjamin Jeffers, and two other men to build a road from Brandonville to Evansville. For this purpose $10,000 was appropriated, on condition that $1,000 be raised by subscription
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PRESTON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
and by the county court. In 1849 the Assembly appointed Jesse Hall to act with commissioners from Monongalia and Barbour in building a road from the Pennsylvania line through Morgantown to the Beverly and Fairmont road. Preston was required to put up a sixth of $2,000 toward building a road outside the county.
In 1818 Nathan Ashby was authorized to build a toll-bridge on the state road across the present Portland District, and to charge 614 cents for a man or a horse. The bridge was to be 300 feet long and 12 wide. But until 1851 there was no wagon bridge across the Cheat except the one controlled by the Northwestern Pike. In the year just named, a wire suspension bridge was thrown across the turbulent waters at Al- bright.
With better roads and a more mature community, towns and villages began to assume definite form. Brandonville, in Grant, was incorporated in 1827. Its nearness to the National Road, and the enterprising spirit of its leading citizen, caused it for a while to be the first town of the county, the inhabitants numbering more than 200. Carmel, already laid out in 1793, was incorporated in 1828, but not falling quite on the line of the Northwestern Pike, a rival appeared on the great highway in the form of West Union-now Aurora-incorporated in 1846. West of the Cheat, the coming of the same pike occasioned the rise of Evansville, incorporated in 1833, and Fellowsville, which appeared as a village in 1848. In the latter year the few houses at the junction of the two pikes leading northward into Brandonville received the name of Bruceton.
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