USA > West Virginia > Monroe County > A history of Monroe county, West Virginia > Part 19
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DR. HENRY C. BECKETT Now of Scottsburg, Halifax County, Va.
DR. D. M. RYAN Now of Talcott, West Virginia
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HIGHWAYS AND RAILWAYS
Thomas Fowler, or any three of them. Another enterprise of the same date was the Sweet Springs and Price's Mountain Turnpike with a capital of $7,000 and permission to keep only one tollgate.
With the same capital the Indian Draft Turnpike was incorporated in 1838 to run from Salt Sulphur to an intersection with the Blue Sulphur and Red Sulphur Turnpike. It was permitted to cross the Greenbrier by a ferry instead of a bridge. Another incorporation of 1838 was the Sweet Springs and Blue Sulphur Turnpike with a capital of $18,000. The road was to go by Alderson's ferry or the mouth of Wolf. The incorporators at Sweet Springs were John B. Lewis, Philip Rogers, John Shawver, John Hull, and Jacob Wickline; at Union, James B. Shanklin, Benjamin F. Steele, An- drew P. Beirne, John McCarty, and Andrew Miller; at Joseph Hill's, John Alderson, Joseph Alderson, Andrew Miller, William Ellis, James Hill, and Joseph Hill. In 1840 the company was granted an extension of two years in which to build the road. In the latter year the Sweet Springs and Salt Sulphur Turnpike was incorporated with a capital of $10,000 in 100 shares. The minimum and maximum widths of road were to be 18 and 30 feet, and the grades not to exceed four degrees. Under the same conditions the Gap Mills and Price's Mountain Turnpike was incorporated in 1841 to connect Salt Sulphur at some point in Giles with the Cum- berland Gap and Price's Mountain Turnpike. The capital was fixed at $12,000. The Gap Mills and New River and Salt Sul- phur Turnpike was incorporated the same year with a capital of $10,000, widths of 15 and 25 feet, and maximum grades of four degrees. Still another incorporation of the same year, and under the same conditions was the Peters Mountain Turnpike to build a road from Red Sulphur into Giles. The capital was $12,000.
In 1842 came the Jackson's River and Sweet Springs Turnpike to build from Shirkey's mill in Botetourt to an intersection with the Sweet Springs and White Sulphur pike in Alleghany. The follow- ing year a relocation of the last named pike was ordered. In 1849 the Sweet Springs and Salt Sulphur Turnpike was chartered to run from Sweet Springs to the mouth of Indian Draft with a width of 18 feet and a grade of not over three and one-half degrees. In
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
1851 the Red Sulphur and Blue Sulphur Company was allowed $1400 for bridging Indian Creek and for other purposes.
In 1856 a new road law was voted for Monroe and Green- brier. It provided for one commissioner in each magisterial dis- trict. He could draw two dollars a day when in actual service, and the county board was authorized to elect president and secretary. Roads were to be 30 feet wide,unless a narrower width were or- dered, but roads adjoining a town might be 60 feet wide. There was to be a signboard at every fork and a foot-bridge over every stream. Wagon bridges were to be 12 feet wide. An overseer for each precinct was to be appointed by the county court. The cost of working the roads might be met by taxation, but only when so ordered by a three-fifths vote of the people. Such taxation was not to exceed two dollars per tithable, nor more than ten cents per $100 of taxable property.
The Lewisburg and Union Turnpike Company was incorporated in 1860 with a capital stock of $25,000 in 500 shares. Toll-gates were not to be less than eight miles apart.
It will thus appear that for a long while before the iron horse had reached the Virginian Alleghanies there was an active demand for better roads than the crude pioneer thoroughfares. But not all the roads authorized by statute were actually built. There were paper turnpikes, just as at a later day there were paper railroads. It was not always easy, while the United States was still relatively poor, to raise the capital stock required, even though the sums men- tioned in the acts of incorporation seem utterly inadequate, when measured by the purchasing power of the dollar in our own time. The pikes of the middle of the nineteenth century were not always better than the public roads of today. The cost of building a "good road," according to the modern conception of that term, was en- tirely prohibitive. But if the antebellum turnpike was in reality only a passable road, we may imagine that the wagon of the pioneer period was a sorry apology.
In 1850 it usually took 13 days to make the round trip with a four-horse wagon to Lynchburg or to the salt works on the Ka-
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nawha. About that time a journey to Philadelphia, if speed were an object, was by stage to Lynchburg, canal boat to Richmond, steamer to Baltimore, and railroad the rest of the way.
The Louisa Railroad, begun in the middle 30's, was the first movement of the iron path in this direction. It crept forward very slowly. A petition of 1846 asks that it be extended to the Ohio. Some persons wished it to stop at Buchanan, and then have a good macadam built to the Tennessee line. The petitioners are willing for the macadam, but think a part canal route to the Ohio will be too slow. Early in 1850 the railroad was named the Virginia Central, and was authorized to extend its line to Covington from the Blue Ridge. But in 1857 it had come only as far as Jackson's River near Low- moor. At this time it was permitted to charge its passengers six cents a mile. The stress of civil war caused a suspension of work until 1872, when under the name of the Chesapeake and Ohio, it was pushed rapidly forward and opened to the Ohio River in 1873. The town of Alderson now arose, and the whole north of the county was placed within fairly easy touch with the iron rails.
To a person familiar with the topography of Monroe, it seems rather strange that the Chesapeake and Ohio should have chosen the difficult route between Callaghan and Ronceverte, requiring long tunnels and heavy cuts and fills. From Covington to Peters- town there is one continuous valley. The watergaps through which Second Creek escapes from its upper basin look as if specially de- signed for a railroad to use. It involves no very difficult work to follow Dunlap to one of its sources, then pass through the Second Creek gaps, and down Indian to New River.
Had this course been followed, the economic consequences to this county would have been striking. Sweet Springs, Salt Sulphur and Red Sulphur would have been on or very close to the line of railroad, and would not be now in their rather moribund condition. At least one town of quite respectable size would have arisen some- where within the county limits. The Greenbrier division would start from Hinton instead of Ronceverte. White Sulphur would indeed be off the road, but only at a dstance of about seven miles, whether from the east or the west.
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
The route in question was surveyed. Why the plain hints of physical geography were disregarded is an illustration of how large moneyed interests can induce a public service corporation to see a "great light" and act accordingly. The influence of White Sul- phur and Lewisburg was the double magnet that drew the Chesa- peake and Ohio into its difficult course. It is true that Greenbrier would not be quite so well off as it is, but if Greenbrier's loss would have been Monroe's gain, so under existing circumstances, Green- brier's gain is Monroe's loss. .
In 1889 there was an agitation that the Chesapeake and Ohio build a line on the Monroe survey, so as virtually to give it a double track, just as it has double lines between Clifton Forge and Richmond. It was urged that the Big Bend tunnel could not ad- mit a second track. A paper railroad, the Monroe Central, came into notice in 1904. But at the present date there is no early like- lihood that a steam railway will be constructed through Monroe.
In 1850 this county voted $50,000 in aid of what is now the Chesapeake and Ohio, but in 1881 this stock was sold for $10,488. The people of Monroe have since been somewhat suspicious of rail- road performances. To the same corporation the sum of $200,000 was voted in 1868. It was not paid, but $35,000 was spent in se- curing relief from the obligation. In 1905 the county voted down by a majority of 860 votes a subscription of $50,000, Union being the only district to support the measure.
The Atlantic, Mississippi, and Ohio, which later became the Norfolk and Western, was built from Norfolk to Bristol in the 50's. In the later 80's it became a very prosperous road, especi- ally as a coal carrier. One of its extensions is the Potts Creek Rail- road, finished in September, 1909. This branch leaves the main line on New River, climbs the divide between Stony and Potts creeks, and follows the latter stream to Paint Bank. The stations in Potts Creek precinct are Waiteville and Laurel Branch. Only mixed trains are in service, anl timber products form the chief item of freight. Even before the war of 1861, Newburn and Dublin, on the old line to Bristol, were supply points for the south of Monroe.
XXIII
THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN MONROE
John Alderson-Old Greenbrier Church-Indian Creek Church- Other Organizations.
HE Baptist Church appears to have a priority over others in establishing a definite local organization with- in the confines of Old Monroe. This fact and also the strong foothold of the denomination in this county are the direct result of the missionary labors of John Alderson.
From his home on Linville Creek in Rockingham county, where he was pastor of a Baptist congregation, John Alderson began mak- ing trips to the Greenbrier River in 1775. In one of these he bap- tised John Griffith, Mrs. Keeney, and one other person. He soon concluded to make his home here, and did so in October, 1777. It was the dearth of pastoral work in this frontier region that moved him more than anything else. The times were wild and lawless, and there was a crying need of missionary effort. In going from point to point he was often attended by an armed escort. Some of the rough frontiersmen would declare they would keep him out of their stockades and blockhouses, but such threats were never car- ried into effect.
In 1781 he organized the Old Greenbrier Church, the first Baptist organization west of the Alleghanies. The first members, including himself, numbered twelve. The others were Mary and Thomas Alderson, John, Joseph, Katharine, and Lucy Skaggs, Bai- ley, Ann, and James Wood, John Kippers, and John Sheppard. Two years later, a chrch building was decided upon, and it was built on an acre lot granted by William Morris. The church, 17 by 25 feet in size, was finished in 1784, but was decrepit in 1793, It is now represented by the present edifice in North Alderson. At first the new congregation considered itself a branch of the
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Linnville church, but in 1782 it connected itself with the Ke- tokton Association. Later it joined the Greenbrier Association, which was organized about 1801.
Some of the members of this early church lived 30 miles away, and yet the records say they attended regularly. In 1785 the con- gregation decided by a unanimous vote that frolicking is not right. Next year it thus expressed itself on the slavery question: "Our church having but few (slaves), we hope our brethren will not think it hard if we lie neuter in this matter." Until 1856 there was rigid discipline. In 1848 it was voted an inconsistancy to save sap or make sugar on Sunday. Until 1820, the title "reverend" was not used. The minister was called the "laboring brother." So late as from 1854 to 1859 his salary was but $125, and it was paid in trade. · When Sarah Alderson put a quarter of a dollar into the fund in 1805 it was considered a very large contribution. Yet in 1814 an ebb in religious interest was observed, and in 1830 the membership was only 29. The benevolences in 1848 were $22. During the twenty years previous to the close of the Ameri- can war, it is recorded that there was great worldliness; that there was scarcely a meeting when some member was not under discip- line. The vices most complained of were dancing, gambling, swear- ing, drunkenness, and immorality. In 1856 the church condemned checkers, violin playing, backgammon, shooting matches, and “rowdy and burlesque serenading." It had already-in 1850-discounten- anced the use of liquor as a beverage. In 1867 there is mention of "45 cents and some tallow collected" for lights. But with an easier financial condition the minister's salary was raised to $500 in 1885. 1. 17
John Alderson remained pastor until 1804. He was followed, consecutively, by James Ellison, James O. Alderson, Lewis Alder- son, James Remley, John P. Corron, William Margrave, Martin B. Bibb, Silas Livermore, Matthew Ellison, William Fisher, Theo- dore Given, Baylus Cade, Martin Bibb, B. H. Phillips, W. H. Adams, C. T. Kistner, P. G. Meath, Harvey Mclaughlin, M. A. Kelly, J. C. Killian, George E. Davis, J. W. Morgan.
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THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN MONROE
We have not succeeded in securing full and complete data con- cerning the various church organizations of Monroe, whether of the Baptist or other denominations. In the absence of more than partial information we cannot give a comprehensive account of any. But so far as our knowledge goes the following congregations have sprung from the parent church at Alderson: Indian Creek, Red Sulphur, Sinks Grove, Peterstown, Broad Run, Rock Camp, Sweet Springs Valley, Oak Grove, and Pine Grove. In addition to these are the colored Baptist churches at Union and Ballard, and a few more church buildings are shared with other denominations.
The Indian Creek Primitive Baptist church is the first offshoot in Monroe of the parent organization, and is the oldest within the present limits of the county. It dates from 1792. The original building was a plain log structure with no chimney and with an earth floor. In wintry weather the fires were made of bark in the middle of the floor. In time of Indian alarm sentries were stationed outside. And yet the worshippers often came long distances to the monthly meetings. One of the rules of the congregation was that "no member shall have liberty of laughing or whispering in the time of a public speech." There is sometimes mention of disorderly conduct of brethren in divine "sarvis." The brethren were oc- casionally "sighted" for "neglect to hear the church," or for join- ing some other communion. The second building was also of logs, but had a gallery and a puncheon floor. The third and present is a frame structure and stands in a bend of the creek a mile above Greenville. The first pastor was John Alderson, who was often assisted by Josiah Osborne of the Big Levels. He was succeeded after a short interval by James Ellison. In the early history of the church the male members were assessed 25 cents each for the benefit of the poor of the congregation. Any member failing to be in his seat three times in succession was made a subject of discipline. The wash- ing of feet was discussed but never practiced. The communion serv- ice is held on the first Sunday in June. Thousands of people then gather under the broad roof or under the spreading trees. They begin to assemble early, and they come in almost every possible man-
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
ner. Many of them bring dinner and horse feed, although services are held only in the morning and usually close before all have as- sembled.
Red Sulphur Baptist church was organized in May, 1815, at the house of Benjamin Halstead and was at first called Union Bap- tist church. The first house of worship stood at the east end of the present iron bridge over Indian Creek. There was a stone chimney in the middle with a fireplace on each side. To avoid con- fusion the name was changed in 1845. The present church is a handsome white structure near Ballard.
The second Baptist church on Indian was built about 1848 on the land of Samuel Phillips. Three years earlier a church was built in Union. It is now the property of a colored congregation. The church at Sinks Grove was also organized in 1845. Matthew Scott gave the land on which the church was built, and as it con- tained a beautiful grove he named the spot Sinks Grove. This name has since attached itself to the village near by. That at Peters- town followed in 1846.
Broad Run church on Wolf Creek was the result of a petition for the establishing of a branch of Old Greenbrier church. The first building was log, and the first pastor, the Reverend M. F. Bibb, took charge in November, 1853. The present brick church was dedicated May 6, 1855. In 1908 the total membership had risen from 56 to 148, although in 1871 it was 283. Picnics and festivals are not permitted within the inclosure.
Rock Camp, Sweet Springs Valley, and Pine Grove were or- ganized in 1855, 1859, and 1870, respectively.
The division between the Missionary and Primitive branches of the Baptist Church in Monroe took place about 1842.
XXIV
THE PRESBYTERIANS OF MONROE
Good Hope-Presbyterian Ministers-Daughter Churches-New Lebanon.
HE Ulstermen, who were dominant among the pioneers of Monroe, were staunch Presbyterians, and they could not fail to bring their church here with them. That the valley of Indian Creek was visited by their minis- ters as early as the dawn of the Revolution is more than probable, although we have no very certain information. The first local church was Good Hope, organized by John McCue in 1783. The little log structure stood a mile southeast of Union near the brink of the tableland overlooking Indian Creek. The spot is yet known and should be marked. The little building was about 25 feet square, of round logs, and was shaded by a grove of tall oaks. "The pioneer church had clapboard roof, and floor of hewn slabs. Large fires were built outside in cold weather."
Mr. McCue had a hard struggle to secure his bachelor's de- gree from Liberty Hall Academy, now Washington and Lee Uni- versity. His father could help only by letting him retain whatever wages he could earn. The youth would cross the Blue Ridge from his home near Afton, work all day in the fields on South River, and return at night. He was licensed at Timber Ridge in 1782, the record stating that "Mr. McCue is appointed to supply two sabbaths in the forks of Holstine, two at the Knobs, four on Hol- stein and Chucky, four in Greenbrier county, and the rest of the time discretionary till our next meeting." He continued to preach in the Greenbrier settlements until 1791. Mr. McCue is said to have studed theology under James Waddell, the famous blind preacher. He was self-denying and faithful. He withdrew from the Masonic order, not because he found anything in it that was inconsistent with his religious views, but because he found his mem- bership a stone of offense to some of his congregation.
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Mr. McCue was followed by Mr. Grigsby, and he in 1808 by John McElheny. Meanwhile the establishing of Union caused the congregation at Mount Hope to beign worshiping at the county seat about 1802. There are no records of the McCue and Grigsby period, and when McElheny arrived, Presbyterianism in Greenbrier was in a decline. Its first church building in Unoin stood in the southeast corner of the corporate limits. The session house was also a schoolhouse. A brick church was built about 1840, but the wall proving defective, a new one was dedicated in the north of the town on land donated by Allen T. Caperton. It is the one which is still in use.
The earliest elders of the Union church of whom we have record were William and Robert Shanklin, Owen Neel, William Haynes, Robert Dunbar, John Hogshead, and George and Robert Walker.
Mr. McElheny preached his first sermon in Monroe at the house of William Haynes at Gap Mills and his second in the courthouse. His home was at Lewisburg, but until 1842 he al- ternated between that place and Union. Mr. McElheny was de- voted to his ministerial duties and was never sparing of the time he gave to them. It was customary with him to preach two ser- mons with a half hour interval between. On communion days the double service was sometimes four hours long. For many years after he came there was no fellow minister of his denomination nearer than Lexington. His semi-centennial sermon, preached at Lewisburg, in 1858, is of special interest, because it gives a bird's-eye view of religious progress during the fifty years since his arrival, and in other denominations as well as his own. Among his hearers that day was a man who was to have been baptised on the day the news came to Lewisburg of the attack on Donnaly's fort, eighty years before.
In McCue's time Good Hope, afterward known as Concord, was one of only three Presbyterian churches in the whole Green- brier valley. All were of unhewn logs and had slab floors. When Mr. McElheny came in 1808 there were only 40 to 50 Presby- terians in this region, and none of them were young persons. In Greenbrier and Monroe were 169 Baptists, and within the Green-
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THE PRESBYTERIANS OF MONROE
brier Circuit were 504 Methodists. There were a few Menno- nites in the valley, and a Lutheran church was visited occasionally, The five churches in Monroe were two of the Methodists, and one each of the Baptists, the Presbyterians, and the Associated Re- formed Church. All these were of the most ordinary construction and could seat but few people. Much of the preaching was in school rooms, groves, barn floors, and private houses. At Union Mr. McElheny always preached in a grove in fair weather. During these fifty years he had himself preached 7800 sermons, but not altogether in the two counties. He had conducted 1000 funerals, baptised 1300 persons, and married 1500 couples. At the end of the century he could report that there were in Monroe five or six each of Methodist and Baptist churches, five of his own denomi- nation, and one of the Associate Reformed Church. The half a hundred Presbyterians had become 910, the 169 Baptists had in- creased to 880, the membership of the Associated Reformed con- gregation was 120, and in the Greenbrier Circuit were 1410 Metho- dists, besides some Southern Methodists in both counties. The rapidity of Methodist growth he attributed to the itinerant system, which he thought was better adapted to a mountain frontier than the settled pastorate. But since that date the number of Presby- terian churches in Monroe has about doubled.
McElheny was followed in 1842 by Samuel R. Houston, whose pastorate lasted until 1885. He was to preach at Union and Mount Pleasant once each Sunday, at Carmel, Indian Creek, and "Corner," or Bethany, on week days. He was also to give a lecture every Wednesday evening and act as superintendent of the Sunday School at Union. Neighboring preachers came to his aid at times, and at length he was released from all his appointments except Union and Carmel.
The first congregation to branch off from the parent church at Union is that of Carmel at Gap Mills. Its first home was a hewed log house built on land given by Colonel Andrew Summers. It stood a few yards to the rear of the present church, which was erected in 1858. The organization was by the Rev. D. C. Pharr. The first elders were Owen Neel, Abner Neel, William H. Neel, and John Dunbar. Of the 36 signers of the petition asking for a sep-
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A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
arate church at Gap Mills, all but two were the descendants of four sisters who wedded four pioneer settlers.
The next church to set up for itself was Mount Pleasant at Sinks Grove, which was organized in 1854. Its membership the fol- lowing year was 172. The first ,elders were James Curry, John H. Remley, James Young, and William G. Young. The first dea- cons were Robert Curry, James Hogshead, Joseph Parker, and James M. Nickell.
The next offshoot is Centerville, also organized in 1854. But long before this time, McElheny had preached at Robert Shanklin's.
Among the early settlers of Monroe were many members of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. These worshipped with the Presbyterians at Good Hope and Union until they had a minister of their own. They built New Lebanon Church, a log structure standing a mile from its brick successor, which was put up about 1819, and torn down fifty years later. The present New Lebanon was built on the same site and dedicated in 1870. The first elders were three Scotch immigrants, Andrew Ballantyne, and Andrew and James Miller. The first resident minister was William Adair, who came in 1807. He was a man of learning and pastoral efficiency, but his hatred of the British government was so intense that it colored his sermons and was aired in the church yard. It was because of this that he was compelled to flee from Ireland. His proneness to inject foreign politics into his pastoral work led to his deposition. Adair was followed by John Wallace, also a native of Ireland. Beginning with him the succeeding pas- torates are as follows:
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