USA > West Virginia > Randolph County > A history of Randolph County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time > Part 14
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"Whereas it has been represented to the present general assembly that the inhabitants of Randolph County have long laboured under many disadvantages for the want of a wagon
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
road from the court house thereof to the state road at David Manear's on Cheat River, which can not be effected by the ordinary mode of prescribed by law :
"Be it therefore enacted by the general assembly, That it shall and may be lawful for the court of the said county of Randolph to order the attendance and services of the several surveyors of highways in Tyger's Valley, Leading Creek and Cheat River, with the hands assigned to work thereon, to open and complete a wagon road from Thomas Skidmore's, in Tyger's Valley, to David Manear's on Cheat River, where the state road crosses the same.
"And be it further enacted, That any person failing to comply with the requisitions of this act, shall be subject to the same fines and penalties as are inflicted by the act entitled, 'An act concerning public roads.'
"This act shall commence and be in force from and after the passing thereof."
Tavern keepers were for many years in the early history of the state licensed by the Governor, but from the time of the formation of this county the licenseing power was vested in the county court. A special penalty, forfeiture of license, was attached to the offense of permitting "any person to tipple or drink more than is necessary on the Lord's day or any day set apart by public authority for religious worship." Prices to be charged by the innkeeper for diet, lodging, liquors, and horse feed were left to the discretion of the county court.
The culture of tobacco was for many years the principal pursuit in the early history of Virginia and it was the only staple commodity to which the first settlers could be induced to turn their attention. Various laws were. at first enacted by the legislature, wth a view to improve its quality and lessen the quantity, the distance at which the plants should be set apart, the number of plants to be attended by each labourer, and the number of leaves to be gathered from a plant, were all prescribed by act of Assembly. At one period a law was in force, declaring that no tobacco should be planted after a certain day in the year ; at another there was a total suspen- sion from planting for a year, which was called a cessation or stint. The size of a hogshead of tobacco was, for a number
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
of years, three hundred and fifty pounds weight. Before any warehouses were stablished, the inspection of tobacco was performed by an order from a commander of plantations, two men in the neighborhood, who were to view it and if of bad quality to burn it.
Postage Rates. Laws of the United States of April 9, 1816: For every letter, of a single sheet, conveyed not ex- ceeding thirty miles, 6 cents: over thirty and not exceeding eighty miles, 10 cents; over eighty and not exceeding one hundred and fifty miles, 121/2 cents: over one hundred and fifty and not not exceeding four hundred miles, 1834 cents : over four hundred miles, 25 cents. For every double letter, or one composed of two pieces of paper, double those rates ; for a triple letter, or one composed of three pieces of paper, triple those rates. One newspaper could be sent by each printer to every other printer free of charge. The postage of newspapers was one cent for any distance not more than one hundred miles and one and one-half cents for any greater distance. The postage of magazines and pamphlets was one cent a sheet for any distance not exceeding fifty miles, one and one-half cents for any distance over fifty.
We give below the Act of the General Assembly creating Randolph County, That portion of Harrison County em- braced in the territory west and east of the lines given, hound- ed on the west by Pendleton, south by Greenbrier, constituted the county at the time of its formation.
Be It Enacted by the Geenral Assembly of Virginia : That from and after the first day of May, 1787, the county of Har- rison, shall be divided into two distinct counties, that is to say, so much of the said county, lying southeast of the fol- lowing lines, beginning at the mouth of Sandy Creek, thence up Tyger's Valley River to the mouth of Buckhannon River, thence up said river including all the waters thereof, thence down Elk River, including the waters thereof to the Green- brier line, shall be one distinct county and called and be known by Randolph and the residue of said county shall re- tain the name of Harrison. A court for the said county of Randolph shall be held by the Justices thereof on the fourth
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
Monday of every month after the said division shall take place, in such manner as is provided by law for other counties, and shall be by their Commissioners directed. The Justices so named shall meet at the house of Benjamin Wilson in Tyger's Valley in said county, upon the first court day after the said division shall take place, and having taken the oaths prescribed by law and administered the oaths of office to, and taken bond of the Sheriff according to law, proceed to appoint and qualify a Clerk, and fix upon a place for holding court in the said county at or near the center thereof as the situation and convenience will admit of, and thenceforth the said court shall proceed to erect the necessary public build- ings at such place and until such public buildings are com- pleted, appoint any place for holding courts as they may think proper. In all elections of a senator, the said county of Randolph shall be of the same district as the said county of Harrison.
When a new county was organized the Governor com- missioned a number of men to act as "Worshipful Justices." They were not only Justices of the Peace, but were also a board of County Commissioners. They held office for life, except that the Governor might remove them for cause. Vac- ancies were filled by new men recommended by the Court, and commissioned by the Governor. The Court was there- fore self perpetuating.
This was the law of the land until 1852. The senior Jus- tice in point of service became Sheriff. The Justices were selected from the influential and land owning class; they alone were entitled to the title of "Squire" or "gentlemen." The office often descended from father to son. To be eligible to vote or hold office in that day, it was necessary to own a plat of ground of 25 acres and have a house thereon of the dimensions of 12 x 12 feet or in lieu thereof, a plat of fifty acres of unimproved land.
From the formation of the government of Virginia until 1794. tobacco was the legal currency of the state, one hundred pounds being equivalent to one pound in coin. One pound was the equivalent of 31/3 cents.
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
By an act of 1788, the county court was for the trial of all presentments and criminal prosecutions, suits at common law and in chancery, where the sum exceeded five pounds or 500 pounds of tobacco, depending therein and continuing for the space of six days unless the business should be sooner de- termined. It had general police and probate jurisdiction, con- trol of levies, of roads, actions at law, and suits in chancery. The Justices served without pay, and their number was not limited by law. A quorum consisted of four. The grand jury of twenty-four members, sworn for an "inquest on the body of the county" was selected by the Sheriff from the freeholders.
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
CHAPTER XII.
RANDOLPH COUNTY LAWYERS.
T THE members of the legal profession have ever left a mark- ed impress upon the times in which they lived. They were, not only the principal factor in framing laws, but were largely influential in moulding public sentiment, which found expression in the statutes of the state. Since the organiza- tion of the county, Randolph has had a bar that would bear favorable comparison with that of any other county in the state. Many of the lawyers that became prominent at the Randolph county bar received their legal training and tute- lage from such learned and eminent jurists as Tucker, Minor, and Brockenborough. More than 200 lawyers have been ad- mitted to practice in Randolph county, a list of whom is given below, with the date when the name of each first appeared on the record :
William McCleary 1787
Alexander Addison 1787
Maxwell Armstrong 1790
James Gilmore 1813
Adam See 1793
William Colwell 1814
Francis Brook 1793
Thomas Wilson 1815
Isaac White Williams 1794
Gilbert Christie 1795
Patrick Hendrin 1797
James McGee 1815
John Brown 1817
Phineas Chapin 1818
Thomas C. Gordon 1820
Isaac Morris
1802
James Wilson
1803
Jefferson Phelps 1822
James Evans
1803
Lewis Maxwell 1822
John M. Smith 1804
John Ramsell 1823
William Tingle
1805
Daniel G. Morrell 1823
George C. Davisson 1807
George C. Baxter 1823
Samuel McMeechen 1809
William L. Jackson 1824
Nathaniel Pendleton 1809
Edgar C. Wilson 1825
Noah Lindsey 1809
George J. Wilson 1826
Philip Doddridge 1809
1809
So'omon Wyatt 1827
George I. Davisson 1809
Blake B. Woodson
1827
William Parinlaw 1810
Reuben W. Short 1827
Oliver Phelps
1810
Gideon D. Camden 1827
Lemuel E. Davisson 1910
Edwin S. Duncan 1811
Jonathan Jackson 1813
James McCally 1815
Marmaduke Evans 1915
Nathaniel Davisson 1798
Christopher Lamberton 1801
John G. Jackson 1801
John J. Allen 1820
Joseph Lovell 1827
William G. Payne.
Augustine L. Smith 1828
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
W. W. Chapman 1828
W. G. Brown
1829
W. G. Naylor 1829
William H. Gibson 1858
John W. Crawford. 1859
Charles W. Cooper 1859
William R. Crane 1830
Frederick M. Wilson 1830
William A. Harrison
1832
George H. Lee 1832
Beverly H. Lurty
1832
Charles McClure 1832
Robert Wallace
1832
Leroy E. Gaston 1833
Burton A. Despard. 1834
John G. Stringer
1834
Cabell Tavener 1834
David Goff 1834
Thomas Brown 1835
William Mckinley
1836
Hyre Jackson 1836
Joseph Hart 1837
Wesley C. Kemp 1838
John S. Carlisle
1840
Matthew Edmiston 1840
Bernard L. Brown 1840
John L. Duncan 1841
Richard M. Whiting.
1841
James M. Jackson
1841
Edgar M. Davisson
1842
John D. Stephenson
1842
Charles A. Harper. 1843
Alpheus F. Haymond
1843
Jasper N. Hall
1875
Uriel M. Turner 1843
Henry Brannon 1875
Bernard L. Butcher
1876
Edwin L. Hewitt. 1844
Benjamin F. Myers 1845
Samuel Crane 1847
Caleb Boggess 1847
Jonathan Koiner 1847
Phillip M. Morrill.
1847
Jonathan M. Bennett
1847
Joseph C. Spalding 1848
Nathan H. Taft 1848
Benjamin Wilson 1850
Philip Williams
1851
Daniel A. Stofer
1852
John N. Hughes.
1852
Edwin Maxwell 1852
William H. Ferrill. 1853
Thomas A. Bradford
1853
Samuel Woods 1853
Charles Hooton 1853
George W. Lurty 1854
James Bennett 1855
Edgar M. Williams 1855
William E. Clark
1884
Claudius Goff 1856
David M. Auvil. 1856
James A. Bent. 1884
Jared L. Wamsley 1884
.
James W. Dunnington 1866
W. C. Carper 1866
Cyrus Kittle 1866
Willis J. Drummond 1866
Charles S. Lewis 1866
James M. Seig 1867
Alexander M. Poundstone 1867
John S. Hoffman. 1870
Lorenzo D. Strader 1870
Thomas P. R. Brown 1873
A. G. Reger 1873
E. T. Jones. 1873
Stark W. Arnold 1873
Gustavus Cresap 1873
Adonijah B. Parsons 1873
J L. Hall 1873
W. G. L. Totten 1873
C. C. Higginbotham 1873
William T. Ice 1876
W. B. Maxwell. 1876
Philetus Lipscomb 1877
Shelton Leake Reger 1877
William L. Kee. 1878
Alston G. Dayton 1879
Cyrus H. Scott 1879
A. C. Bowman 1880
Leland Kittle 1880
H. C. Thurmond 1880
B F. Martin 1881
William G. Brown 1881
John W. Mason 1881
W. W. Haden 1881
John E. Wood 1881
R. S. Turk 1881
John Bayles Ward 1881
A. S. Bosworth 1882
L. S. Auvil 1883
Frank Woods 1884
E. D. Talbott. 1884
David H. Lilly 1858
William Ewin 1859
John Kearanans 1860
Spencer Dayton 1863
Thomas J. Arnold.
1863
C. J. P. Cresap
1863
Charles J. Pindall
1863
Joseph Thompson 1863
Fontain Smith 1864
James H. Craven 1829
William C. Haymond 1830
Thomas B. Rummell 1858
John W. Barton 1858
Preston W. Adams 1844
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
J. F. Harding 1885
S. M. Reynolds
1885
E. A. Bowers 1902
H. N. Ogden 1887
S. T. Spears 1903
A. Jay Valentine 1887
W. C. Clayton
1887
Charles W. Russell
1888
E. Clark Ice 1903
Melville ยท Peck 1888
S. H. McLean 1903
Roy See 1905
Charles W. Lynch 1890
W. G. Bennett 1905
L. H. Keenan 1892
Myron Clark 1905
W. G. Wilson
1893
Fred L. Cox 1905
Geo. B. Scott 1893
H. G. Kump 1905
E. F. Morgan 1905
A. M. Cunningham 1893
Thos. Horner 1906
W. T. Woodyard. 1893
H. H. Rose
1906
Andrew Price 1894
W. J. Strader
1906
Henry C. Ferry
1895
D. W. Bauske.
1907
W. H. Baker
1895
D. E. Cuppett
1907 -
Lew Greynolds 1895
H. P. Camden 1907
C. O. Strieby 1896
1896
L. M. McClintic
1907
W. E. Baker.
1896
R. H. Waugh 1907
H. E. Wilmoth
1896
Tucker H. Ward 1907
W. B. Kittle. 1896
C. N. Pew 1908
C. W. Harding 1897
H. S. Rucker 1908
Malcolm Jackson 1897
Geo. A. Vincent. 1908
J. N. McMullen 1897
T. A. Bledsoe 1909
E. P. Durkin. 1897
T. M. Beltzhoover 1909
Geo. B. Scott. 1897
B. H. Hiner
1909
J. C. McWhorter 1897
P. R. Kump 1909
Earl H. Maxwell 1909
J. W. Robinson 1909
B. F. Bailey 1897
S. H. Summerville
1897
W. T. Ice, Jr.
1898
F. E. Tallman 1910
John F. Brown 1911
F. A. Rowan
1898
W. A. Arnold. 1912
Chas. Richie 1912
W. H. Cobb
1898
C. H. Marstiller 1912
Michael King 1899
C. M. Murphy 1899
Geo. W. McClintic. 1913
J. B. Ware 1899
Cecil Crickard 1914
Russell Allen 1902
B. M. Hoover
1902
Neil Cunningham
1915
W. T. George 1897
C. P. Guard 1897
R. S. Spillman 1909
R. E. Swartz 1910
C. W. Maxwell 1898
B. W. Taylor
1898
Robert Irons 1913
W'm. McLeary, the first attorney to be admitted to prac- tice in Randolph, was also the first Prosecuting Attorney of the county. Record or tradition gives little information in regard to him. He received the munificent sum of $13.3313 per annum "should the court think it proper to continue him for that term." In 1791 Mr. McLeary moved to Morgantown and became the Clerk of the District Court. He was succeed- ed as Prosecuting Attorney by Thomas Wilson.
G. H. A. Kunst 1902
J. C. Canfield 1903
W. W. Brown 1903
C. W. Dailey 1890
Geo. M. Curtis 1893
Haymond Maxwell 1907
J. F. Strader
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
Thomas Jackson, who was admitted to practice in 1813, was the father of General Stonewall Jackson and was a mem- ber of the Clarksburg bar. He was a son of Edward and Mary (Haddan) Jackson. His father Edward Jackson, was a member of the pioneer family of Randolph by that name.
William L. Jackson, who was admitted to the Beverly bar in 1824, became a General in the Confederate army and was repulsed in an attack upon the Federal forces at Beverly.
John S. Carlisle, admitted to the Randolph county bar in 1840, was a member of the Secession Convention at Rich- mond. Virginia. 1861. and was expelled for voting against the Ordinance of Secession. Mr. Carlisle and W. T. Wiley were the first representatives of the new state in the United States Senate.
Alpheus Haymond, admitted in 1843, Samuel Woods, ad- mitted in 1853, and Henry Brannon, admitted in 1875, were at a later date, elevated to the Supreme bench of the state.
W. W. Hayden, for a time located in Beverly, and ad- mitted to the Beverly bar in 1881, was a native of Fincastle. Virginia. He returned to his native town.
H. N. Ogden, admitted to the Randolph county bar in 1887. for a time practiced his profession in Beverly, but re- turned to his native town of Fairmont, where he achieved success and prominence.
Cyrus Kittle, admitted to the bar in 1866, was the grand father of W. B. Kittle, the present Judge of the Randolph- Barbour Circuit.
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
CHAPTER XIII.
PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS OF RANDOLPH.
When two single cells were joined in one embrace,
Fraternity was born, time never could efface.
Traced in the mammal's maternal instinct wild, She gave her substance for the welfare of her child.
Man in his cave home first felt another's grief and pain; He then upward turned his course to God again.
His love toward man He then deigned to reveal, Conformed man to His image with power to heal.
T HAT period of the past, contemporaneous with the inter- val from the early settlement of Randolph to the present day, marked the transition of medicine from an empiric art to a precise science. Among the epoch making achievements embraced within that period, may be mentioned vaccination for small pox, the germ theory of disease, anesthetics and serum therapy. The physician of the present day deprived of these aids and instruments in his warfare against disease would be tempted, no doubt, to hoist the white flag of truce and abandon mankind to the fates. However, what the phy- sicians of that period lacked in methods and equipment, was compensated by faith in his remedial agents and the benevo- lence with which he pursued his profession. The ethics of the time forbade the question of fee or reward, and whether amid the storms and snows of winter, the sultry heat of summer, in the glare of the noonday sun, or the midnight hour, when deep sleep falleth upon men, the calls of human need were obeyed with equal cheerfulness into the hut of the pauper or the palace of the prince. Then, as now, other men might by proxy, by reason of fortutitious circumstances, re- lieve the suffering and afflicted, but the physician must give the sweat of his own brow, the fatigue of his own body, the toil of his own intellect and the anxieties of his own soul.
The old-time physician, in a degree that cannot be con- ceived today, was regarded as a friend and advisor of the
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
community. To the credit of his time, let it be said that he seldom was rewarded for his sacrifice and unselfish devotion to duty by criticism and ingratitude.
The dangers and hardships of the pioneer physician were augmented by the sparsely settled condition of the country, with poor roads and few bridges. A night call of thirty or forty miles, across mountains, following a bridal path, was not an infrequent occurrence. He shared with his horse the fame and affection of the community. So much depended upon the ability of the animal to carry its rider safely and swiftly through the forest, over mountain and stream, to the bedside of his patient. As a rule it was the most magnificent and stalwart specimen the community could produce : spirited, sure and fleet of foot, trained to swimming swollen streams, carrying its rider safely over, while elevated above high water mark, suspended from his own shoulders, were his shiny saddle bags.
Because of the distance from the physician, the early settler often had recourse to home remedies. To "draw out the fire" apple butter or a poultice of corn meal or scraped potatoes was applied to burns and scalds. The juice of roast- ed onions had the reputation of being a specific for croup. The Virginia snake root, Serpentaria, was the standard remedy to produce perspiration and abort a fever. Other remedies were boneset, horehound, chamomile, wild cherry and prickly ash. As late as 1777 the physicians in Rockingham County, Va., were authorized to inoculate persons living within three miles of a smallpox infected locality. Previous to the introduction of vaccination, the method of preventative treatment by what was known as inoculation had been employed. This consisted of introducing into the system-in a similar way to the method commonly employed in vaccination-the smallpox virus from a mild case with a view to introducing the disease also in a mild form in the person inoculated and thus offering him protection from a further attack. The testimony of phy- sicians was to the effect that this practice made a marked im- pression upon the fatality of the disease. However, it was a prolific source of the spread of the contagion.
From the fact that a medical society did not exist in
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
Randolph until a recent period no records have been kept and perhaps several physicians, who should live in local history, by reason of the merit of their work and lives, have passed to oblivion. The sketches given are the result of the best infor- mation now obtainable, in some instances brief and frag- mentary :
Robert Maxwell was the first man to locate in Randolph who made any pretense to the practice of medicine-perhaps. The early records of the county show that he did not bear the title of Doctor, yet in 1789 he was appointed Coroner and in the same year he was surgeon for the county militia. He was also a preacher and performed many marriage ceremonies in the pioneer period. Nothing is known of his education or parentage and that branch of the Maxwell family is now ex- tinct in Randolph. He resided about one mile below the site of Elkins on Leading Creek. He died in 1818.
Dr. Benjamin Dolbeare was, perhaps, the first man in Randolph to pursue the practice of medicine as a profession. He was a man of education and superior ability in his pro- fession. He came to Randolph from Connecticut, the precise date is not known. He was a brother-in-law to Lorenzo Dow and that eccentric genius made Dr. Dolebeare's home in Beverly a place of a few day's rest and recuperation in his annual pilgrimages as a missionary through the wilds of America. After practicing a few years at Beverly, perhaps from about 1810 to 1815, he removed to Clarksburg.
Dr. Squire Bosworth, student under and successor of Dr. Dolebeare, was born in Hampshire county, Massachusetts, in 1794. He was born in the same year and in the same county, and was a fellow student at Williams College of William Cul- len Bryant. After his graduation at Williams College Dr. Bosworth came to Virginia as a volunteer soldier in the war of 1812. On reaching Parkersburg on his way to Norfolk, Virginia, the company to which he belonged was disbanded, peace having been declared. He remained in Parkersburg as a Deputy County Clerk under a Mr. Neal for two years. He then came to Randolph to assume the same duties for Mr. Archibald Earle, then Clerk of the Circuit Court of Randolph county. Soon thereafter, he married Hannah, daughter of
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
Peter Buckey of Beverly and with his bride returned to Park- ersburg and opened an Academy. A few years later he again became a resident of Beverly and began the study of medicine under Dr. Dolbeare. At a later period he attended lectures in Richmond, Va. For many years he was the only physician in Randolph and a night trip to Tucker, Barbour, or Webster was not an unusual occurrence. There is an authentic tradi- tion that Drs. Bosworth and Dolbeare successfully perform- ed the operation of tracheotomy nearly a century ago. In his religious faith he was a Presbyterian and practiced the strict tenets of an early-day New England Puritan. He carried tracts of a religious nature for distribution in the communi- ties in which he was called and, in remote districts, would call the settlers together and hold prayer meeting. He was Clerk of the Circuit Court two terms and represented Randolph and Tucker in the Virginia legislature of 1855 and 1856. He died in the year of 1870 in the 76th year of his age after more than half a century's active practice in the county.
Dr. Samuel H. Dold practiced his profession in Beverly from 1870 to 1873. He returned to Augusta county Virginia. He received his medical education as a student of his brother- in-law, Dr. J. W. Bosworth, at Philippi, and at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.
Daniel S. Haymond, M.D., born in Taylor County in 1838, graduated in the medical department of the University of New York in 1867. He began the practice of medicine at Simpson, Taylor County, and moved to Leadsville, Randolph County, in 1869. He was an active practitioner for a quarter of a century.
Eugene B. Wilmoth, M.D., son of Oliver and Louisa Taylor Wilmoth, was born in 1859, died 1895. He was edu- cated in the public schools at Philippi, Grafton, and the Nor- mal School at Fairmont. He received his education in medi- cine at the University of Maryland, where he graduated in 1888. He practiced at Meadowville, Harmon and then located at Elkins. Although a comparatively young practitioner at the time of his death, he attained an eminent place in the medical profession of Randolph.
Dr. George W. Yokum was born in Randolph County -
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A HISTORY OF RANDOLPH COUNTY
December 19, 1831, and was the eldest of five children born to John and Melinda (Kuykendall) Yokum. The paternal grand- father, William Yokum, was a native of Virginia, On his father's farm in Randolph County Dr. Yokum spent his early life and received a limited education in the log schoolhouse of those days. In 1849 he began the study of medicine with Dr. William Briggs and in 1853 and 1854 attended lectures at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. In May, 1854, he began to practice and in 1859 located in Beverly, where he practiced until the time of his death, He was well read and a very successful physician. In 1858 he married Miss Mary C. Ward, a native of this county and a daughter of George W. Ward. Although not a politician, because of his wide range of knowledge and strong mentality he was called upon to serve the people four years as President of the County Court and six years as Commissioner of the County Court. Dr. Yokum was honored by the party of which he was a member by being selected as a delegate to the National Democratic Convention which assembled in Chicago in 1892.
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