USA > West Virginia > Hampshire County > History of Hampshire County, West Virginia : from its earliest settlement to the present > Part 36
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 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
492
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.
county. Dr. Trask was a successful physician residing in Romney, but he subsequently went to Mineral county. Dr. John Taylor died in Romney about ten years ago. Dr. A. B. Hayden was for a long time a successful physician of Hampshire. He was in the county as early as 1838, and in 1874 removed from North river to the state of Texas. Dr. Lyons, a native of New York, was at Pleasant Dale a few years, and moved away. Dr. John Monroe, a great uncle of Colonel Alexander Monroe, lived on North river about the beginning of the present century. He removed to Capon and died there. He was a Baptist preacher as well as doctor, Dr. F. P. Canfield's name is found as one of the successful physicians of Hampshire. It is said that there were two Dr. Snyders in Hampshire, one dying half a century ago.
CHAPTER XLII.
BAR OF ROMNEY.
BY HU MAXWELL.
The bar of Hampshire is the oldest in West Virginia. For almost a century and a half advocates have expounded the law in the courts of justice of the county. They have been men of ability, as a rule; and while in years of service they surpass all other bars of the state, in ability and learning they suffer in comparison with none. Attorneys who held their commissions under the crown of England pleaded causes in Hampshire almost a quarter of a cen- tury before the Revolutionary war. After the achieve- ment of independence, the practice of law in Romney flourished under Virginia's first constitution for fifty years; then under the second constitution twenty years; and under the third ten years. West Virginia then took the place of the mother state and gave a constitution and a code of laws, following it later with a second. Under all of these the legal profession in Hampshire was recognized as in the front rank. Lawyers who began their work at that bar have risen to fame; and lawyers who have won laurels elsewhere have honored the old county's bar by giving it the benefit of their wisdom and long experience. Although the court is the oldest in the state, it cannot be claimed for it that it has had more litigation than the court of any other county of West Virginia. The people have been peaceful, and comparatively few of them have been brought into court for punishment. Land titles, often a source of long and expensive litigation, have never been much questioned or disturbed in Hampshire, probably
494
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.
because the first settlers were chiefly men of business who took pains to clear the titles to their lands very early in the county's history; by this means being able to bequeath their property to their children, unincumbered and clear of dispute. A person who will examine this county's court records, and compare them with the records of some of the other counties of the state, will be impressed with Hampshire's favorable showing. Suits at law to clear titles to real estate have been few.
The purpose of this chapter is not to give a history of the courts of this county, for that has been done else- where in this book, but to present a list of prominent attorneys who have practiced at the Romney bar, in order that future generations may have information concerning an important profession and its members. Extended notice of each lawyer has not been attempted. The biog- raphies of many of them will be found elsewhere in this volume. Four members of the Kercheval family practiced at the Hampshire bar, Samuel, Robert C., Andrew W. and John B. William Naylor was well known in his day, and was a successful advocate early in the present century. Angus W. McDonald, sr., and Angus W. McDonald, jr., were known in the legal profession before they became noted as military men during the civil war. William B. Street and William Perry are names often met with in the court records. Thomas C. Green, as a lawyer, has been an honor to Hampshire. His father, John W. Green, was on the bench of the court of appeals of Virginia in 1822. Thomas C. Green was a son-in-law of Colonel Angus McDonald, and commenced the practice of law in Jefferson county. He was in the confederate army, and while in the field was elected to the Virginia legislature and served two terms. Governor Jacob, of Romney, appointed him a judge of the supreme court of appeals of West Virginia, and he was subsequently twice elected to the same position. William C. Clayton, another lawyer which West
495
BAR OF ROMNEY.
Virginia takes pride in accrediting to Hampshire county, was born in 1831. He was a pupil in Dr. Foote's school at Romney, and was there prepared for the Virginia univer- sity which he entered in 1846 and remained three years. He was subsequently principal of Washington academy at Charlestown, Jefferson county. He commenced the prac- tice of law in Romney in 1859, and in 1873 removed to Keyser. He was a member of the West Virginia senate 1875 and 1877. Alfred P. White, Robert White, John B. White and C. S. White were all active and influential mem- bers of the bar of the county. Judge James D. Armstrong, both at the bar and on the bench, won the confidence and the esteem of the people, not only of his county, but of the neighboring counties and of West Virginia.
R. W. Varder, Robert N. Harper and Powell Conrad are names well remembered as members of the bar. Alexan- der Monroe, a man whose ability has attracted attention in both peace and war, was enjoying a lucrative practice in Hampshire before many of the lawyers of today were born. He was born in 1817, and read law with Alfred P. White of Romney, and was admitted to the bar at the age of forty- one. He was a member of the Virginia legislature of 1849; again in 1862 to 1865; a member of the constitutional con- vention of West Virginia, 1872; a member of the legisla- ture of Hampshire, 1875, and was elected speaker; also in the legislature 1879, 1881, 1882. John J. Jacob, the first democratic governor of West Virginia, was a partner of Colonel Robert White in the practice of law in Romney. A full account of Governor Jacob's public services is given in another chapter. He practiced law in Romney about six years, from 1865 to 1871. George A, Tucker, F. M. Reynolds, William M. Welch, won their way into promi- nence as members of the Hampshire bar. Robert W. Dailey, born and reared in Romney, early gave evidence that he was destined to achieve success beyond that of a successful practitioner at the bar. The people of this
1
496
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.
county were not slow in appreciating his worth, and when the opportunity to recognize his ability in a substantial way presented itself, they did it by electing him judge of the circuit court. Not only did Hampshire. his native county, confer this honor upon him, but he was given a handsome majority by the twelfth judical circuit, com- posed of Hampshire, Hardy, Grant, Pendleton and Min- eral counties. C. Wood Dailey, brother of Judge Dailey, began his career as a lawyer in Romney, afterwards re- moving to Keyser, and subsequently to Randolph county.
Samuel Lightfoot Flournoy, now of Charleston, West Virginia, studied his profession in Romney, and began practicing in 1873, when twenty-seven years of age. His life had been a busy one, and having spent part of it in the confederate army when a youth, he did not have an oppor- tunity to acquire the classical education which he was de- termined to have, until after the war closed. He gradu- ated from Hampden Sydney college with honors, and then took up the study of law. He is given additional mention in this book. Henry B. Gilkeson, by his example, has show that industry, hard work, and close application to business are the surest and safest roads to success. Hav- ing served the people, first as a school teacher, then as county superintendent of Hampshire, he took up the study of law, and has the good fortune to acquire a substantial reputation, not only in his county but in the state at large. Robert W. Monroe, brotner of Alexander Monroe began the practice of law in Romney, but he has extended his practice to other fields. He was appointed by President Cleveland Indian agent in Idaho, and removed to that ter- ritory. But becoming tired of the place he returned to Romney, and subsequently made his home in Preston county. William B. Cornwell studied law in the West Virginia university, and after practicing his profession a short time, was elected prosecuting attorney of Hamp- shire. John J. Cornwell, brother of the forgoing, is a 34
2
3
4
5
MASS NY.
1. JUDGE R. W. DAILEY.
2. J. S. ZIMMERMAN.
4. WILLIAM B. CORNWELL.
3. H. B. GILKESON.
5. JOHN J. CORNWELL.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUR LA. . .
497
BAR OF ROMNEY.
member of the bar. dividing his time between his profes- sion and editing his newspaper. J. S. Zimmerman, a young man, has made a success at the bar of Hampshire, and A. J. Welton's name, although the last to be mentioned on the roll of resident attorneys, should not be classed as of the least importance.
A number of lawyers of note have practiced at the Rom- ney bar who have never resided in the county, and it is due them and the Hampshire bar that mention be made of them. The list contains names well known throughout the state. James M. Mason, Robert Y. Conrad, Philip Williams, David W. Barton, Charles J. Faulkner, sr., James W. Green, J. Randolph Tucker, William Seymour. Andrew Hunter, J. W. F. Allen, Richard E. Byrd, General Thomas McKaig, L. T. Moore, Richard Parker, Josiah H. Gordon, Holmes Conrad, A. Hunter Boyd, A. R. Pendleton, Joseph Sprigg, Edmund P. Dandridge, Benjamin Dailey, George E. Price, W. R. Alexander.
No place more appropriate than in the history of the Hampshire county bar can be found for the mention of a lawyer of profound learning and national reputation, who was born in Romney about 1830, but who left the county early in life to achieve fame elsewhere. Creed Haymond, son of William Calder Haymond, was a native of this county. While yet young, he removed with his parents to Fairmont, in Marion county, where he resided several years. When gold was discovered in California he was among the first upon the scene. Having cast his lot on the Pacific coast, he took up the study of law, and rose to the head of his profession. He yielded first place to none, even when matched with the best lawyers of the west, such as General Barnes, Deuprey, Delmas and Foote. He was for years attorney for the Southern Pacific railroad. He was president of the commission which codified the laws of California and produced a work seldom equalled and never surpassed. He was attorney for several of Califor- nia's millionaires, and he drew up the papers for the found- ing of Stanford university. He died in 1894.
CHAPTER XLIII.
->0 <-
LANDSCAPES PAST AND PRESENT,
BY HU MAXWELL.
This chapter, which deals with the physical features of Hampshire, will present a study of the county's hills and valleys, rivers and smaller streams, soils and products, the rocks which appear on the surface, and what is beneath the surface, so far as known, together with a few easily- understood facts of the county's geology and mineralogy. Altitudes above the Sea .- While Hampshire county is hilly or mountainous, it yet has no mountains equalling in height and ruggedness those of some of the counties west, particularly Grant, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Webster and Randolph. The most elevated point in Hampshire county is 3.100 feet above the sec. The lowest point is the bed of Capon river where it flows across the line from Hampshireinto Morgan 510 feet. The county, therefore, has a vertical range of 2,590 feet. Every point in Hampshire lies somewhere between these two extremes. The average elevation is probably not far from 1,200 feet. It is a prominent feature of the mountains of this county that they have few peaks which rise sharply above the sur- rounding ranges. This is because the mountains of Hampshire county are very old, geologically considered, and peaks which may once have existed have been worn down till they now rise little above the ridges, and appear as broad, rounded domes. In the present chapter the alti- tudes of the most prominent points in this county will be given. This will include the elevation above the sea of the hills and mountains; of the beds of the rivers at different
499
LANDSCAPES PAST AND PRESENT.
points; and of the towns and postoffices. These calcula- tions have been carefully made and are believed to be cor- rect in every particular, as nearly as can be shown by a barometer. This chapter will also give the distances and directions from Romney of all the important points in Hampshire county, and of several places in adjoining coun- ties. These distances have all been calculated from lati- tude and longitude, and thus are what are known as "air lines." That is, they are the shortest lines between the two points, and take no account of roads, nor of irregulari- ties of the land surface. They are always shorter than any road can be constructed between the two points, be- cause a road is always, in this county, more or less crooked, and therefore longer than an "air line." This difference often amounts to considerable. Sometimes the road is nearly twice as long as the direct line between the two points.
The elevation of some of the mountains and hills of Hampshire are shown in the following list: South branch mountain, one mile east of the head spring of Trout run, 3,100 feet; South branch mountain at the Hampshire-Hardy line, 3,000; High knob, near the head of Big run, 2,900; Capon mountain, two miles south of the Hampshire-Mor- gan line, 2,900; Short mountain, four miles west of Delray, 2,800; Capon mountain, at the Hampshire-Morgan line, 2,700; High knob, in Mill creek mountain, at the Hamp- shire-Hardy line, 2,600; Great North mountain, three miles southeast of Lafolletsville, 2,600; Great North mountain, two miles southeast of Capon springs, 2,500; the ridge on which is the common corner of Hampshire, Hardy and Mineral counties, 2,300; the mountain three miles east of Delray, 2,300; the mountain two miles northeast of Sedan, 2,200; Mill creek mountain, across the river opposite Rom- ney, 2,000; Sandy ridge, the highest point of which lies west of the road leading from Forks of Capon to Cold stream, 1,800; the hill south of Romney one-fourth mile, 1,100.
500
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.
In the following list will be found the altitude of the beds of streams at various points in their courses in Hampshire county: Capon at the Hampshire-Morgan line, 510 feet; North river at its mouth, 580; Little Capon at the Hamp- shire-Morgan line, 600; the Potomac at the Hampshire- Morgan line, 625; South branch at the mouth of Town run below Romney, 700; Capon, two miles above Cold stream, 700; South branch at Moorefield, 800; Mill creek, two miles above Moorefield junction, 800; Mill creek at Pargatsville, 900; Little Capon, where the road from Higginsville to Frenchburg crosses, 1,000; North river, two miles above Sedan, 1,000; Tearcoat, where the Northwestern pike crosses, 1,025; Capon, at the Hampshire-Hardy line, 1,040; North river at the Hampshire-Hardy line, 1,100; Grassy run at the Hampshire-Hardy line, 1,500.
The list which follows will show the altitude of towns, places and postoffices in Hampshire county: Forks of Ca- pon, 600 feet; Cold Stream, 700; Higginsville, 700; North River Mills, 775; Glebe, 780; Springfield, 800; Moorefield Junction, 800; Capon Bridge, 800; Pargatsville, 900; Rom- ney, 900; Sedan, 980; Yellow Spring, 980; Hanging Rocks, near North river, 1,000; Delray, 1,050; Frenchburg, 1,050; Pleasant Dale, 1,100; Mutton run, 1,100; Bloomery, south- east of the Forks of Capon, 1,100; Adams Mill, 1,150; Mill Brook, 1,200; Lafolletsville, 1,200; Lehew, 1,275; Slanes- ville, 1,300; Augusta, 1,300; Capon Springs, 1,400; Bloom- ery, northeast of the Forks of Capon, 2,500.
Distances from Romney .- The following list shows the distance in an "air line" from Romney to the several points named; and it also shows the direction of each from Romney. The directions are expressed in the general terms of "east," "southeast," "cast of southeast," etc., and are not given in degrees. They are accurate enough for all practical purposes, although not strictly correct in all cases. From Romney to Springfield, north of northeast, S miles; to Greenspring run, north of north-
501
LANDSCAPES PAST AND PRESENT.
east, 1312 miles; to Higginsville, northeast, 11 miles; to Slanesville, east of northeast, 13 miles; to Frenchburg, east of southeast, 6 miles; to Augusta, east of southeast, 7 miles; to Pleasant Dale, east of southeast, 10 miles; North River Mills, east, 1312 miles; Hanging Rock, east of southeast, 1212 miles; Adams Mill, southeast, 6 miles; Ruckman, southeast, 7% miles; Delray, southeast, 13 miles; Mutton Run, southeast, 17 miles; Sedan, southeast, 1212 miles; Mill Brook, southeast, 15 miles; Yellow Spring, southeast, 1612 miles; Glebe, south of southwest, 8 miles; Ruckman, southeast, 712 miles; the Mineral county line, west, 4 miles; Moorefield junction, southwest, 5 miles; Pargatsville, southwest, 17 miles; Burlington (Mineral county), west 8 miles; Ridgeville, (Mineral county), west. 12 miles; Headsville (Mineral county), northwest, 612 miles; Keyser (Mineral county), west of northwest, 13 miles; Old Fields (Hardy county), south of southwest, 15 miles; Hampshire-Hardy line crossing the South branch, south of southwest, 12 miles; Moorefield (Hardy county), south of southwest, 22 miles; Wardensville (Hardy county), south of southeast, 20 miles; common corner of Hampshire and Frederick counties, southeast, 21% miles: common corner of Hampshire, Morgan and Frederick counties, east of northeast, 24 miles; the Virginia line, east 2112 miles; Bloomery, east of northeast, 2112 miles; Cold Stream, east, 17/2 miles; Capon Bridge, east of southeast, 172 miles; Capon Springs, southeast, 19 miles; Lafollets- ville, southeast, 1912 miles; Lehew, southeast, 19 miles; Winchester (Frederick county), east of southeast, 33 miles; Gerrardstown (Berkeley county), east, 3512 miles; Darkesville, (Berkeley county), 39 miles; the Virginia state line at the nearest point, east of southeast, 18 miles.
The Soils of Hampshire .- The soil of a country is usually understood to be the covering of the solid rock. It is very thin in comparison with the thickness of the sub- jacent rock, not often more than four or five feet, and fre-
502
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.
quently less. This is not the place for a chemical discus- sion of soils; but a few plain facts may be given. What is soil? Of what is it made? In the first place, leaving chemical questions out, soil is simply pulverized rock, mixed with vegetable humus. The rocky ledges under- lying a country, become disintegrated near the surface; they decompose; the sand and dust accumulate, washing into the low places, and leaving the high points more or less bare, until a soil of sufficient depth is formed to sup- port vegetation. A soil in which little or no vegetable humus is intermixed, is poor, and it produces little growth. Sand alone, no matter how finely pulverized, is not capable of supporting vegetation, except a few peculiar species or varieties. This is why some of the hillsides of Hampshire are so nearly bare. The soil is deep enough, but is poor. The state of being poor is nothing more than a lack of humus, or decaying vegetation. Those poor hillside soils either never had humus in them, or it has been washed out. A soil tolerable fertile is sometimes made miserably poor by being burned over each year when the leaves fall. The supply of vegetable matter which would have gone to furnish what the soil needed, is thus burned and de- stroyed; and in course of time that already in the soil is consumed or washed out, and instead of a fertile wood- land, there is a blasted, lifeless tract. Examples of this are too often met with in West Virginia, and as often in Hampshire as elsewhere.
Excessive tillage of land exhausts it, becuuse it takes out the humus, and puts nothing back. It does not exhaust the disintegrated rock-the sand, the clay, the dust; but it takes out the vital part, the mold of vegetation. Fertil- izers are used to restore the fertility of exhausted land. That process is misleading, in many cases. Too often the fertilizing material is a stimulant rather than a food to the land. It really adds no element of fertility, but, by a chemical process, compels the soil to give up all the
503
LANDSCAPES PAST AND PRESENT.
remaining humus; and when the vegetable matter is all gone from the soil, all the fertilizers of that kind in the world would not cause the land to produce a crop. The intelligent farmer does not need be told this. His experi- ence has taught him the truth of it. No land is so com- pletely sterile as that which, through excessive use of fer- tilizers, has been compelled to part with its vegetable mat- ter. Something cannot be created from nothing. If a soil has no plant food in it, and a fertilizer contains no plant food, the mixing of the two will not produce plant life. The most apt illustration is that of alcohol and the human body. Let the body represent a soil, and alcohol the stim- ulant. There is no nutritive element in alcohol, yet when taken into the stomach it stimulates the body to greater activity for a while. It simply calls up the reserve force; but after a time the body has no more force in reserve, and no amount of alcohol can stimulate to further action. So, the soil, as long as it has strength in reserve, can be stimulated to activity; but when its reserve strength is ex- hausted, it cannot be further stimulated. It must have more food before it can do more work.
A crop of clover, of buckwheat, of rye, or any other crop, plowed under, fertilizes land because it adds vegetable matter to the soil. Then if the soil is stubborn about yielding up its fertility, a treatment of the proper fertil- izing agent will compel it to do so. Bottom lands along the rivers and creeks are usually more fertile than lands on the hills because rains leach the uplands and wash the decaying leaves and the humus down upon the lowlands. The soil along the river bottoms is often many feet deep, and fertile all the way down. This is because the wash- ings from the hills have been accumulating there for ages faster than the vegetation which annually drew from it could exhaust the supply. It sometimes happens that the surface of a deep soil is exhausted by long cultivation; and that a sub-soil plow, which goes deeper than usual,
504
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE.
turns up a new fertile soil which had lain beyond the reach of plant roots for ages. Occasionally a flood which covers bottom lands leaves a deposit of mud which is full of humus. This enriches the land where it lodges, but the mountain districts from which it was carried were robbed of that much fertility.
Disintegrated rock of every kind cannot be made fertile by the usual addition of vegetable humus. Certain chem- ical conditions must be complied with. Limestone gen- erally forms good soil because it contains elements which enter into plants. Strata of rock, as we now see them, were once beds of soil. They hardened and became stone. Sandstone is formed of accumulations of sand; shale is made from beds of clay or mud; limestone was once an aggregation of shells and skeletons of large and small living creatures. When these rocks are broken up, disin- tegrated and become soils, they return to that state in which they were before they became rock. The limestone becomes shells and bones, but of course pulverized, mixed and changed; sandstone becomes sand again; shale becomes mud and clay as it originally was. This gives a key to the cause of some soils being better than others. A clay bank is not easily fertilized; but a bed of black mud usually posseses elements on which plants can feed. So, if the disintegrating shale was originally sterile clay, it will make a poor soil; but if it wrs originally a fertile mud, the resulting soil will be good. If the disintegrating sand- stone was once a pure quartz sand, the soil will likely be poor; but if it was something better, the soil will be bet- ter. The fertility of limestone soil is mainly due to the animal matter in the rock. It should always be borne in mind, however, that the difference of soils is dependent not so much upon their chemical composition as upon the physical arrangement of their particles.
Plants do not feed exclusively upon the soil. As a mat- ter of fact, the principal part of the material which enters.
505
LANDSCAPES PAST AND PRESENT.
into the construction of the stems and leaves of some plants is derived from the air. It is often said, but is not quite true, that the ash remaining when wood is burned represents the portion derived from the soil, while the invisible portions which escape as smoke and gasses, were derived from the air. Some plants prosper without touch- ing soil. A species of Chinese lily flourishes in a bowl of water with a few small rocks in the bottom. On the other hand there are plants that will wither in a few minutes if taken from the ground. This shows that some plants ex- tract more material from the soil than other. It is a com- mon saying that buckwheat rapidly exhausts land,
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.