USA > West Virginia > Monroe County > A history of Monroe county, West Virginia > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
Byrnside, James, Jr .- En. under Jones-1799
Byrnside, John-Maj .- 1801
Byrnside, Isaac-Maj. 2d Batt. v John Campbell-1828
Caddell, James G .- En. v John Ellis-1828
266
A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Callaway, Charles-Maj .- 1846 (166th)
Campbell, John-Maj. 1828
Campbell, Archibald-Capt .- 1823 Campbell, Matthew-En .- 1830
Caperton, Hugh-Capt. v Andrew Wood-1787 Carden, Isaac-En. under Johnson Riffe-1818
Carnifax, William-Lt. under Campbell-1815 Christy, Robert-Capt. v John Handley-1815 Clark, Samuel-Maj .- res. 1814 Clark, John-En. v Francis Nickell-1814
Clark, James-En. v R. Wyatt-1818
Clark, Alexander-Lt. v Wm. Carnifax-1817-res. 1819 Coalter, Robert-2d Lt. Cav. v James Woodville-1817 Cook, Joseph-En. under John Hutchinson-1787
Cook, Jacob-En. under John Hutchinson-1787
Cook, John-En. Rifle company, 2d Batt .- 1822 Crow, John-Capt. v Herbert-1st Batt-1814 Dickson, Joseph-2d Lt. v Archibald Handley-1805 Dolen, John-Lt. v J. Holsapple-1817
Dunbar, Robert-Lt .- 1799
Dunbar, John-En. (Lt.)-v John Nickell-1815
Dunlap, Alexander-En. under J. Byrnside-1799
Dunn, James-En. v E. Williams-1823
Dunn, John-Lt .- 1824 Dunn, William-En .- 1824
Dunn, William T .- Capt .- 1824
Elliott, James-Lt. v Swope-1801-res. 1815
Ellis, William-Lt. v Andrew Gwinn-under John Alderson-1818
Ellis, Thomas-En. v J. G. Keadle-1830 Ellis, John-En .- 1828 Erskine, Henry-Lt .- res. 1815
Erskine, Michael-Capt v James Meadows-1824
Erwin, William-Lt .- 1793
Estill, Isaac-Maj .- 1801
Evans, William-En. under Herbert-1812
Ewing, William-Lt. under Robert Nickell-1787 Ewing, Oliver-En. v A. Alexander-under Christy-1816 Ewing, Joseph-Lt. v Christy-1818.
Ewing, Robert, Jr .- Cornet v Alex. Kitchen-1818 Farley, Matt-Capt .- 1788-res. 1800 Fleshman, Fielding-Capt. in 166th-1846 Foster, Robert-En. v A. Nickell, Jr .- under John Nickell-1815 Foster, John-En. under Jones-1798 Garten, Richard-En .- 1799
267
THE MILITIA SYSTEM AND OFFICERS
Garten, Elijah-Lt. of Rifles v John Hinton-1822 Glass, Samuel-Capt .- 1782
Graham, James-Col .- 1799 Graham, Lancelot-Lt .- res. 1815 Graham, David-Lt. 1797
Graham, Samuel-Lt .! 1805
Graham, William-Maj. 2d Batt .- res. 1811
Graham, James-En. v Michael Howard-under Alderson-1822 Gray, James-Lt .- 1799
Gwinn, James-En. under Graham-1799
Gwinn, Andrew-Lt .- 1815-res. 1818 Gwinn, Robert-En .- 1794
Hall, Benjamin-En. v M. Alexander-1801
Hall, John-Lt. v John Arbuckle-1802
Handley, John-Maj .- 1799
Handley, John, Jr .- Capt .- res. 1815
Handley, Archibald-1st Lt. v Robert Patton-1805
Handley, James-Capt. Cav. in 108th v C. M. Lewis-1817-res. 1820
Handley, James, Jr .- Lt. v M. Alexander-1803
Handley, George-En .- 1811
Handley, Isaac-Capt. Flying Art. in 108th (19th brigade) v W. Vass -1815
Hansbarger, Peter-Capt .- 1824-died about this time
Harvey, James-En .- 1799
Harvey, John-Capt. v Wyatt-1801-res. 1803
Harvey, Nicholas-En. under Caperton-1787
Harvey, William Lt. v Tolison Shumate-1801-res. 1803
Hawkins, John-1st Lt. v W. Clark-1820 Hawkins, Thomas N .- 1st Lt. under Bailey-1824
Haynes, James M .- Lt Flying Art. v J. Ewing-1818
Haynes, Thomas N .- 1st Lt .- under Bailey-1824 Hays, Thomas N .- 1st Lt .- under Bailey-1824
Hays, Isaac-Cornet v R. Coalter-1820
Henderson, John-Capt. 1782-7
Henderson, James-Lt. Col .- 1778 Herbert, - Capt .- 1814 Hill, Joseph-Lt. v John Newman-1828
Hills, Joseph R .- Col. 166th-1846 Hinchman, William-En. v John Hinton-1817
Hines, Charles R .- Capt. 166th-1846
Hinton, Evan-1st Lt. under Larew-1811
Hinton, John-Capt. of Rifles, 2d Batt. v J. Johnson-1822 Holsapple, John-Maj .- 1822
Holsapple, Henry-Lt. under W. Humphreys-1822
268 A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Howard, Michael-En. v A. Gwinn-1815
Hull, John-Capt .- v H. W. Moss-1823
Humphreys, William-Capt. v J. Holsapple-1822 Hunter, John-En .- 1816
Hutchinson, John-Col .- 1801
Hutchinson, Archibald-Lt. 2d rifle company under John Byrnside-1893 Hutchinson, Isaac-Lt. v James Handley-1805
Hutchinson, Alexander-En .- 1783
Jarvis, John-En. under Crow-1816-res. 1818 Johnson, Jacob-Capt. 1817-res. 1822
Jones, James-Capt .- 1799
Jones, John-Cornet under W. Clark-1822
Keadle, James G .- Lt under Hill-1830
Keenan, Charles-En. under Clark-1799
Kelly, Nathaniel B .- Capt. v John Byrnside-1828 Keys, Humphrey-En. v B. Hall-1803
Kilpatrick, James-Lt. 1811
Kincaid, George-Capt. v Andrew Nickell-1822 King, Robert-Lt .- 1798
Kitchen, Alexander-1st Lt v J. Handley-1817
Kitchen, Henry-Lt. under Hull-1823
Kitchen, Henry C .- En. v A. Lewellin-1830 Knox, James-Capt .- 1782-4
Kountz, George-En. v John Jarvis-under Crow-1818 Lafferty, William-Lt. under Farley1/21788
Larew, Peter-Capt. Light Inf., 2d Batt .- 1805
Leach, Joshua-Capt. Cav .- 1799-res. 1805
Leach, John-Lt. under Jones-1797
Leach, Isom-Lt v Robert King-under Jones-1798 Lewellin, Anderson-Capt .- 1830
Lewis, Charles M .- Capt. Cav. in 108th-1811-res. 1817 Linton, John B .- En .- 1811
Lynch, George-En. under W. Humphreys-1822
Maddy, William-Lt. under John Hutchinson-1787
Magart, Adam-En .- 1814
Mann, James-En .- 1815
Mann, Jacob-Lt. v John Halstead-1805
Mathews, David-Lt. Col. of 166th-1846
McCarty, John-Capt. v Andrew Nickell-1821 McDaniel, William-Capt. v John Pack-1816 McDaniel, Henry-Capt .- 1811
McDaniel-En. under Pack-1812
McDowell, James-Capt. v Thomas Reynolds-1814 McNeer, Richard-Lt. v Adam Miller-1811
1
269
THE MILITIA SYSTEM AND OFFICERS
Meador, John-Lt. v L. Graham-1815 Meadows, James-Capt .- 1824 Milburn, Isaac-En .- res. 1811
Miller, James-En. under Estill-1799 Miller, Andrew-En. v Jacob Mann-1805
Miller, Adam-Lt. res. 1811 Miller, Thomas-En under Kincaid-1822
1
Morgan, Moses-En v E. B. Bailey-1825
Moss, George-En under Hull-1822
Moss, Henry W .- Capt .- 1823
Newman, John-Lt .- 1828 Nickell, Andrew-Capt. v John Nickell-1818 Nickell, Francis-En-res. 1814
Nickell, Robert-Capt .- 1787-res. 1801
Nickell, John-Capt. v A. Nickell-1815
Nickell, John, Jr .- En. v A. Nickell-1802
Nickell, Andrew, Jr .- Lt. v J. Steele-under John Nickell-1815 Nickell, George-En. v J. Holsapple-1814
Pack, John-Capt. v John Harvey-1803-res. 1816
Pack, Samuel, Jr .- Lt. v John Pack-1803 Pack, Benjamin-Lt. v Larew-1805
Parker, Joseph-En under Humphreys-1823
Patterson, Matthew-En under Wright-1787
Patton, Robert-1st Lt. of Cav .- 1799
Patton, William-Lt .- 1803
Peters, Conrad-Lt. Col. v A. Beirne-1818
Peters, John-Capt. v H. McDaniel-1811
Phillips, Zachariah-En-1805
Pole, Mordecai-Capt. v P. Hansbarger-1824 Prentice, Moses-Cornet under Leach-1800 Reaburn, - Capt .- 1785
Reaburn, John-En .- 1797
-
Reaburn, Charles-En .- res. 1811
Reynolds, Thomas-Capt .- res. 1814
Rice, James-En .- 1816
Robertson, Edwin-En. v Elliott-under Vass-1816 Scarborough, James-En-1793
Scott, Thomas-Lt. v Reuben-Wyatt-1821
Shanklin, Richard-2d Lt. under Bailey-1824
Shanklin, Richard-Lt. Col .- 1818 Shanklin, William-Capt .- 1811
Shannon, Henry-Capt. v Estill-1801
Shannon, John-Lt. v H. Shannon-1801
270
A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
Shelton, John-Lt v H. Shannon-1801
Shelton, Thomas-Capt .- 1783
Shumate, Daniel-Lt .- 1784 Shumate, Tolison-Lt. under McDaniel-1799-res. 1801 Shumate, Harden-Lt. v D. Thompson-under Peters-1815 Smith, William-En. v A. Clark-under Herbert-1820
Sparr, Samuel-2d Lt. v J. Hawkins-1820
Steele, John-Lt .- res. 1815
Stodghill, William G .- Lt. v R. McNeer-1815 Swope, George-Capt. v R. Nickell-res. 1802
Swope, George-Lt .- 1823
Swope, Jonathan-Lt. v A. Nickell-1818
Symms, John-Lt. v J. Kilpatrick-1811
Tackett, Nimrod-Capt .- res. 1803
Tackett, John W .- Lt. v N. B. Kelly-1828
Tackett, James-Lt. of Cav .- 1830
Taylor, Robert-En .- 1818
Thomas, John-En. under J. Ewing-1818
Thomas, Thomas-En. under J. Ewing-1818
Thomas, Richard-Lt. under Richard Campbell-1820 Thompson, James-Capt .- res. 1784, when about to leave Thompson, William-Lt. under Caperton-1787 Thompson, David-Lt. v C. Peters-res. 1815
Tresler, John-En. v J. Peters-res. 1812
Vass, William-Maj. v C. Peters-1818
Vass, Elliott-En. v J. Handley-1815 Walker, Harper-En .- 1817
Whitcomb, George-En. v J. W. Tackett-1828 Williams, Samuel-Capt. v Knox-1784
Williams, Edward-Lt. v J. Meadows-1823 Woods, Anthony-Capt. v Thomas Shelton-1783 Woods, Andrew-Capt .- 1783-gone, 1787 Woods, John-En .- 1811
Woods, Archibald-En. under Joseph Ewing-1825
Woodville, James-2d Lt. of Cav. v W. Black-1817 Wright, Thomas-Capt .- 1787
Wyatt, Thomas-Capt. of 108th-1801 Wyatt, Reuben-Lt. v Joshua Butcher-under W. McDaniel-1818
Wylie, Thomas-Capt. v A. Alexander-1818 Wylie, Edward-En. under Crow-1818
Young, James-En. v John Reaburn-under R. Nickell-1797-res. 1801 Young, Robert-Lt. under Kincaid-1822
XXXII
MONROE AS SEEN IN A TOUR
N TAKING the reader on a tour of Monroe we can re- late some odds and ends with more freedom than in other chapters. Since the trip is imaginary and not real, we will select a clear day in June and begin at Green Hill, immediately east of Union. Looking toward the sunset, we peer into a valley that seems narrower than it is. In the foreground are the scattered houses of the county seat interspersed with shade trees. In the opposite direction is Peters Mountain, lofty, regular, and for- est-covered. Only partially obscuring it is the much lower ridge of Little Mountain, interrupted here and there by watergaps and les- sening in height toward the south. We cannot look squarely into any of the passes, since they appear to lie at an oblique angle from us. In the southwest quarter are low but rugged eminences beyond Turkey Creek.
Looking northwest we see the short, lofty, and broken range known in the early record-books as Swope's Knobs, but now simply as the Knobs. The slope lying toward us presents a rapid alterna- tion of swells and gorges. The former are generally open, but the older people can tell us when these heights were an almost solid ex- panse of woodland. Just behind one of the houses that nestle on the mountain side is the wooded, cone-shaped projection known as Cald- er's Peak. Volcanic cones, hoary with age, even in a geologic sense. occur in the Alleghanies, and this may be one of them. But the hill is of more interest in another way.
The peak and the home below were once the property of Alex- ander Calder, a planter of the Palmetto State, who liked the scen- ery and the cool air of the Monroe hills so well as to live here a part of the time. On the summit of the peak he built in 1842 an observatory 100 feet high and 40 feet in diameter at the base. It
272
A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
is related of Calder that he wished to see into his home state of South Carolina. But only if Mount Everest with its 29,142 feet of alti- tude occupied the place of Calder's Peak would it be possible to see so far away. In the spring of 1861 the woodwork had become in- secure, and the occupant of the farm saw fit to burn it down the night after Fort Sumter was fired upon.
A tale which links into the story of Calder's Peak has to do with William Willis, whose grave is in the Green Hill cemetery. Willis was a native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, a soldier of the Rev- olution, and after that event he experienced great vicissitudes of for- tune. It is said he lived a while in Spain, filling a diplomatic post, and there wedded the beautiful daughter of a Spanish don. During an absence from Madrid, a jealous rival poisoned the mind of the father-in-law, and caused the latter to leave Spain, taking his daugh- ter with him, and going in such secrecy that Willis never again met his bride. It is further said, however, that after many years he learned that she died in New Orleans, true to him to the last. The child of this union he never saw. In his old age Willis was be- friended by Calder, who took him to his home at the foot of the knob. Calder died in South Carolina in 1849, and as the nephew who inherited his property failed to make any provision for the old veteran, the latter became a public charge. He was placed in the private home of Simeon Jennings in Union and there tenderly cared for until his death in 1853, at the great age of ninety-nine years. Wil- lis was cultured and refined, and had a commanding presence. While in Calder's home' it is believed that he wrote the story of his blighted life, but changed his mind and gave the manuscript to the flames.
In the fairly level fields just south of Union stood an immense tree known as the Royal Oak. It was here that the musters of the militia used to take place. An event of the war period was a re- view by General Loring of the Confederate troops under his com- mand. The oak was felled because of large dead limbs and a hol- low trunk. Accounts vary as to when this was done, the latest date we learn of being 1859. Some 15 years later the stump was re- moved. There have been exaggerated statements respecting the
273
MONROE AS SEEN IN A TOUR
size of this monarch of the forest. One citizen claims it was 33 feet in girth; another says 500 rails were split out of it. Judge Campbell, to whom the tree used to be a familiar object, says the stump, projecting some three feet above the ground, was about six feet across. A good poem on the Royal Oak was written a few years ago by Miss Anna B. Gwinn.
The road by Calder's Peak brings us to Johnson's Crossroads, near the head of Wolf Creek. We find the Knobs to consist of two parallel ridges, the western face of the second being even more ir- regular than the view from Green Hill. There are patches of corn on hillsides so abrupt that the tillage has to be done with the hoe.
Sometimes an Appalachian valley is most expansive at the head. This is the case with Wolf and Potts creeks. The Crossroads was a choice spot to the early landseekers, and was not long in coming into possession of the family to which it owes its name. But with the exception of one household the Johnsons are no longer here, and as the people of the immediate vicinity are mainly tenant farmers, one is impressed with the feeling that this attractive basin has known palmier days.
Looking northward, quite a vista opens out between the Knobs and Patrick's Peak, a projection of Wolf Creek Mountain. On the right is a belt of tableland, settled at a very early day by the Swope, Skaggs, and other pioneer families. The view is finally cut off by Flat Mountain, which turns Wolf Creek to the west and compels it to meet the Greenbrier two miles south of Alderson in- stead of two miles east. The valley of the Wolf is pleasant to look upon and is rather numerously peopled. A sassafras about 50 feet high and nearly 12 feet in girth would indicate that the soil is of some account.
John Skaggs was aiming his rifle at a deer when he perceived what seemed a flash of lightning between him and the animal. A puma had sprung upon the deer. Skaggs shot the beast of prey. At an- other time, he found a missing hog with a litter of pigs and a fine bed of leaves. To rear her family she had appropriated a crevice in a
274
A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
cliff. The hunter was just in time to kill a bear that was climbing up the cliff in search of fresh pork. His daughter Sarah went one evening to hunt the cows, and not finding them was on her way back. When she came to a branch she found a puma was on her trail. Having heard that this animal is very averse to wetting its feet, a trait which it shares with the feline race in general, she crossed and recrossed until she reached home and thus thwarted the efforts of the puma to get at her by making use of a tree that had fallen across.
Hardy's Run, a tributary of Wolf, is named for a pioneer who outran some Indians who were pursuing him. Pottery used to be made one mile above the mouth of the stream. A little distance away is a house much more than a century old and still in a very usable condition. It was the home of the pioneer Swope, who was laid to rest in the burial ground at the end of a steep hogback that juts into the valley. The headstone bears this inscription:
Joseph Swope departed this life 2d March 1819 in his 68th Year. He was one of the first Setlers of this County after having been 9 Years a Prisoner with the Shawnee Nation.
Fishbock Hill at the mouth of Wolf keeps alive the name of an otherwise forgotten pioneer. Looking down on the narrow Green- brier bottom, we are shown where the Monroe line twice crosses the stream, leaving the tip of a peninsula to the east. The road brings us to a hollow, down which the road rapidly winds to the town of Alderson at the foot of a heavy river bluff. We turn into the Flat Mountain road, which is sandy, thinly peopled, and has little to de- tain our attention. Scarcely any county in the state seems to be without several Laurel Creeks or Laurel Runs. Monroe has sev- eral. We crossed one of them in the high basin between the two arms of Swope's Knobs. It there flows placidly, but soon it begins a long and tumultuous plunge on its way to join Indian Creek. We shall meet it again. The other Laurel attempts to join the Green- brier where Wolf would meet it if it kept its course. Yet it turns away from an almost insignificant saddle-ridge, curves westward and then southward, and finally ends its crooked career by joining the Wolf.
275
MONROE AS SEEN IN A TOUR
Our road brings us to Sinks Grove through the broad depres- sion between the Knobs and Middle Mountain. The former come to an end in Bickett's Knob, a height that dominates the landscape toward the east. If it had the form of Calder's Peak it would be a very imposing object. But a nearly level field occupies the broad summit, which falls abruptly away on every side to a shoulder of encircling tableland. In August of 1890 five noises were heard on this mountain at intervals of fifteen to twenty minutes, an upward force breaking a large limestone rock into small pieces. The cause of the explosion is unknown.
Because of the important highways that radiate from Sinks Grove, it is almost a wonder that it was not one of the battlefields of the American war. Northward, eastward, and southward from the village is a broad limestone plateau, reaching north to the bluffs on Greenbrier and Second Creek, east to the foot of Little Mountain, and south to Turkey Creek. We are in the "Sinks" of the pioneer settlers, a continuation of the "Big Levels" around Lewisburg. The surface nearly preserves a general level, and although there are deep hollows, the contour is not so broken as in the Hill Region which covers the greater part of West Virginia. Many of the fields would be counted as of very respectable size, even in the agricultural states of the Middle West.
The attention of the visitor is drawn to the sinkholes, large and small, which are scattered numerously about. In some instances the funnel-shaped depression has an ugly looking hole at the bottom. One of these is mentioned in a deed of 1802 as "the devil's hole." More often there is a round pool of muddy water, useful to the livestock. Sometimes a round spot of rich soil tells of a pool that has ceased to exist. The sinkhole is not always a complete obstacle to the plow. In many instances it sustains its share of waving grain or hills of corn. This limestone expanse is honeycombed with cav- erns. These receive the surface drainage through the many sink- holes, and discharge it by means of the strong springs found in the deep valleys. Where the almost vertical seams of the blue mas- sive limestone come to the surface, they show water-worn outlines
276
A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
and sometimes present a wormeaten appearance. Whether or not these ledges were once below the present surface, their shapes are due to the very long continued action of streams that are now ex- tinct. Places may be seen where cascades once tumbled over the rocks.
In this favored district is an air of agricultural prosperity. Farm- houses of a superior type are common, and the silo is not an infre- quent adjunct of the farmyard. Good homes are a natural conse- quence of good soil. Here is the garden spot of Monroe, and the patches of woodland, especially the sugar groves, are convincing as to the strength of the clay loam. The sugar maples remind us that for many years white cane sugar was a rarity in this region. Dur- ing the civil war the sugar orchards came once more into their own. It was now that sorghum began to be cultivated so as to eke out the capacity of the trees for sweetening the wartime cookery. As to the stickiness of the soil in open winter weather, a short excursion on any of the roads will speak for itself.
In this plateau is a tract of 770 acres known more than a cen- tury ago as the "plowed savannah." The last named word has all but passed out of use in favor of "prairie," which was unknown to the English language at that time.
Four miles from Sinks Grove is Pickaway, a crossroads named for the Pickaway Plains of Ohio, where a treaty was made with the Shawnee Indians soon after the battle of Point Pleasant. As some of the Monroe Pioneers served in that campaign, they became fa- miliar with the name of Pickaway. We pass New Lebanon church and come to where the plateau gradually breaks down to make room for the immediate valley of Second Creek, a little river that for a few miles is wholly or approximately the boundary between Monroe and Greenbrier. One of the eighteen mills that stand or have stood on this creek was a powder mill built about 1788 by Frederick Gromer. A colored woman and boy were sent to the mill on an errand. They went in with a lighted candle, and in a few moments the building was among the things that were. The boy was killed and a few days later the woman died. Robert Patton, who suc-
277
MONROE AS SEEN IN A TOUR
ceeded Gromer, lost his own life about 1808 in another explosion. Like the early steamboats on the Mississippi, the pioneer powder mill had the disagreeable habit of blowing up and killing or hurting somebody. But gunpowder was a vital necessity in those days, and it was costly. People kept it in gourds as well as in their powder- horns. As for the gristmill of that period it would grind but not bolt about 20 bushels of corn or wheat in a day. The mill with the up and down saw turned out 400 to 500 feet of lumber sawed to an uneven thickness.
We leave the Sinks and move eastward nearly parallel with the northern line of the county. There is now a rapid alternation of mountain and valley. We are where the axis of the Alleghany sys- tem loses itself in a succession of ridges that abut on Second Creek. Population is sparse and we are almost in a wilderness. There is a sharp contrast between this locality and the Sinks. At length we come into the Cove, a long narrow valley cross-sectioned into farms. We are shown the spot where there was once a stone house built by John Lewis in the early years of white occupation. The house was of good size, but the wall was weak, since the inner and outer lay- ers of stone were not properly bound together. It stood, however, until about 1880. The yawning fireplace was broad enough to take an eleven foot log. The Lewises used to come here to hunt. After the place came into the possession of the Wylies, aunt Peggy Hig- genbotham, a woman not afraid of the dark and suspected by the superstitious of being a witch, used to visit here from her home on Laurel. While plying her knitting needles she would tell hair- raising stories to the young members of the household.
In this portion of Monroe we are solemnly told of mysterious lead mines, known to the Indians and the early whites, and from which the latter secured great chunks of bullet material. The same legend exists in every county of the Alleghanies, all the way from the line of Pennsylvania to New River. It retains its vitality in spite of the fact that these mountains have been settled a century and a half, and have been searched by skilled as well as unskilled ob- servers. Veins of iron and coal have been explored, but the lead
278
A HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
defies rediscovery after the manner of the mythical treasures of Cap- tain Kidd. The "mines" are not found because they never had any existence. In an early stage of pioneer society, when the frontier is full of romance and the dark, gloomy forest prolific of ghosts and mysterious shadows, the human mind seizes with avidity and with- out reflection upon things which are out of the ordinary. The In- dians had no knowledge of mining or smelting metals, and could have found almost no use for a soft material like lead. They had only just begun to use firearms when the whites were settling these mountain valleys. And more than this, the ores in which lead is found do not give up the metal over an open fire. High authority on the geology of West Virginia tells us that no one should waste time in hunting for lead within the boundaries of the commonwealth.
Passing a now silent mill, we follow Cove and Back creeks, pass over a low ridge, and come into Sweet Springs valley at Lynn- side, the manor home of the Lewis family.
A number of the homesteads of Monroe bear distinctive names. In the old Virginia east of the Blue Ridge the usage is a common one. But the American Highlander had too little sentiment in his makeup to name his home. He was a restless person and did not generally look forward to spending the rest of his life on the spot where he first settled. Yet some of his later representatives have fallen in with this English custom.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.