USA > West Virginia > Monroe County > A history of Monroe county, West Virginia > Part 12
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A curious circumstance attending the formation of Alleghany was that David Kean and Peter Wright, the sheriffs of Monroe and Botetourt respectively, were citizens of the new county. But by a special law Kean remained sheriff of Monroe for two years.
In January, 1827, the court of Monroe was directed to have its survey or mark that portion of the Monroe-Giles line beginning at Wray's path on the top of Peters Mountain opposite Andrew Al- len's, and then running eastward, following the divide between Eastern and Western waters to Samuel Hutchinson's on the top of Middle, or Price's Mountain, and with the same to the Botetourt line.
A third trimming was authorized by the legislature in February, 1829. Giles was enlarged at the expense of Monroe by a line starting on New River at the mouth of Ford Hollow Branch and running direct to Rich Creek at the bend adjoining Elias Hale's. Thence the line ran up Rich Creek to the mouth of Scott's Branch, and up the latter to the top of Peters Mountain.
A petition of 1805 voices opposition to the creation of Giles. Two years later there was a petition by 146 men asking annexation to that county. But a counter-petition affirms that the courthouse of Giles is on the wrong side of New River. In 1809 there was a petition by 27 citizens, mostly Shumates and Fleshmans, asking annexation to Giles on the ground that bridle-paths were rare over Peters Moun- tain, and that it was more convenient to themselves to attend court at the county seat of Giles. Another petition of the same year has 42 signatures. A third, with 25 names, concedes that eight per- sons are violently opposed to a change, while 16 others are condi- tionally opposed.
Because the Greenbrier River made it troublesome to the people on Muddy Creek to attend muster at the courthouse, that portion of Monroe within the following lines went back to Greenbrier in 1827 : From the mouth of Muddy down the Greenbrier to the mouth of Falling Branch; thence northwestwardly, leaving Thomas Grif-
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
fith on the north and touching his land, to top of Keeney's Knob, where the proposed line intersects the previous county line. In 1811 an alteration here had been asked by Joseph Alderson, who was then sheriff.
In 1835 there were 78 petitioners asking for a new county, to be taken from Monroe, Giles, and Fayette, but mostly from Mon- roe. The movement did not succeed, but in 1843 the whittling down of this county was resumed. In that year there was added to Alleghany all of Monroe outside of a boundary described as fol- lows: Starting from the top of Peters, or Sweet Springs, Mountain and running to that point on the county line where Price's Moun- tain turnpike ceases to be the county line; thence a direct course, crossing Potts Creek, to a sugartree in James Wiley's yard; thence a direct course to where such line will strike Price's Mountain turn- pike at the first ford of the run below Andrew Wilson's.
Craig has nibbled into Monroe in 1853 and 1856. The first an- nexation was that part of Monroe east of a line beginning on the boundary of Craig at the top of Little Mountain and running with said line to a point opposite William A. Rowan's; thence crossing Potts Creek to the top of Peters Mountain opposite the said Ro- wan's, and with the top of said mountain to the corner of Monroe. Three years later there was added to Craig a strip outside of a line beginning on Potts Creek where the Monroe-Craig line crosses (near William A. Rowan's) ; thence up the creek to past George H. Car- penter's, and then to the Craig line near Jarvis's.
The last of the subtractions from the county is mentioned in a later chapter.
The counties of Greenbrier, Monroe, Kanawha, Cabell, Mason, and Bath were made into a chancery district in 1814. A superior court was to be held in June and November by the judges of the Staunton and Wythe chancery districts.
Taxes, even until the close of the period, seem very light in comparison with what they are now, but in reality they were high enough. The United States was by no means a rich country until
135
MONROE FROM 1799 TO 1861
the discovery of gold in 1848. In 1832 William Arnot paid $3 head tax for three polls and 82 cents on his land and four horses.
In 1821 Monroe was allowed two commissioners of the revenue, one for each battalion district. Red Sulphur Springs was made the voting place for the lower battalion. In 1856 three commissioners were allowed. In the preceding year, a petition from the fourth district asks for a better voting place than the barn that was being used for the purpose.
In 1824 processioning was suspended twelve years in this and other mountain counties. We are not aware that the practice was ever revived. It consisted in remarking the boundaries of tracts of land, and was done by men appointed for the purpose by. the county court. But the intent of the law was not so much the pres- ervation of boundary marks as it was to prevent trespass, especially in hunting.
In general the period of threescore years prior to the war of 1861 was quiet and uneventful. A slow net increase in the popula- tion a little more than counterbalanced the large outflow to the newer communities of the West and South. There was a gradual gain in the things that make for material comfort. At the close of the peri- od the county seat had become quite as populous as it is now, and relatively to other places around it was of more importance. Peters- town was a thriving village. There was much activity in the cause of good roads, so as to put the county within easier commercial touch with centers of population, east and west, and also to better accom- modate the throngs that visited the summer resorts. It was in the middle of the century that these roads witnessed their palmiest days. There was also a very practical interest in favor of better schools and a stringent control of the liquor traffic.
But the distribution of wealth was very unequal. A few fam- ilies had gradually come into possession of very large areas of the best farming and grazing lands. A numerous element of the popu- lation was thus squeezed into a condition of tenantry, and the influ- ence on the ambition and enterprise of such people was depressing.
Some of the homes of the county were attractive rural manors
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
and the abodes of education and refinement. But the log house, sometimes weather-boarded, was still the usual type. Perhaps the back door was fastened with a wooden button, and the front door with a wooden latch moved by a string which in daytime dangled outside. Locks were not always thought necessary, but the door was sometimes secured with a wooden bolt fastened with a bent wire. The amount of woodland, largely of the primeval sort, was still very large. Improved farm machinery, even at the close of the period, was little known, because it first came into use in those localities where the land is most easily tilled. The chaff-piler, a crude form of threshing machine, did not appear until 1840, and the separator not until 1850. Cyrus McCormick, a young man of Rockbridge, demonstrated the first practical reaper in 1831, but had to go West in order to make his invention a commercial success. Almost as late as 1860 the sewing machine was still a novelty, and the flint- lock gun was not entirely discarded. Flax was still grown and homespun clothes were very often worn. In short, the impress of the pioneer period was much in evidence until the great war. Could an industrial and social leader of 1800 come back to Monroe in 1860, he would probably have said that the sum total of economic change during this interval was no more than he would have ex- pected. But a visit in 1916 would quickly cause him to rub his eyes in amazement and incredulity.
The social customs of the period included some very pleasant features. There was little of the hurry of our modern era. People took time to inquire after the health and welfare of their neighbors. All-day visiting was a custom. Despite the differences in wealth, there was little of what would now be termed luxury, and in prac -- tice, even if not in theory, there was a near approach to social equal- ity among the white population. The well to do were not gener- ally inclined to assume repellant airs. It was a forceful and cap- able type of manhood and womanhood that was nurtured in the ante-bellum years of America. Mrs. Elizabeth Burdette Miller, born in 1826, spun and wove most of the family clothing until after the war, besides helping to pull and scutch the flax out of which tow
137
MONROE FROM 1799 TO 1861
trowsers, table linen, towels, and other articles were made. Into her coverlets she could weave any leaf, vine, or other figure. She made straw hats for her daughters and trimmed them. Sarah Pyne Bos- tick lived to be a centenarian with mental faculties clear until the end and without having taken any medicine from a doctor. It is not without reason that the midcentury is thus idealized by a native of Monroe:
Fifty years ago, life was a gleam in the sunlight, a lily, a pearl, and a rose. It was then that we shared with our playmates their toy-blocks, drums, and horns. In our childish imaginations, we sailed on invisible waters; we tunneled for silver and gold in dream mountains and fought in imaginary wars. In old field ponds we launched little ships of Colum- bus and voyaged upon the crests of perilous waves. In our imaginary voyages we discovered regions of wonder and islands of Crusoe.
However, that period had a pugilistic atmosphere. The fist fight was an "affair of honor," a form of duel, and was often the climax to an insult, real or fancied, or to a difference of opinion. At the husking bees and other frolics were trials of strength or endur- ance, after the day's work was done. At one of these a budding doc- tor pulled off his shoes, stuffed the ends of his pantaloons into his socks, tied a red handkerchief round his head, and screamed that he could outrun the field. John Houchins, the beneficiary of the bee, was then a man of about 55. He told the incipient M. D. to cut a six foot withe and he would follow from the length of the withe, and whale him with the same as soon as he could get within busi- ness distance. The challenge was accepted, but the middle-aged man in his hunting shirt and rawhide boots soon overtook the young man and used his weapon so frequently that the junior was very willing to admit defeat.
Until the war of 1861 Virginia recognized two grand divisions of the state. These were known as the Eastern District and the Western District, and they were separated by the Blue Ridge. The division was recognized in census, industrial, and other reports. The Eastern District was settled almost wholly by an English element, and its social ideals were aristocratic. Plantation owners were so- cially and politically dominant. Slaves were very numerous, and
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
free labor was at a disadvantage. The Western District was set- tled by what we may term the American Highlander. He believed in free labor, owned few slaves, and did not like slavery. But the East was settled first. It made the laws of Virginia and deter- mined the nature of its institutions. It thought the West was peas- ant-minded. It had a love of political control and did not propose to permit its own section of the state to be submerged by the other. So the people of the Eastern Division were bent on keeping the po- litical center of gravity safely east of the Blue Ridge. But the peo- ple of the Western Division were not meek. Thus there was an "irrepressible conflict" within the Old Dominion, and it was bound to be settled in one of three ways. The West would either come into political control or separate, or else one district would drift into the same type of civilization as the other.
Among the records of the period are several which indicate the feeling of the people of Monroe in this quarrel within the state. A petition of 1842, with many signers, condemns the inequality in leg- islative representation under which the Western District was la- boring, and it asks for a constitutional convention, wherein the mem- bers shall represent equal numbers of qualified voters. The agita- tion that inspired this petition had already been long continued, yet little was accomplished until 1851. As early as 1816 delegates from 24 of the western counties met in Staunton, and issued a demand for a constitutional convention. One was called together in 1829, but it was dominated by the East, because that section had a major- ity of the state senatorial districts and consequently a majority in the convention. The constitution adopted was of such a standpat nature that only one of the delegates from the West voted for it. There was even talk of bolting to a new convention. The consti- tution carried in the popular vote, although the western counties gave an adverse majority of almost 7000 in a total vote of 9748. The West had asked for a loaf, and since it received a stone, its dis- content was greater than ever.
The constitution of 1851 was much more liberal, although some of its provisions were not to be voted upon until 1865.
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MONROE FROM 1799 TO 1861
In 1824 Mrs. Royall revisited this region and in her first book she gives a rather extended account of Monroe and Greenbrier. This visit falls toward the middle of the period sketched in this chapter. It also precedes the recollection of any person now living. As Mrs. Royall was a close and generally accurate observer, her mention of the county supplies a vacancy which otherwise could hardly be filled. She found the people moral and inoffensive, unsuspicious, very hos- pitable to strangers, and opposed to accepting rewards for entertain- ing them. The women were very domestic. The crime record was found excellent, only two instances of murder coming within her knowledge. The leading exports, in the order in which they are enumerated by her, were fine horses, cattle, sheep, whiskey, bacon, sugar, tobacco, ginseng, cheese, wool, beeswax, feathers, tallow, poul- try, and hemp.
The influence of the summer resorts calls out a word of sharp criticism. Mrs. Royall says the sight of well dressed visitors gives rise to an irresistible tendency among the resident people to ape their fashions to the limit; to put on airs and lie back from work and smoke cigars, not realizing that the mere possession of good clothes does not imply the possession of culture. She prophesies that the taste the people have acquired for dress, foreign manners, and such luxuries as coffee and tea will prove their ruin. She says that thirty years earlier sickness was almost wholly unknown, homemade cloth being a better protection against cold than "the present frip- pery." As a result tuberculosis had become prevalent.
What would Mrs. Royall say as to our automobiles, moving pic- tures, and ice-cream counters ?
XIV
RECORDS OF SEVENTY YEARS
Abstracts from the County Record-Books.
Order-Book, Sweet Springs District Court
ECORDS begin at Greenbrier Courthouse, May 18. Henry Tazewell and Edmund Winston, judges.
Samuel Dew of Hampshire appointed clerk.
George Hancock, Francis Peyton, James Breckenridge, and Christopher Clark qualify as attorneys.
Grand jury: William Royall (foreman), William Frogg, Robert Clen- dennin, William McCoy, William Johnson, William Ward, Jr., William Griffith, John Viney, Simon Shoemaker, John Miller, John Wallace, Will- iam Cooper, Richard McMullen, Samuel Taylor.
Grand jury, December term at Fincastle: William Watts (foreman), George Skillern, Thomas Rowland, James Barnet, John Wood, William Davison, John Henderson, James Roberts, Henry Bowyer, William Roy- all, Alexander Smith, Jacob Cooper, Joseph Kile, James Simpson, Joseph Cloyd, Hugh Caperton, John Hutchinson, Samuel McClung, William Ritchie, James Robinson, William Wilson. 1795
Sheriff of Botetourt allowed $4 a day for attendance. John Carson of Ireland naturalizes.
Samuel Blackburn qualifies as attorney.
1799
Ralph Elliott to hang for stealing a horse in Botetourt. Jacob Hunt, free negro, burnt in the hand for felony.
Abraham Sovian, jailer, allowed $2 a day for attendance.
1802
William Graham, Sheriff of Monroe, allowed $5 a day for attendance. Trespass, assault and battery, burglary, and horse stealing are the principal crimes.
Five men presented for gaming at the faro-bank of Samuel Brown at Sweet Springs. Benjamin Shacklet presented for keeping another bank at same place. The gamesters fined $20 each, and bound in $50 to $500 for recognizance.
141
RECORDS OF SEVENTY YEARS
1804
Sheriff of Monroe to convey to Richmond a laborer sentenced three years for horse stealing. One-eighth of this time he is to be alone in a cell and on low and coarse diet.
Monroe Order-Books
June, 1799
James Alexander enters into a bond to convey one acre for a courthouse and 25 acres adjacent for a townsite.
Sheriff to let out a contract for a log courthouse and stone jail.
The first overseer-of-the poor district to cover all the county west of the top of Swope's Knobs; the second, from Swope's Knobs opposite to mouth of Turkey to said point, thence by direct course to top of Peters Mountain, thence to New River; the third, to cover all the rest of county. Elections to be held at John Perry's, George King's, and the widow Kil- patrick's.
July, 1799
James McCulloch to pay witness fee to Peter Grass of 53 cents for one day at court, besides 4 cents a mile for 78 miles travel, coming and returning.
August, 1799
Court at James Alexander's.
First grand jury: Ervin Benson (foreman), William Gullett, James Boyd, Francis Best, James Rawlins, William Campbell, John Carr, Thomas Harvey, Henry McDaniel, John Blanton, James Byrnside, John Foster, Joel Stodghill, Lively McGhee, John Arnot, John Dunn.
J- M- summoned for retailing liquor without license.
Samuel Dew, clerk of District Court, qualifies as assistant clerk to John Hutchinson at such times as the latter might need to attend said court. John Byrnside qualifies as surveyor and James Graham as coroner. William Vawter, commissioner of the revenue under Greenbrier, or- dered to deliver such of his returns as are within the limits of Monroe. William White presented for assaulting and "battering" Richard Wil- liams, and Matthew, a negro man.
1800
Thomas Burns to build gristmill on Second Creek.
Patrick Boyd given ordinary license at Union; also peddler's license. Mill of Tristram and Robert Patton ordered established.
Isaac Estill sworn in as sheriff for two years from date of last com- mission.
Sheriff to have stocks and pillory built.
V
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
For outrageous drunkenness, abusing the court, cursing in their pres- ence, and threatening mischief, Dennis Cochran is fined $28 and sent to jail until quiet and ready to confess his fault.
William Hatfield presented for assault and battery.
Charles Blythe, poor orphan, bound to James Gregory.
Annulling of contract with Joseph McNutt to build courthouse.
John Wallace and James Alexander given ordinary license and James Graham ferry license.
Mention of Thompson's racepath.
County expenditures : sheriff, $41.50; coroner, $4.98; surveyor, $17.23; deputy attorney, $67; use of Alexander house for court, $10; underpinning of courthouse, $37.50; work on jail by Joseph Alderson, $55; wolf boun- ties ($2 and $1), $20; "depositum," $522.76.
Levy, $917: rate, one dollar per tithable.
Thomas Fife and Robert Rowe to judge work on courthouse. If they do not agree, Alexander Dunlap to act as umpire, his decision being final.
1801
Jail accepted. Joseph Alderson, contractor.
Christian Peters and Henry Willis petition for leave to build gristmills.
In the cases against Muntz and Hunt, 50 cents a day allowed for guard, 17 cents a day for prison board, and 10 cents a mile for conveying pris- oner. Dr. John Unger turns in a bill of $45.91, Hunt having been shot through leg with rifle ball when caught in a meat house.
James Davenport to purchase a county seal, the same to show a spread eagle surrounded by the words, "Monroe County."
October, court at Humphrey Keyes.' November court in new court- house.
Levy, $722.27; rate, 75 cents.
1802
Adam Kline qualifies as jailor.
Materials for courthouse cost $731.95.
"Staunton Phoenix" mentioned.
Grand jury returns four bills for assault and battery and one for breach of Sabbath; the largest number yet.
Sheriff to let the plastering and papering of courthouse.
Joseph Ruth acquitted of murdering his daughter with laudanum.
William Johnson has mill on Wolf.
Henry Douty fined $5 for insulting a witness while drunk.
Notice posted that any person playing at fives or ball against the court- house, or any other dismeanor to or at the same, is to be dealt with as law directs.
Levy, $703.12; rate, 621/2 cents.
Christian Peters given ordinary license.
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RECORDS OF SEVENTY YEARS
1803
Order for clerk's office; to be 14 by 16 feet in the clear, built of stone and fireproof. Plans to be made by Alexander Dunlap and John Hutchin- son.
Sheriff protests at insufficiency of jail.
Certified that Alexander S. Walker is a man of honesty, probity, and good demeanor, and has resided in county over one year.
Richard Johnson has a mill.
William Frogg fined $5 for an affray in door of courthouse.
Levy, $878.40; rate, 80 cents.
1804
William Patton a licensed peddler.
Edward Legg indicted for murder of Elijah Cornwell, and Thomas Washburn as accomplice thereto.
William Taylor indicted for housebreaking and for stealing $70 out of a chest.
Levy, $586; rate, 50 cents.
1805
Hugh Tiffany licensed peddler.
James Higgenbotham held for district court on charge of murdering Joseph Dixon. Andrew Higgenbotham held as accomplice.
1811
(Records lost from June 18, 1805, to March 29, 1811.)
Betsy, wife of John Carr, sues for separate maintenance and the same is allowed.
Simeon Jarrell jailed 48 hours for attempting to rescue a prisoner from sheriff.
1812
Eleven true bills in one court for breaches of peace.
Seven wolf bounties this year.
Levy, $677.50; rate, 50 cents.
Materials of old jail to be sold and proceeds applied to inclosing public square. The alley between courthouse and A. and G. Beirne's store, and leading to Budd's, to be inclosed by fence.
Bounty on any wolf, $8.
Two women sue for alimony. One claim allowed.
True bill against John Young and Andrew Mclaughlin for fighting duel.
Rates at Pack's ferry 61/4 cents for man, horse, or mule, and 11/4 cent for each hog or sheep.
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
1813
Road surveyor presented for not keeping an index in forks at Samuel Ewing's.
Levy, $446.49; rate, 33 cents.
Samuel Pack has ordinary license.
Thomas Reynolds to build gristmill on Second Creek.
Christopher Shaffer has gristmill.
Isaac Cook has gristmill license on Laurel.
1814
Ordinary rates:
Warm dinner or breakfast $ .33
Cold dinner .25
Cold breakfast .21
Feather bed .121/2
Chaff bed
.08
Corn or oats per gallon .121/2
Pasturage, 24 hours .121/2
Stablage and hay, 24 hours .371/2
Whiskey, per half pint .121/2
Peach brandy, per half pint .25
Apple brandy, per half pint .121/2
Cider, per gallon .33
French brandy, per gallon
6.33
Port wine, per gallon 6.00
Jane Tygart, indicted for killing John, her husband.
Levy, $528.08; rate, 371/2 cents.
1815
Levy, $411.51; rate, 29 cents.
1816
Allowed for patrolling, $16.15; for sign posts, $10.
Mention of legislation on the banknotes of other states to decide which ones are current.
In August court 16 presentments, 9 being for breaches of the peace. Levy, $504.57; rate, 33 cents.
1817
Levy, $761; rate, 50 cents.
1818
William Clark has ordinary license.
Levy, $2180.75; rate, $1.371/2.
Allowed to sheriff, $167; to contractor for new courthouse, $1586.
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RECORDS OF SEVENTY YEARS
Stephen Hensley indicted for passing counterfeit banknotes, knowing them to be bad, and escapes from prison.
1819
Rates at Alderson's ferry raised to 121/2 cents for man or horse. Allowed for courthouse, $2000.
Levy, $2712.85; rate, $1.67 2-3.
Ordinary rates: warm dinner, 371/2 cents; warm supper or breakfast, 33 1-3 cents; lodging, 121/2 cents; common cider, per gallon, 25 cents; boiled cider, 50 cents.
For keeping livestock taken on execution, 9 cents per head for cattle, 17 cents for one horse or 5 sheep.
Alexander Kitchen given ordinary license.
Samuel Hilton married in Grayson county, moved away, and "by the ยท instigation of the devil did feloniously and (in) wickedness marry again."
Magistrates divided into four classes: one for March, May, and July; one for January, September, and November; one for February, August, and October; one for April, June, and December.
1820
Levy, $3224; rate, $2.
Sheriff allowed 40 cents a day for boarding a prisoner.
John Martin has contract for building courthouse.
1821
Quite a number of licenses about this time, especially of store and house goods.
Levy, $622.12; rate, 371/2 cents.
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