History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 7

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > West Virginia > Kanawha County > Charleston > History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens > Part 7

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).

1791-Philip Iron qualified as deputy surveyor for Reuben Slaughter.

May-Andrew Donnally was appointed a Justice by the Governor. (What is the dif- ference between a justice and a magistrate ?) George Clendenin, William Morris, George Alderson and John Van Bibber, were licensed to keep public house and they gave bond and received the rates, which last then meant, that the court determined and furnished the prices to be charged for meals and drinks.

Feb., 1792-A road ordered to be cut and cleared from William Clendenin's to the Great Sandy river, and a levy of two shil- lings per head ordered for repairing the road to the top of Gauley Mountain.

Jan., 1793-Leonard and John Morris

were appointed as administrators of Wm. Morris, Sr., and Jacob Carter, John Camp- bell, were made appraisers. Elizabeth See appointed administratrix of Michael See, deceased, and Thos. Lewis, Leonard Cooper and John Van Bibber, appraisers.

Nov., 1793-Geo. Clendenin, clerk of this court, begged leave to resign. Andrew Lewis of Bath County, was appointed in his place but failed to attend. John Reynolds was made clerk in place of Lewis. Francis Watkins was made a Justice (though he is acting clerk).

Thos. Upton's will is proven and Fleming Cobb, executor. Francis Watkins is ap- pointed sheriff and also commissioner of land tax. (Thus we have seen Francis Wat- kins was on the court bench, was clerk and sheriff and commmissioner).

August, 1795-Thos. Hannan versus John Edwards, jury trial. Joseph Ruffner made surveyor of roads in place of George Alder- son. Jesse Jarrett, Leonard Morris, John Miller, road surveyors.

Nov. 2, 1795-George Alderson is ap- pointed sheriff by the Governor. George Clendenin enters dissent against his quali- fication because the language of the com- mission is insulting and uncustomary, it being as follows: "Know ye that the Court of Kanawha having failed to nominate fit persons for the office of sheriff, etc."

Nov., 1795-Present, George Alderson, gentlemen, who refused to adjourn the Court. (The next court held Jan. 4, 1796).

March 7, 1796-William Clendenin quali- fied as sheriff. Grand Jury sworn. Geo. Alderson has John Allen qualified as his deputy. Deed of William Duval to Jas. Swam recorded.

March 8, 1796-Committee report on road from Ten Mile to Point Pleasant. John Miller and Edward Erwin granted license to keep ordinary.

April 4, 1796-There were 90 wolf scalps presented for payment, and allowed 2 s. 8 d. each.

There was allowed to Chas. Donnally for his house for a courthouse, 200 s. and for inside work of courthouse, for good floors,

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2 doors, 4 windows, one pair of stairs and stair door, a fashionable seat for the magis- trates' and the clerks' table and the attor- neys' bench and bar-128s. To be chinked and daubed in workmanlike manner.

August 1, 1796 Edward Graham, pro- cured license to practice law in the Inferior and Supreme Courts of this commonwealth under the hand and seal of Paul Carrington, Edward Winston, and S. Henry, judges of the Superior Court. Liberty is granted to him to practice law in this county and said Edward took the oath as attorney to sup- port the constitution and the oath of office and he was appointed State's Attorney for this county and allowed $40.00 per annum. (This is the first named attorney since the county was organized.)

Nov., 1796-Presented Joseph Ruffner for failing to repair road. Presented Joseph Burrell for hunting on the Sabbath day. Presented William James for taking the Lord's name in vain. The ferries kept by Thos. Lewis on Ohio and Kanawha rivers, continued. Geo. Clendenin's ferry on Kana- wha, continued and assigned to Joseph Ruffner.

George Alderson again protests against the "sufficiency of the jail."

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR KANAWHA COUNTY FROM 1797 TO 1847

(The dates given are those of qualifica- tion.)

1797, David Milburn, died.

1809, Daniel Ruffer, sheriff, 1839-40, re- moved to Cincinnati.

1814, Andrew Donnally, sheriff in 1843, his office expired in 1845.

1817, Joel Shrewsbury.

1821, John Slack, sheriff in 1841-42.

1825, Jesse Hudson, sheriff in 1845-47.

1825, Van B. Reynolds, removed to Louisville.

1825, James Staton.

1826, James C. McFarland.

1826, John P. Turner.

1831, Samuel Summers, departed this life in 1845-

1833, John Hansford.

1833, William Gillison.

1833, Philip R. Thompson.

1835, Joel Shrewsbury, Jr.

1835, Alex W. Handly.

1836, John Synder.

1836, John C. Thomas.

1839, Alex Wallace.

1839, Spicer Patrick.

1839, Isom Adkins.

1839, Felix G. Hansford.

1839, Allen M. Smith.

1840, John Lewis.

1841, Mahlon S. Morris.

1843, Shepherd Duke, removed to Ken- tucky.

1843, Richard E. Putney.

1843, Joel Ruffner.

1843, Mason Campbell.

1843, William King.

1843, Adam Cook.

1843, L. H. Brannon.

1847, John D. Lewis.

1847, Henry H. Wood.

CHAPTER V

THE PIONEERS

The Morris and Clendenin Families-John Jones-Perils of a Settler's Life-Individuals of Morris Family; Their Record-Bishop Thos. Asbury Morris-Major John Hansford- John Jones-John Paddy Huddleston-Daniel Nihoof-Kanawha Valley in 1808-Sum- mers' Journal-The Clendenin Family- Payroll of Capt. Wm. Clendenin's Company, 1788-Muster Roll of Capt. John Morris, 1791-Pensioners under Act of March 18, 1818 -Pension Applicants-Ruffner Family-Peter Ruffner, the Immigrant-Individual Mention-Gen. Lewis Ruffner-Elk River Settlers-Skeleton on Strange Creek-Early Patents of Elk Lands-Jarrett Ford-Rescue of Boy from Indians-White Man Disguised as Indian; his Merited Death-Mrs. Mary Ingles-Abb's Valley-The Moore Family Tragedy-Rev. Jas. M. Brown-Killing of the Stroud Family-Wiping-out of Bull Town -Lewis Tackett-Tackett's Pinc-Anne Bailey; her Interesting Story and Heroic Char- acter-Alvah Hansford's Recollections-James River and Kanawha Turnpike Opened- Daniel Boone; his History-Simon Kenton-Simon Girty-Wilson Harris's Recollections -Coalsmouth-Tobacco, a Legal Tender.

THE MORRIS AND CLENDENIN FAMILIES

The upper settlement in the Kanawha Valley, was made by the Morris family, which was the first white family that be- came permanent settlers in the Kanawha Valley. About fourteen years thereafter there was made the lower settlement at the mouth of Elk river, by the Clendenin family.

Walter Kelly previously attempted to make a settlement on the Kanawha river; he brought his family from the Greenbrier country and settled at the mouth of Kelly's creek, but he sent back his family, only re- maining himself. He was too early and had not sufficient force to maintain himself. He was at work and Col. Field had stopped with him and they had a black man with them: the Indians came up on them by stealth and fired upon the settlers while they were at work making leather. They killed Kelly and the black man, but Field made his escape.

The exact date of Kelly's coming is not

known but he was killed early in 1773, and then followed the Morris family, who took possession of the place left by Kelly.

William Morris was on the ground in the fall of 1774 and just what month he and his family came to the valley is not definitely known. But he came to stay and stayed. His family was large enough to make a for- midable resistance, and Indians did not at- tack when they had reason to expect a warm reception.

The Morris family was composed of Will- iam Morris. Sr. and his wife, and his ten children, to wit: William, Jr., Henry, Leon- ard, Joshua, John, Carroll, Levi, Benjamin, Elizabeth, who was the wife of Mr. See, and Frances, the wife of John Jones. These. were thus eleven men and as many wives and many children and with each holding a good gun, they made too formidable an array for an ordinary Indian squad to attack.

Mr. William Morris, the father, was be- coming old when he arrived : he was a quiet.

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peaceable patriarch whose business was to protect his family. His eldest son was Will- iam, Jr., a strong, hale, hearty man, who, when he decided, executed and never let small objections interfere ; he was the leader of the family and while he had not the benefit of an education, nevertheless he was a born leader of men.

Henry was hardly second to William, a perfect giant physically, who suffered from the Indians, that killed two of his daugh- ters: he swore eternal vengeance, and he. never afterwards let an Indian escape, if he had an opportunity to kill him.

3 Leonard was also a strong character and was the best known member of the family. He took more interest in affairs generally, and was at one time supposed to have been the first of the family to arrive from the Greenbrier Country (although yet in Green- brier County, on the north side of the river and was in Montgomery County, on the south side of the river).

Joshua and John were strong, reliable men of good judgment; there were also Carroll. Levi, and Benjamin, that were rather disposed to belong to the quiet order of mankind.

Mrs. See lost her husband early ; while the cause of his death was not given, evidently we are authorized to consider that it was an Indian.

Mrs. John Jones had a husband that was much of a man. He and John Morris, and perhaps others, were in the battle of the IOth of October. 1774, and it is said Mr. Jones also volunteered in the service of the state in the Revolutionary war. It would seem that in every way this family was ad- mirably adapted for the times and they made the most of it. It is probable that there were others that came with them, but we are unable to give their names, and no In- dian is recorded as having made any suc- cessful attack on their homes. They prac- ticed eternal vigilance.

They were on the line that the travelers to Kentucky adopted to go to the Ohio river and thence down the same, and while the trail from Lewisburg to this valley was

by no means a turnpike, it became the trail that the travelers, hunters and surveyors adopted and used, through a hundred miles of wilderness, and here it ended.

THE SETTLERS' PERILS

To bring a family of men, women and children into a wilderness and to maintain them there, was no small undertaking. They had plenty of water and wood and the wild animals were all around them; all of which required energy and forethought and activ- ity to feed and protect them. They had no crops, no grain, no mill, no store, no mar- ket, but game and fish were plenty; there were nuts and wild fruits, etc., by which they could live for a year or so; they had no doc- tors, nor ministers, nor churches, no drug store, and they only had what they made (home-made) and gathered by the use of their guns. All this was bad enough, but it was not the worst. They had an enemy, a most brutal and cruel savage Indian enemy, whose whole purpose of life was the destruction of the white man, woman and child, and they had no nature or instinct to which any appeal could be made. These brutes came in squads and whenever they found a white person unprotected or a home that was not guarded, then they delighted to take scalps, which meant life. Conse- quently the settlers had to keep a watch and guard and always have their guns loaded and near at hand. This added greatly to their worry, and their fears and their dan- gers.

We are advised that a settler's life was no picnic.

Your imagination will aid you when you hear that none went outside of the house, but what some skulking Indian was likely to fire on them from some hidden post ; but with all this dread and this lack of conve- niences and even necessities, the Morris set- tlement progressed, and it spread to the opposite side of the river, and up and down the river. and others came and settled. One may have supposed the more of them there were, the more misery and suffering, but they continually improved their condition.

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

The Morris family was in the Valley when General Andrew Lewis's army marched down to the Ohio river, and some of the Morrises joined said army and were engaged in the battle at Point Pleasant on October IO, 1774.

Boat building begun early and travel was made better by it; they were able to sell boats and this travel was safer, and the settler was bettered, and his finances im- proved. Farms were appearing in better shape, fences looked better, houses and stables, pastures for stock, and the trade from the east began ; they had to have pow- der, and they were constantly improving their conditions, and all the while they had to obtain new almanacs, time kept passing on, seasons followed seasons, and no note of time was kept. Tempus fugit.

Major Billy Morris's wife was Catherine Carroll, born in 1751; married in 1768. From the death of the father, the Major became the head of the family, and one of the leading men of the county.

The first settlement in Kanawha was made at the upper end of the valley, the lower part was not settled for some time, that is, in 1788, when George Clendenin and his friends came to the mouth of Elk river, at least twenty miles below that of the Morris settlement.

The children of Major and Catherine Mor- ris were: Jane, born in 1770, married Major John Hansford; Gabriel, born in 1772; Will- iam (the 3rd), born in 1773, married Polly Barnes; Catherine, born in 1778, married Charles Venable; Carroll, born in 1779; John, born in 1783; Cynthia, born in 1792, married Isaac Noyes.

The Morris family were English and also were Baptists. They first came to Phila- delphia, then to Culpeper, Va., then to Greenbrier and then to Kanawha Valley. They were movers and were growing all the time. They were land buyers and were on the lookout for good lands all the while.

Jane Morris (A-I), born in 1770, became the wife of Major John Hansford in 1787, at Lewisburg, in Greenbrier County; she was the oldest child of Major William and

Catherine. Major Hansford lived at the mouth of Paint Creek and he was in the Legislature, 1811 and 1813. Jane died in 1854 and left twelve children, one of whom was Sarah, born in 1792, who married a William Morris, whose children were: Ful- ton, Joshua and John. His sons were: Her- man, William, Morris, Felix G. John, Car- roll, Charley, Alva, Gallatin and Melton.

Gabriel Morris we can get no information of, and we shall not undertake to guess that he went to Kentucky or elsewhere.

William Morris (the 3rd), born 1775, married Polly Barnes, daughter of Joseph Barnes, and the mother of Polly was the sister of James Ramsey, of Shepherdstown on the Potomac, the inventor of the steam- boat. This William Morris was the in- ventor of the "stips or jars," a tool that made deep well boring possible, which in- vention was a public benefit. Their children were: Joseph Barnes, married Sally Hughes; Catherine, married Morris Hans- ford; Roxie, married Joel Alexander; Ja- nette; Cynthia, married Wm. White; Will- iam (the 4th), married Julia Mitchell; Maria, married Norborne Thomas; and Thomas Morris.

Catherine, who married Morris Hansford, had four children, viz: William, Franklin, Monroe and Emeline.

Janette never married; she lived to be eighty years of age, but she never grew old.

Catherine Morris, daughter of Major William, was born in 1778, married Charles Venable in 1800; they left no children and he was one of the first to emancipate his slaves. She was a Morris by all the rules of inheritance and was exceedingly popular with the young people and there they were always found. She decided a question and then acted with determination and let no trifling matter interfere with her. She once decided to attend some gathering on the opposite side of the river, and there was no boat on her side. She took the clothes she wanted to wear and placed them in a sugar trough, shoved the same ahead of her and swam the river, and attended as if nothing unusual had transpired. She had been

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heard to say that she had done this often. Her home was in the lower part of Kana- wha City, a few miles above Charleston, on the south side of the Kanawha river. She was a woman of character and decision and one whom everybody admired.

Carroll Morris, fifth child of Major Will- iam, married we know not whom. His chil- dren were: Maria, married John Hansford; Letitia, married Norris Whitteker; Parth- enia; Catherine, married Dr. Sutherland; Michael; and Carroll, Jr.

John Morris, born in 1783, sixth child of Major William and Catherine Morris, mar- ried Polly Duke. He sold his place to Aaron Stockton and moved to Missouri. He had a son, Granville, who was killed in the Black Hawk War. He decided to go West, he built a boat, into which he placed his family, servants, wagons, tools and some stock, etc. The entire Baptist congregation assembled on the shore to see him start, a prayer was offered for his safety and he launched his boat and left the Valley.

Cynthia Morris, seventh child of Major William, was born in January, 1792. She married Isaac Noyes, who came from one of the northern states and was one of the leading merchants and salt makers of the Valley. His home was on south side ad- joining the Venable home.

Mr. and Mrs. Noyes lived to be quite old and were well known and respected by all the people of Charleston and vicinity, and they were the ancestors of the families of Noyes, Smith, Rand, Arnold, Ruby, and others, of Charleston.

Col. Benj. H. Smith and his son Isaac H. Smith, and his son Harrison B. Smith, were all lawyers of prominence, and the latter is so engaged yet. To write a full history of this Smith family would alone require a volume.

Henry Morris, the second son of William Morris, Sr., married Mary Bird of Bath. County, Va., who was, with her sister, made a prisoner by the Indians and held for seven vears, until she was sixteen years of age. Henry built his home on Gauley river in 1791 and his only neighbors were Conrad Young and Edward McClung.

Henry and Mary had eight children, seven daughters, and one son, John Morris. The girls were Leah, Catherine, Margaret, Polly, and Betsy, and the names of the others we have failed to learn. In 1792, while Margaret and Betsy had gone after the cows, they were caught and scalped by Indians and both buried in one grave. The rest of the family went to the Fort on the Kanawha, and Henry swore eternal ven- gence on all Indians. Mr. Young's family were boys and could handle a gun.

Henry Morris was a large, stout, healthy man, had no fear and when aroused was a desperate one. He never recognized any Indian as a friend, and it was his business to kill all of them that he saw. He was at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774 and with the flanking party on Crooked creek.

One of his daughters married William Bird of Bath County, and they settled on Twenty Mile and afterward on Sycamore. Another daughter married Jesse James, of Bath County, and they settled on Otto Creek. Another daughter married Conrad Young, Jr. Henry died in 1824. John, son of Henry, married Jane Brown and they had some sons and five daughters. Alfred N. Morris, son of John, was a Baptist min- ister.

Leonard Morris was the third son of Will- iam Morris, Sr. It has been said that he came to the valley before his father or any of the others, but so far as history or tradition goes, they all came together. He was one of the judges of the county court. He in 1775 saw the surveyors making the survey of the Burn- ing Spring two hundred and fifty acre tract. In 1798 he was the sheriff of the county, his home was at the mouth of Slaughter's creek, and his neighbor was John Flynn who was killed by the Indians on Cabin creek, and his son made a captive, taken to Ohio and burned at the stake.

He first married Miss Price and afterwards Margaret Likens. The children of the first union were as follows:

John, went to Missouri and died about 1831; Meredith, went South; Mary, married 1791 Lawrence Bryan; Sarah, married 1794 to Fleming Cobbs; Elizabeth, married Robert

HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

Lewis; Leonard, Jr., married Ann Austin in and their daughter Eliza married William 1805. Love.

Leonard Morris's children by his second union were : Charles, married Lucinda Crocket; Nancy, married John Shrewsbury; Parthinia, married J. B. Crocket; Joshua, married a daughter of Jonathan Jarrett; Hiram, never married; Peter, married a daughter of Jonathan Jarrett; Andrew, never married, died in Indiana in 1842; Cynthia, married Samuel Hensley; Madison, married Nancy Spurlick; Dickinson, married Susan, daughter of James Morris.

Hiram Cobb, a grandson of Leonard Mor- ris, came from Point Pleasant to Charleston in a canoe, from sunrise to sunset, and won a gallon of peach brandy thereby. This is as fast time as the little packets usually made it in, the distance being nearly sixty miles.

Charles Morris, son of Leonard, born 1790, died in 1861. His children were: Leonard, born 1819, married Courtney Walker, resided in Brownstown, and is yet hale and hearty; Hamilton, born 1821, known as "Ham Mor- ris," the clerk, and one of the best and most popular men of the county; Francis, died young; Andrew, born 1828, went to Texas, died in 1875; Charles, Jr., married Miss Fos- ter, died in 1875; Margaret, born 1829, mar- ried Mr. Samuels, attorney; Parthinia, born 1831, married Tom Swindler; John, born 1833, married Miss Abton.

Joshua Morris, fourth son of William Mor- ris, Sr., married Francis Simms of Virginia; their children were: William, who married Sarah Hansford, lived at Gauley Bridge; Edmund: Henry: Elizabeth; Lucy, married Mr. Chapman; Nancy, married John Harri- man; Thomas; Mary; and John, born in 1794 in Culpepper, Va.

Joshua settled in Teays Valley, but Indians were too troublesome. William, his son, mar- ried Maria Hansford, lived near the Falls and moved to Missouri. Their children were Fenton, Joshua and John.

The will of Joshua Morris, Sr., was re- corded in 1824, Will Book No. I, page 46.

John Morris of Cabell county, son of Joshua, was born in 1794, in Culpeper county. Va .; he married first Mary Everett,

Mary, the wife of John Morris, died and he then, in 1819, married Mary Kinard and their children were as follows: Charles K., married Martha A. Kilgore; Albert A., never married; Joseph W., married Sarah A. Russell (he was a captain in the Confederate States army and was killed in Fredrick, Md.) ; Edna E., mar- ried Addison T. Buffington; James R., mar- ried Helen M. Russell; Mary S., married first Ira T. McConihay and then John P. Sibrell.

John Morris was an extensive stock raiser; he lived east of Milton, was frequently elected to legislature, and was known as a man of wealth. He went East with his slaves when the war came on and died in 1862, and while he was absent his house was burned and a great loss inflicted on his family.

Joseph and James attended school in Cabell at Marshall Academy. Dr. McConihay of Charleston is a descendant of this family.

John Morris, fifth son of William Morris, Sr., married Margaret Droddy and their chil- dren were John, Jr., Edmund, Levi, William, and Thomas Asbury.

John was a captain of the Kanawha militia in the early days, and was an executor of his father's will. He lived about five miles above Charleston on the south side and afterwards moved to Cabell county and his son Edmund became a clerk of Cabell court in 1809. John Morris seems to have invested in lands on Hurdican and on Mud and owned one thou- sand acres on Mud, hence he was mound in Cabell county in 1809.

BISHOP THOMAS ASBURY MORRIS

The house where Thomas Asbury was born stood on a beautiful swell of ground, near a never-failing spring of excellent water, which house commanded a fine view up and down the Kanawha river for miles. All of the Mor- ris family were strict Baptists and while Thomas A. was in Cabell county with his brother Edmund, he attended a school under Dr. William Payne, who was a Methodist, and the education and the religion of the teacher became that of the pupil. Thomas joined the Methodist church in 1813, and

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gave his hand to Rev. Samuel Brown, who was conducting the services while the congre- gation was singing, "This is the way I long have sought." He was instructed by Rev. Burwell and Rev. Stephen Spurlock, two Methodist ministers that preached for a long time in the county of Cabell and in Wayne.

Thomas Asbury attended all their church meetings and he was licensed to preach by the quarterly conference in April, 1814.

In some of these meetings he met and be- came acquainted with Miss Abigail Scales, a daughter of Major Nathaniel Scales, who lived on the Ohio river, where Huntington now is. Thomas and Abigail were married and they went to live at their home called "Spice Wood Cottage" on his father's land ; this was in 1814. He was made a bishop in 1836. His life was published in 1875 and there was written by the bishop a sketch of his early life. There was also published a sketch of the life of his first wife, Miss Scales, in the Ladies' Repository in 1842 and it is written that she was born in Patrick county, Virginia, and came and lived with her father on the Ohio river until her marriage. Mrs. Morris was a sister of Mrs. Jacob Hite, Mrs. William Buffington, Mrs. Dr. Benjamin Brown and other daughters of Major Scales from North Carolina. His daughter Jane was born in Cabell county in 1815 and she became the wife of Joseph G. Rust of Cincinnati, O., and they also had a son, who became a minis- ter, Rev. Francis Asbury Morris.

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 7

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066