USA > West Virginia > Lewis County > A history of Lewis County, West Virginia > Part 21
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of the west for the purpose of creating internal improve- ments for the east.
Gradually there grew up educational centers where the schools were better than at other places, due either to the superior attainments of some teacher, or to à keen interest in educational affairs among the citizens of a community. Weston of course had good schools very early in its history, where the teachers were better than any of the country districts could afford; but there were other places like Jane Lew, Big Skin creek, Jack- sonville, Freeman's crek and, at a later date, Canoe run, where there was a lively interest in education and where the schools were sometimes better than they are now.
At Weston the schools were sometimes taught by young men who had lately come into the community purposing to enter business or one of the professions. The struggling lawyer waiting for practice often turned to school teaching in his own house to earn the where- withal to provide victuals. The young man who intend- ed to start in business might establish a school while he was forming acquaintances among the people. Also there were a number of New Englanders, anxious to see the world, and to make a little money while on their way, who came to Weston to teach school. It was one of the first cares of the trustees of the town in 1818 to secure a lot for a cemetery on which a school house might be built ; but no public building was erected for school pur- poses until after the Civil war. Many of the schools were taught in private houses; some teachers used the courthouse for their classes; and after the erection of churches in Weston they were favorite places for schools. The location of the dwelling which housed the first school and the first teacher in Weston has apparently been forgotten, but it is confidently asserted that Weston had a school as early as 1819, for obituaries of old men who spent their boyhood in Weston speak of their at- tending schools in the town.
In 1832 a school was established in Weston by
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION
Matthew Holt, which apparently was better than most of the others, for it attracted young Jonathan M. Ben- nett from the forks of the river to complete his educa- tion. The Holt school was for big boys and young men who could not afford to go away to college. Schools for little boys and young ladies were maintained separately from the beginning. The most prominent of the teach- ers of the latter type of school was Mrs. Mary A. Wilson, who came to Weston in 1833 and opened a school the same year. This work was continued for many years by Mrs. Wilson and her daughters who were people of more than ordinary culture and refinement. Alexander Scott Withers, author of "Border Warfare," yielded to the solicitations of the people of the town and taught one or more terms of school in the old courthouse; but the work was distasteful to him and he did not continuc it longer than a year or two. His daughter, Miss Janet Withers, also taught one term in the old courthouse in 1839, and taught small classes almost every winter from 1849 to 1854 and from 1856 to 1860. Other teachers were Miss Rowe, of Parkersburg, Miss Hannah Bruin of Clarksburg, Miss Maria Wheeler, the Rev. James Page, and Charles Lewis of Clarksburg, afterwards judge of the circuit court.
One of the most successful of the schools was that taught by a Vermont Yankee named Foster who came in the fall of 1844, and taught a select school for boys which was so successful that it led to the establishment of the Weston Academy by the legislature. The incor- porators were John Lorentz, William J. Bland, Cabell Tavenner, Jonathan M. Bennett, John Talbott, Allen Simpson and Lewis Maxwell, who were given the right to hold property up to $25,000, and to appoint a presi- dent and tutors and a treasurer. Nothing came of the movement, as the rates proposed to be charged for teach- ing in the academy were higher than those which had been paid for instruction in the subscription schools. In order to popularize higher education the Lewis County
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
Seminary was created in 1847 with a capital stock of $10,000 in shares of five dollars. As soon as $1,000 was subscribed a meeting of organization was to be adver- tised, and the name of the institution might be changed to the Weston College. Aid for the new institution was promised from the proceeds of the sales of forfeited lands in the county.
The seminary never was a success. If it ever opened its doors, there is apparently no tradition to that effect among the people now living in the town. The census report of 1850 does not show a single seminary in Lewis County. A series of successful schools was taught in the basement of the Catholic church by Prof. John Kierans, James O'Hara, Prof. Seaman, Adelaide Bailey. George Duvall, Father Burke, Father O'Connor, and Prof. John Murray. A rival school was begun under the guidance of the Episcopal rector, the Rev. T. H. Smythe in his own home. Both primary and advanced work was given in the latter school, which graduated many stu- dents who later became prominent in affairs in Lewis County and West Virginia.
The Lewis County Seminary at last got under way in 1855 under the leadership of Prof. John Kierans who erected a small brick building on the property now occu- pied by the high school, but it collapsed a year or two later. In 1857 the legislature changed the name of the seminary to that of Weston College, the subscription of $1,000 having evidently been secured. Nothing further was done until the establishment of the free school sys- tem under the new state of West Virginia.
Some of the country districts showed much greater interest in education than the town. Michael G. Bush, who had studied under Isaac Morrison in Harrison County, taught on Little Skin creek in the early years of the century and left behind him a succession of excellent teachers which has continued to our own day. Among them are Henry D. Hardman, who taught the first school of Big Skin creek in 1811, Daniel R. Helmick, George L.
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION
Marsh, H. M. Peterson, Aaron D. Peterson, Augustus Sexton, Job McMorrow and Robert Fox. The last named was one of the few professional teachers under the Virginia regime. If there was no opportunity to teach in his own community, he went out into some other district and started a school. Penmanship was his forte. He knew nothing of scientific teaching but he could write as few of his successors have been able to do. His specimen copies were to be seen in most of the schoolrooms of the county.
At Jacksonville, George J. Arnold taught a school in an old log house which stood near where the road from Clover fork joins the turnpike, and he was followed in the same community by his brother, William E. Ar- nold, one of the most distinguished teachers of grammar in the early history of the county. He had had the ad- vantage of one or more terms in Rector College at Prun- tytown.
Jane Lew had also a series of successful schools, which resulted in the creation of the Jane Lew Acad- emy in 1850. Many of the prominent citizens of the Hacker's creek country at a later date received their training there.
One of the most remarkable teachers in the county about the time of the Civil war was Miss Phoebe Mitchell who taught the children of the Freeman's creek com- munity for several years. The school building was poor, the equipment was that of most frontier log houses, but the school mistress was a born teacher. From the hum- ble log schoolhouse there went forth a group of young men who attended higher schools and colleges, and have since made their mark as lawyers, physicians, and busi- ness and professional men throughout the length and breadth of West Virginia.
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It remained for the government of the new state of West Virginia, starting its existence amid the chaos of war, without a statehouse, without educational, penal or charitable institutions, but with the spirit of educational progress released from its long imprisonment under Virginia, to establish a system of free schools which promises in time to equal the best of those of other states.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE SECESSION FROM VIRGINIA
Prior to the Civil War interest in politics in Lewis County was confined almost exclusively to questions of State and National concern. The campaigns of candi- dates for county offices attracted little attention even after the adoption of the constitution of 1852 had added important offices to the elective list. There was much in- terest, however, concerning such questions as the tariff, the United States bank, internal improvements, the ex- tension of slavery into the western territories, and most important of all, the agitation for the extension of man- hood suffrage, a white basis of representation for the sen- atorial and delegate districts, and equalization of taxa- tion so as to make the burdens of supporting the govern- ment fall upon the planters of the east to the same extent as upon the poor farmers of the western part of the state.
It was generally felt in the west that the eastern slaveholders had far too much influence in the councils of the state. Each of them had a vote wherever he owned a plot of ground, but the small farmer of the west had no vote unless he owned a considerable plot of ground. Though manhood suffrage was granted by the constitution of 1852, there still remained the old basis of representation in which the slave population was counted. A few plantation owners sent as many repre- sentatives to the General Assembly as several thousand western farmers. The powerful eastern magnates were exempted from paying their full proportion of taxes. Their slaves under twelve years of age were not assessed for taxes at all, and slaves over that age were assessed at only $300, though many of them sold in the open mar-
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ket at $1200. On the other hand every pig, every calf, every chicken, every hunting rifle, in short every bit of property owned by the small farmer was assessed at its full value. Some relief from the system had been gained in 1830 and in 1852; but the burdens of the Virginia gov- ernment were still indefensible, and the successes of the westerners in the earlier conventions only whetted their desire for more reforms.
The key to the dissatisfaction of the people of the west was the institution of slavery, which had received special treatment by the state to the detriment of almost all the other interests of the people. Slavery never ex -. isted in the county to any great extent. It could not ex- ist here because the rugged nature of the surface and the difficulties of transportation made great plantations im- possible. Very few of the citizens of the county owned slaves. Jacob Lorentz owned the largest number. Al- exander Scott Withers owned more than anyone else in Weston, yet he never held more than a dozen at any one time. Minter Bailey at one time owned ten, Weeden Hoffman seven, and a few other citizens a lesser num- ber. The slaves were used to work the fields in the vi- cinity of Weston, often under the direct supervision of their masters. All the slaves were well treated. There was a feeling of affection between the families of the mas- ters and their servants which precluded cruelty before the emancipation of the slaves, and which continued long after the bonds were broken Negroes were never reared in the county for the purpose of selling them in the southern market. There was none of the cruelty which existed on the great plantations of the South. The peo- ple, being used to a paternalistic sort of slavery, thought the abolitionists of the North meddlers and worse.
Objection to slavery rested on economic and politi- cal grounds. In the Virginia legislature of 1831 the del- egate from Lewis voted in favor of a resolution declaring it expedient to legislate to abolish the institution of negro slavery in the state. The people continued to be-
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THE SECESSION FROM VIRGINIA
lieve that they would be better off without slavery, and agitation for emancipation continued until the growth of abolitionist agitation in the North compelled the peo- ple of Virginia to stand together in defense of their pe- culiar institution.
Among the New Englanders who had come to French creek in 1810 and had since maintained a con- nection with the thought of New England, there was a decided aversion to slavery. When the Republican party was formed in 1856 many of the people there allied them- selves with it. At the election that fall, nine citizens of the community dared to vote their sentiments. The act caused much excitement and universal disapprobation among their neighbors. The names of the voters were known, for the voting was done under the old viva voce system. They were held up to public scorn. The Wes- ton Herald, 1 December 1856, commented on the occur- rence in part as follows: "Such flagrant anti-slavery action here in Virginia was unexpected. That * they should come out thus boldly and avow their ad- herence to principles and men so odious to public senti- ment, and so inimical to our interests is a matter of as- tonishment and exhibits a social and political depravity which must arouse the indignation of our people and visit them with the burning rebuke of public sentiment. The fact of their being citizens of our state by birth is no palliation." Lynch law is more than hinted at in the course of the editorial, which continues at length in the same tone, and at the end gives the names of the electors so that all citizens of the vicinity might know and recognize the arch traitors to the domestic happiness of the state.
The editorial brought forth a reply from the pen of the Rev. Amos Brooks, one of the "nine immortals." He pointed out the fact that the Republican platform op- posed only the extension of slavery into the territories and did not attempt to interfere with the institution in any of the states where it existed. He made an appeal to
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the people for freedom of speech, of the press and of the ballot box, and said if these were denied, democratic in- stitutions in Virginia were at an end. If the editors would not publish the contribution, he asked that they take it out and read it two or three times a week, and also read it to the officers of the bank, who were known to be strongly in favor of slavery. It is hardly necessary to state that the reply was never published by the Herald.
The tense state of public feeling in Lewis County was increased a thousand fold by the sudden news of the attack on Harper's Ferry by John Brown. If one irresponsible abolitionist could come to a Virginia town and incite the slaves to rise against their masters, why could not another of the same character come to Weston or any other town in northwestern Virginia? Who knew but that there might be a slave insurrection the next time with all the horrors which usually attend ser- vile wars? Every colored man in the county was closely watched to see that there were no secret meetings, and that no designing white man was trying to gain influence over them.
Interest in the approaching presidential election of 1860 became intense. The final disposition of the slavery question seemed to rest on the decision of the people at that time. The times were regarded as critical. Almost everywhere except in western Virginia party ties were thrown to the winds. The peculiar outcome of the elec- tion in Lewis County is due to causes which reached back a full generation.
In the beginning the people of northwestern Virginia were in favor of a strong national government, and they were generally opposed to the doctrines of Jefferson and the early democratic Republicans. They favored the building of roads and canals by the national government. In the election of 1828, Lewis County voted for Adams against Jackson, choosing the conservative rather than the radical wing of the Democratic party. In 1824, Joseph Johnson, representing the district in Congress,
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THE SECESSION FROM VIRGINIA
was the only Virginian who voted in favor of the high tariff. By the close of Jackson's administration the rug- ged western personality of that leader had won over the people of the northwest. When the Whig party was formed the majority of the people in the Kanawha val- ley joined it and the majority in the Monongahela valley remained with the Democrats. Lewis County was on the border line between the sections, sometimes being in the Monongahela and sometimes in the Kanawha con- gressional district. Strenuous efforts were made by both parties to secure control of the county.
The Democrats had the advantage from the start, their majority being about 100 in a total vote of 700. The Whig strength was generally in the valleys of the Elk and the Buckhannon. After the formation of Brax- ton, and especially after the formation of Upshur, Lewis County was a Democratic stronghold on the frontier of the enemy's country.
The location of Lewis County gave its leaders in the General Assembly and in the party councils an in- fluence far out of proportion to the importance of the territory they represented. Every measure concerning the west was referred to the delegates from Lewis, and they were courted by the Democratic party. They were able to secure special favors for their constituents far above those of other delegates. By crossing the river below the mouth of Stone Coal creek, the Staunton and Parkersburg turnpike would not have required bridges across Stone Coal and Polk creeks. The Lewis County delegate contrived to have inserted in the appropriation bill a clause directing that the road should pass through Weston. The location of the Weston branch of the Ex- change Bank of Virginia was doubtless fixed because of the central location of the town from a business stand- point; but the loyalty of the town to the Democratic party was also a potent factor. The designation of Wes- ton as one of three places to be visited by the commis- sioners to choose the site of the Trans-Alleghany Luna-
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tic Asylum may have been on account of the geograph- ical location of the town, or it may have been because certain Democratic politicians from Lewis County in- sisted upon it. Jonathan M. Bennett, one of the Demo- cratic leaders of the county, was appointed First Audi- tor of Virginia by Governor Henry A. Wise partly, doubtless, as a recognition of the Democratic organiza- tion in Lewis County.
It was not surprising that the people were kindly disposed toward the Democratic party in 1860. The election was complicated by new events and new turns in the political wheel. The Whig party had been broken up. The Democrats were split into a northern and a southern branch, each with a ticket in the field. The new Republican party which had shown great strength in 1856, was believed to be sure of the electoral vote of several of the northern states. The only party which made a truly national appeal was composed of the rem- nant of the old Whigs with the addition of some who rec- ognized that the sectional division of the country was a critical state of affairs, and who hoped to throw the elec- tion into the House of Representatives where the Pres- ident could be elected by a deliberative body. Its nom- inee was John Bell, of Tennessee ; its platform was pur- posely vague-"The Union, the Constitution and the en- forcement of the laws." It was only by ignoring the ` question of slavery that a national party could be brought into existence.
The new party made a special appeal to the people of the border states who felt neither the economic neces- sities of slavery as did those of the South, nor the terri- ble nature of the institution as did the abolitionists of the North. A compromise which would delay the set- tlement of the question a little longer seemed to prom- ise to them more than bringing the question to a final settlement in the heat of sectional passion which fol- lowed the Dred Scott decision and John Brown's raid. A vigorous campaign was waged in the interests of the
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new party. The anti-slavery men supported Douglas, the candidate of the northern wing of the Democratic party, first, because his election seemed to promise a definite check to the further extension of slavery, and secondly, because there was a very real danger of their being lynched if they voted for Lincoln.
The final returns gave Breckenridge, the candidate of the southern wing of the Democratic party, 604; Bell, 332; and Douglas, 247. Lincoln received not a single vote. The Breckenridge victory was not an ap- proval of the states' rights sentiments in the platform, not a sign of devotion to the slaveocracy, but the result of the thoroughness of the Democratic organization in Lewis County. The people voted for the Democratic party because it was the party of Jackson.
Then came the startling news that Abraham Lincoln had been elected through the division of the vote among his opponents. Before the year was out South Carolina had left the Union, followed by six other southern states. Rumors of war were in the air. As one of the citizens of the county wrote, (quoted in Roy B. Cook's Pioneer History) "On every hand you heard hushed voices, al- most in whispers, discussing the oncoming horror. * The very air seemed full of distant mutterings of an angry, surging, restless people, divided, yet most inti- mately associated; opposite in views, but of the same family. Where once there had been friendship and love, there came bitterness beyond belief." The question in the minds of the people was, "What would Virginia do?" A convention of the state was called early in 1861 to consider the course to be taken.
The action of Governor Letcher and the other offi- cials of the state added to the general fear of impend- ing war. During the winter of 1860-61 there was a great military stir throughout Virginia, and every effort was made to put the slender militia of the state on a war footing. In the midst of the flurry and excitement in the west, there came orders for the 125th and 192nd regi-
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ments of state militia to proceed to muster near Weston, about the middle of February, 1861.
About two weeks before the day appointed for the muster, the officers of the two regiments met informally to discuss plans for the ceremony. One of the questions which came to their attention was the propriety, under the conditions then existing in the community, of carry- ing regimental flags and the Stars and Stripes when the regiments passed in review before General Conrad. The almost unanimous decision of the meeting was that such a course would lead to bloodshed, and it was therefore decided that the colors should not be carried. Michael Egan, who afterwards organized Company "B", Fifteenth West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, alone dissented from the opinion of the council of officers, his oath of al- legiance to the government of the United States being, as he said, yet too fresh in his mind to permit it to be secondary to his allegiance to any state. The majority of the people approved the action taken by the council; but Major Egan made a trip over the county, address- ing the citizens wherever he could secure an audience, urging them to stand by the flag of the United States. In this way he secured pledges from about fifty men to assist him in upholding the flag at the coming muster. Gasper Butcher, of Butcher's fork, went to Weston and procured red, white and blue cloth from which a flag was made by Misses Julia and Cecelia Flesher of Polk creek.
On the day appointed the brigade formed on the farm of Henry Butcher (now the Riverside stock farm) about two miles north of Weston. Hundreds of people. the wives and mothers and sisters and sweethearts of the men in line, had gathered to witness the ceremonies. Everything bore an outward appearance of gayety; but there was an undercurrent of dark forebodings of im- pending trouble. Orderlies rode hither and thither over the field. Officers were busy finishing the final alignment of their men. Suddenly interest is centered in a new fig-
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PRESLEY M. HALE
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THE SECESSION FROM VIRGINIA
ure who rides upon the field at full gallop until he ar- rives opposite the center of his regiment. There he stops and unfurls the flag of the United States to the breeze. It was Major Michael Egan.
The action of the dashing Irishman was noticed by the whole assemblage. A few greeted the flag with cheers, but the majority gave vent to loud protests and angry mutterings. Major Egan handed the standard to John Newman, who had previously volunteered to carry it. At that moment Colonel Hanson M. Peterson rode up and requested that the flag be removed. Major Egan refused. He ordered Major Egan to the post of honor at the head of the column. The latter declined, prefer- ring to remain with the flag. The place at the head of the column was taken by Colonel Caleb Boggess, and the re- view proceeded with no further incident.
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