USA > West Virginia > Marion County > History and progress of the county of Marion, West Virginia, from its earliest settlement by the whites, down to the present, together with biographical sketches of its most prominent citizens > Part 7
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Since the war there had been no military organiza- tions in this county, owing to the poor provisions that the State had made for its militia, but in the summer of 1877, a military spirit seemed to take pos- session of many of the young men in Fairmont, and the organization of a company was effected. This company was named Davis Light Guards, in honor of Hon. Henry G. Davis, United States Senator from this State, and E. W. S. Moore was elected captain, with Samnel N. Jackson and Ed. L. Watson first and
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
second lieutenants, respectively. The company soon grew very proficient in drill, well disciplined, and cel- ebrated in military circles throughout the State. Captain Moore, removing from the State, resigned in 1878, and Sergeant J. W. Lott became captain. Upon Captain Lott's promotion in the summer of 1879 to the position of major in the First Regiment, in which regiment the company holds the position of Company " B," Lieutenant Jackson became captain. Shortly afterwards Jackson resigned, having received an ap- pointment in the postal service, and Lieutenant Wat- son was made captain, with Clarence L. Smith as first lieutenant, and J. M. McCoy as second licuten- ant. Shortly after the organization of the Davis Light Guards, the Delaplain Guards, of Manning- ton, were organized and named in honor of Col. R. M. Delaplain, of Wheeling. Charles E. Wells was made captain, with A. N. Prichard and A. N. Parish, as first and second lieutenants. In the fall of 1879 Lieutenant Prichard was elected captain, Captain Wells resigning. A. N. Parish shortly after also re- signed, after being elected first lieutenant, and Ever- ett Koon was elected second lieutenant. This com- pany has also gained considerable notoriety for its proficiency in drill and the excellent and soldierly conduct of its men. The Martin Guards, of Fairview, named in honor of Hon. B. F. Martin, M. C., was or- ganized in 1878. Captain Clarke is the commanding
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
officer, and James Seals and A. B. Yost the lieuten- ants. The company is composed of a fine looking body of men, is well drilled and in a prosperous con- dition. The last and largest military organization effected in Marion county . was the Garrett Rifles, named for John W. Garrett, President of the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad Company. This company was organized in 1878, with Ellis A. Billingslea as captain, E. L. Basnett, first lieutenant, Waitman Sat- terfield, second, and Joseph P. Fleming, third. About the first of January, 1880, the office of third lieuten- ant was abolished, and Billingslea and Satterfield having resigned their offices, Lieutenant Basnett was made captain of the company. Third Lientenant Fleming was promoted to the office of first lieutenant and George W. Merrill was made second lieutenant.
Thus, Marion county possesses four excellent mili- tary organizations, all well equipped, uniformed and armed with breech-loading rifles. Two of the com- panics, the Davis Light Guards and the Martin Guards, wear grey uniforms, and the remaining two companies wear bluc. In October, 1878, a grand Military Reunion and Sham Battle was held on the Marion County Fair Grounds, under the auspices of the Davis Guards, at which timo the military from Wheeling, Burton and Mannington, and tho Uni- versity Cadets and battery from Morgantown wero present and participated. On the 17th of October,
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
1879, a similar entertainment was held at the same place, at which time the Davis Light Guards were awarded a prize sword for their proficiency in drill over the Waynesburg (l'a.) Blues, who had previously won a sword at a competitive drill in their own State.
The militia of Marion county, and, indeed, of the entire State, is self-sustaining, the State furnishing them nothing save arms and company equipments.
13
CHAPTER XX.
THE RESOURCES OF THE COUNTY - THE POLITICAL COMPLEXION-CONCLUSION.
ARION county is about forty miles long, with a mean width of fifteen miles. It is watered by the upper Monongahela, the West Fork and Valley rivers and their branches. At the time of its organ- ization, in 1842, it contained between six and seven thousand inhabitants, and at present the population will probably reach seventeen thousand.
The surface of the county is hilly and well timbered; much of the soil is fertile, producing wheat, eorn, oats, rye, flax and potatoes and beans-and, in fact, almost all kinds of vegetables and grain, while its adaptation to grazing is unexcelled. No better grass growing land can be found anywhere. The finest grass for grazing purposes may be grown upon its highest hills-some of which rise over 1,000 feet above the meadow lands of the valleys. The soil is generally of a rich loamy clay and will produce all the staples common to the Middle States of the Union. There is but little land in the county too rough for cultivation. Such of it as cannot be used for the production of grass, wheat,
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
,
corn, oats, etc., can be profitably turned into vine- yards and orchards. The county is abundantly. watered, thus affording an ample supply of pure water for all kinds of live stock.
The earth is stored with iron ore, fine stone of various kinds, glass sand of a superior quality, and with coal of different kinds, and of the very best quality. Excellent potter's clay is also found in many sections of the county. Marion lies within the boundaries of the great Monongahela Valley coal fields. In some places in the county the veins of coal are from ten to twelve feet in thickness, below which, and separated chiefly by a heavy bed of sand stone, there lies a thinner stratum of a more highly bitu- minous character. Prof. Rogers, in speaking of these coal fields, says : " We may form some idea of the vast extent of these coal seams from the fact that from some distance above Clarksburg [the southern borders of Marion county] they may be followed with scarcely any interruptions throughout the whole length of the Valley of the Monongahela down to Pittsburgh."
In the fall of 1875, Captain T. P. Roberts was em- ployed by the Government to survey the river from Morgantown to Fairmont. Upon his arrival at the latter place the citizens tendered to him and his men a reception at the Continental Hotel. Being called upon there for an expression of his views, he made
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
some remarks, from which the following extracts are taken:
"The improvement of our navigable rivers is a sub- ject worthy of very careful consideration, and I am glad that I have the opportunity to express to you, gentlemen, the warm sympathy I have, as an Ameri- can citizen, for this present proposed undertaking, namely, the improvement of the Upper Monongahela from Morgantown to Fairmont by means of locks and dams.
"About thirty-five years ago my father, W. Milnor Roberts, superintended the improvement of the Mon- ongahela from Pittsburgh to Brownsville, as the com- pany's chief engineer. I recollect hearing him say that upon the occasion of the opening of the slack-water navigation, he prophesied that before thirty years would pass by, the demand for coal in the southern cities along the Ohio and Mississippi to the Gulf would be so great that at least fifteen million bushels of it would be shipped annually from the ports above Pittsburgh. * * His prophecy was ridiculed by some; but the facts showed that instead of fifteen million bushels being shipped from the Monongahela Valley, in 1870 the quantity was nearly ninety mil- lion bushels.
"Gentlemen, I propose to follow in my father's foot- steps, and attempt a prophecy also, and it is not so hard now in the light of experience, which is this : That in less than twenty years the shipment of coal from the Monongahela Valley will exceed three hun- dred and fifty million bushels per annum. Already there are engaged in the trade one hundred and twen-
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
ty-five staunch steam tow-boats, and three thousand barges and boats, forming an aggregate of one million three hundred thousand tonnage, owned in Pitts- burgh ; a tonnage greater than all the rest afloat in the Mississippi Valley from the Gulf to the lakes, greater than the combined tonnage of New York and Boston, our great maritime centers."
After stating several other important facts, he pro- ceeds to say :
"As you West Virginians mine coal for about one- half of what is paid in Pennsylvania, I am firmly persuaded that it wonl pay to extend the slack-water up to the eleven-foot vein between Morgantown and Fairmont. At least I shall certainly, in my report to Colonel Merrill, of the United States Engineer Corps, urge the extension of the slack-water to Fairmont. It is only here, in my opinion, that it should terminate. Here, properly speaking, is the head of navigation of the Ohio river. Here there is an outlet to the sea- · board over the grand-trunk line, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad."
An important branch of industry carried on in Marion county is the raising of live stock-horses, cattle, sheep and mules, and selling of the same. It has become quite a business as well as an extensive source of revenue. Taking into consideration the wonderful adaptation of the soil for grass, it would not be surprising that the future attention of the farmer is chiefly turned to raising horses cattle and sheep. Since eorn is a more sure crop than wheat in
-
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
nearly every part of West Virginia, it is thought that our farmers will speedily see the importance of using more of their lands for its production. Corn fed into hogs would yield a much larger profit than wheat.
Fruit growing is rapidly becoming a source of profit. Apples and grapes are each year becoming more and more an object of consideration. Much of the upland, which is unsuited to the production of grain, is admirably adapted to the planting of or- chards and vineyards.
At the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, in 1876, Marion county resources were well represented in the way of exhibits. The following report is from the catalogue of West Virginia exhibits :
MARION COUNTY.
Bituminous coal, from the "Pittsburgh Seam," as worked by the Gaston Mine, at Fairmont. Seam is eight to nine feet thick. The coal is especially · adapted to gas.
Coke, . .
67.5
Volatile matter,
32.5
100,0
Ash in coal,
2.1
Sulphur in coal,
0.95
Sulphur in coke,
0.69
Sulphur in volatile matter,
0.27
Two thousand two hundred and forty pounds of coal has a maximum production of 11,043.2 cubic feet of sixteen candle power.
Bituminous coal from the "Redstone " scam, which
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
in Marion county lies fifty to cighty feet above the " Pittsburgh," on the land of R. S. Radcliffe. The thickness at the place whence the specimen was taken is six feet four inches.
Water,
1.009
Volatile combustible material,
40,967
Fixed carbon,
50.327
Ash, 7.797
100.000
Sulphur in coal,
4.263 per cent.
Sulphur in coke, 2.865 per cent.
346. Carbonate of iron, from 18-inch seam, 13 miles from Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and 23 miles from Nuzum's Mill, on the land of A. E. Garloe.
349. Limestone, from a heavy stratum on the land of R. S. Radcliffe.
351. Fire-clay, from Glade Fire Brick Company, Nuzum's Mills. Seam 43, great heat is required. Capacity of the works, 4,000 bricks per day. This clay is superior to that from Mount Savage, as it con- tains no trace of oxide of iron (the greatest enemy to a refractory nature in fire-clay), while Mount Savage has 1.5 per cent. (C. E. Dwight, chemist.)
Hygroscophic water,
0.70
Combined water and organic matter,
8.35
Silica,
45.86
Alumina,
44.23
Lime,
0.24
Magnesia,
0.36
Oxide magnese,
trace.
Oxide of iron
none.
Potash and soda,
trace.
Loss,
0.26
100.00
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
352. Potters' clay, used at Palatine. From land of R. M. Hill.
353. Yellow corn. )
354. Wheat. 1 R. E. Fleming.
355. Pupils' work. Fairmont Normal School.
356. Pupils' work. Public School, Fairmont.
Taking into consideration all the resources of Ma- rion, and the advantage it holds out to new-comers, it is safe to say that the future of the county is a bright one. There are few counties in the State of West Virginia, in whose hills are stored more wealth, and which possess greater advantages or offer better inducements to immigrants, than Marion.
At present the political complexion of Marion county is Democratic, by a small majority-the voting . population being slightly over three thousand. In some parts of the county the Greenback party polls a considerable vote. There is but little feeling of ani- mosity existing between the different factions-the voters generally casting their votes for their favorites without respect to party. From the fact that the lines are not drawn closely, several Republicans hold office in the county, notwithstanding the Demcratic majority.
Among those who have represented the county in the Legislature, and who did good service while there, are David Cunningham, Richard Thomas, Benjamin Fleming, F. II. Pierpoint, Z. Kidwell, William T. Wil-
HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY. 133
ley, U. N. Arnett, sr., Charles Wells, A. W. Knotts, Robert Lowe, A. B. Fleming, W. B. Ice, Alf. Prichard, John S. Barns, Jesse Flowers, John Righter, and many others. Much of the political history of the county will be found in the biographical sketches which follow this chapter.
The times for holding courts in the county are as follows : Circuit Court, Judge Fleming, April 18th and October 28th ; Clarence L. Smith, Clerk. County Court, Colonel Austin Merrill, President, second Tues- days in January, March, May, July, September and November ; John B. Crane, Clerk ; H. Manley, Sheriff.
14
Pen Sketches of Prominent Citizens.
HON. WILLIAM S. MORGAN. ..
The subject of this sketch was born near the pres- ent site of Rivesville, this county, (then Monongalia) September 7, 1801. He was a son of Stephen Mor- gan, whose father, David Morgan, figured prominently in the early history of the county. He passed most of his life upon his father's estate, until he arrived at the age of twenty-one, when he entered the ministry of the Methodist Church, and was a circuit rider from 1822 to 1827. Mr. Morgan was a self-made man in the strict sense of the term, being self-educated, with the exception of the little learning he received at the old time country schools.
In 1835, he was chosen to represent his district in Congress and was re-elected in 1837. While a Rep- resentative he was chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions. He did not seek for office and declined the nomination for a third term, after which he was appointed a clerk in the House of Rep- resentatives. In 1841, he was sent to the Virginia Legislature, and secured the passage of the bill form- ing Marion county in 1842, and was elected a member of the Legislature from the new county, the same year. In 1844, Mr. Morgan was Presidential Elcetor
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY ..
for this district upon the Democratic ticket, and in the year following received an appointment to a clerk- ship in the United States Treasury Department, which position he held until 1861. During the two years following (1861-3) he was engaged in painting in water colors for the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington, and produced numerous illustrations for the works on Oology, by Prof. S. F. Baird and Mr. Elliott. These illustrations were pronounced by crit- ics to be the most accurate that could be procured. He invented and presented to the Institute a machine used in drawing the outlines of eggs, which is still in use there.
He was a man of extraordinary endowments, and his knowledge of the sciences was very accurate. . American natural history and botany were his favorite studies, and he was one of the best botanists in the country. Mr. Morgan numbered among his personal friends some of the most distinguished of American scientists.
After leaving Washington, he lived with his broth- er-in-law, Colonel Austin Merrill, at Rivesville, until his death. While on a visit to his son, in Washing- ton, on the 3d of September, 1878, he died of malarial fever, and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery, of that city.
Marion county has produced few such men as Wil- liam S. Morgan, for he was, indeed, an extraordinary character, as his career shows. Possessed of noble im- pulses, a great intellect, and many christian virtues, he was universally beloved, and died mourned by all who knew him.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
HON, ZEDEKIAH KIDWELL.
Dr. Zedekiah Kidwell, was one of the prominent characters whose life was closely identified with the political history of Marion county, and the entire Congressional district which he represented in Con- gress twice in succession. He was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, January 4, 1814, and died in Fair- mont, West Virginia, April 26, 1872. He belonged to one of those old Virginia families whose ancestry were English emigrants of noble blood. The Doctor was a son of Captain Kidwell, who figured in the war of 1812, and contributed no little in various ways to the opening up and improvement of West Virginia, his business being that of a contractor and bridge- builder.
When a youth, Zedekiah received nothing more than a practical English education in the schools of his native county, but he was a good scholar, ac- quiring knowledge with ease, and was proficient in his studies. In after years he read and wrote a great deal, proving himself a rapid thinker and writer. At the age of nineteen he entered upon the study of med- icine with Dr. Grinnell, of Fairfax Court House. In the fall of 1834 his father removed to Clarksburg, and here the student was interrupted in his professional studies, two or three years being spent in teaching, clerking in a store and assisting his father in his business. In 1837, he resumed the study of medicine with Drs. Wilson and Carr, of Fairmont (then Middle- town), and upon the death of Dr. Carr he entered upon the practice of his profession in partnership with Dr. Wilson.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
In 1841 and 1842, Dr. Kidwell took a very active part in procuring the formation of Marion county, and entered political life as a delegate to the Virginia Legislature in 1844-being re-elected several times. He now became an active and influential politician in the Democratic party, and in the Presidential cam- paign of 1848, was elector for his district, upon that ticket. His labors, about this time, were enormous for one man, and he brought on hemorrhage of the lungs from speaking in the open air while hoarse, which came near terminating his life. After a long illness, he rallied, and entered again upon the active duties of life, being obliged, however, to give up the practice of medicine. He entered upon the study of law. and it was not long until he was admitted to the bar. In 1852, he was again drawn into politics and was elected to represent his district in Congress. He served two terms-from 1853 to 1859. At the close of the second term he was elected a member of the Board of Public Works of Virginia, which office he filled until the breaking out of the War of the Rebel- lion. He was never a defeated candidate and was the most popular man in his district. President Buch- anan tendered him the office of sixth auditor of the Treasury, but he declined to accept it.
Dr. Kidwell stood high in Congress, and was a faith- ful legislator. His report in opposition to the con- struction of the Pacific Railroad, on the route and un- der the circumstances then proposed, was considered an able document, and elicited high praise from many of the leading papers of the country. He also made an able speech in Congress upon what was known as the " Louisiana question." It was through his agency
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
that Wheeling was made a port of entry in 1854. He was one of the "immortal seventy" who held out so long pending the fierce struggle which resulted in the elec- tion of Banks as Speaker of the House. He was an able stump speaker, and the late Governor Wise, of Virginia, pronounced him the ablest campaign mana- ger in the State. His public life terminated with the commencement of the War. He was a hearty sympa- thizer with the South and Southern principles in the great struggle, and the course he took was a pure mat- ter of conscience with him.
Of his private character, much that is good can be said. He was an earnest christian, and a member of of the M. P. Church, Fairmont. He gave liberally of his means to the support of various charitable insti- tutions, and was widely celebrated for his kindness and benevolence to the poor.
HON. FRANCIS H. PIERPONT.
The subject of this sketch is a man whose history is inseperably connected with that of Virginia during a period when the eyes of the whole world were di- rected upon her. Ex-Governor Francis H. Pierpont was born on the 25th of June, 1814, and is the son of Francis and Catharine Pierpont,* the former a son of John Pierpont, who settled near Morgantown about the close of the Revolutionary War. His parents re- moved to a plantation on West Fork while he was
"PIERPONT is the correct name, though it is often spelled PIERPOINT. In giving John Pierpont a title, a careless clerk thus misspelled the name, and the infant heirs were afterwards obliged to assume the superfluous "i" in con- sequence.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
quite a child, where they lived some twelve years, at the end of which time they moved to Fairmont. Here he worked upon his father's farm and in his tan-yard until he arrived at the age of twenty-one years, when he determined to acquire a collegiate edu- cation, and selected Allegheny College, at Meadville, Pa., distant 180 miles from his home as the place where he would prosecute his studies. No railroads, and scarce a stage coach then connected the little village of Fairmont with the outside world; hence this journey was undertaken and accomplished on foot. Up to this time he had had but the advantages of a common school education, pursuing his studies under many adverse circumstances, and he entered the preparatory department of the college-graduat- ing in four years and a half. Gordon Battelle, Bishop Simpson, Bishop Kingslea and Homer Clarke were connected with the college at that time, and between them and Mr. Pierpont a strong and lasting friend- ship was formed.
After graduating he taught school in West Virginia for eight months, and for a year in Mississippi, dur- ing which time he studied law. The failing health of his father brought him home from Mississippi, and he entered upon the practice of law in Fairmont, in which he was engaged until the breaking out of the Rebellion. He was during this time actively engaged in politics, though never a candidate, nor held any office, except that of Presidential Elector, until he was made Governor. He was a thorough Abolition- ist, and did more than any other man in West Vir- ginia to cultivate anti-slavery sentiment. By public speeches and through the press, Mr. Pierpont de-
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
nounced the oppressive clause in the new constitu- tion, regarding the taxation of the slaves of the east, and the unjust taxation of the free labor of the west,* and attached to it all the odium possible. After the passage of the Ordinance of Secession in 1861, he ad- dressed the people at all places he could reach in the western part of the State, urging them to resistance, and was threatened with arrest for resisting the civil authorities of the State; but with extraordinary pluck he defied all threats in the very face of the mil- itary organizations.
Mr. Pierpont was strongly in favor of a division of the State, but at the convention of May 12, 1861, he op- posed a movement to organize Western Virginia into a new State, giving for his reasons that it was prema- ture. He then induced the convention to appoint a Committee of Vigilance to determine " what was best to be done for Virginia." He laid his plans before this committee-which were to ask the General Gov- ernment to organize the State Government by de- claring vacant the offices of all Secessionists holding office in the State, call a convention at Wheeling, June 18th, to elect a new Governor and State officers, and call it the "Restored Government of Virginia." The matter was decided feasible and the programme was carried out. Mr. Pierpont was unanimously made Provisional Governor by the convention, and at the end of the year he was regularly elected Governor by the people. At the expiration of two years he was re-elected for four years more. After the division of the State, in 1863, Governor Pierpont removed the seat of
"See Chapter xviii.
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HISTORY OF MARION COUNTY.
government from Wheeling to Alexandria, where he had a small Legislature. After the surrender of General Lee he removed the seat of government to Richmond, arriving there in the spring of 1865. Here his old neighbors and fellow citizens who had joined the Confederacy, greeted him cordially. The long and cruel war that lay between them and him was forgotten, and they greeted each other with al- most dramatic feeling.
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