USA > West Virginia > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, West Virginia : from the early days of Northwestern Virginia to the present > Part 20
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In the year 1774 Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, di- rected a county court to be held for Augusta County at Fort Pitt, and the first Court was actually held there in February 1775 and proceeded to ex- ercise jurisdiction over the surrounding settlements.
This was vigorously resisted by the Pennsylvania authorities and re- sulted in their being two sets of laws and two sets of officials to enforce them.
The Virginia officers arrested and imprisoned the Pennsylvania offic- ers and the latter retaliated by doing likewise, and so intense did the con- troversy become that a resort to arms was imminent.
But the breaking out of the war of the Revolution caused an end to the dispute and all parties agreed to sink their local differences and unite in a patriotic cause against the common enemy.
When the war was drawing to a close and the two colonies had been elevated to the dignity of independent states it was amicably agreed that the Mason and Dixon line should be extended to the West.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Commissioners were appointed and after many delays caused by hos- tile Indians, lack of rations and other difficulties incident to the wilder- ness, the long contest was at last satisfactorily adjusted as will be shown by the following official agreement :
"Agreement of Commissioners for Southern and Western Boundary of Pennsylvania.
BALTIMORE, 31st. August 1779.
We, James Madison and Robert Andrews, commissioners for the State of Virginia and George Bryan, John Ewing and David Rittenhouse, commissioners for the State of Pennsylvania, do hereby mutually in behalf of our respective states ratify and confirm the following agreement, viz:
To extend Mason's and Dixon's line due West five degrees of longi- tude to be computed from the River Delaware for the Southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and that a meridian drawn from the Western extremity thereof to the northern limit of the said state be the western boundary of Pennsylvania forever.
In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands this thirty-first day of August in the year of our Lord 1779.
JAMES MADISON,
GEORGE BRYAN,
ROBERT ANDREWS.
JOHN EWING,
DAVID RITTENHOUSE.
Pursuant to this agreement the commissioners of the two States as- sembled in 1784 at the point which the survey had been discontinued and extended the line to the termination of the said five degrees of longitude from the Delaware river, which marked the Southern boundary of the State of Pennsylvania.
The line was marked by cutting a vista through the forest and at in- tervals planting posts marked with the letters P and V, each letter facing the State of which it was the initial. At the extremity of the line which was the South West Corner of Pennsylvania a square unlettered White Oak Post was planted around whose base there was raised a pile of stones.
The advanced season of the year forced the commission to suspend operations until the following spring. The report of their operations is dated in Washington County, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1784 and is signed by John Ewing, David Rittenhouse, Thomas Hutchins, Robert An- drews and Andrew Ellicott.
The following year 1785 the commissioners met at the South West corner of Pennsylvania and ran the line due North to the Ohio River thus establishing the line between Pennsylvania and the Pan Handle Counties of Virginia.
This boundary line between the states mentioned took the name of the two original surveyors, Mason and Dixon, and in after years became fam- ous in the political history of the country, as being the dividing line be- tween the free and slave states.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
The Great Woods.
In the Spring of the year the primitive forest of West Virginia was dotted with the bloom of many trees and bushes, which with the fresh green foliage added color and beauty to the landscape.
There was to be seen the white bloom of the service trees along the streams.
The beautiful, large, sunflower-like blossoms of the dogwood; the small feather-like bloom of the locust and the delicate one of the wild cherry; the large, beautiful, golden, vase-like blossom of the poplar or tulip tree; the long, featherly, light brown bloom of the chestnut tree; the bright red shumate and burning bush with its flaming blossoms; the crab apple with its crimson covering and delicate perfume; and the different varieties of the Haw, all contributed to the attractive appearance of the mighty forest.
On nature's vast sward which stretched beneath the great woods on the Bosom of Mother Earth were strewn along the streams, gentle bluffs and hillsides, many beautiful natural flowers more modest than their tall compatriots above them.
There was the Wild Rose, Honeysuckle, Spring Beauty, May Apple, the Laurel, Johnny-jump-ups, Liver Leaf, Dandelion, Wind Flower, Vio- lets, Pinks. Sweet William, Trailing Arbutus, Jack in the Pulpit, Lady Slippers, the Alder and many others of different colors and perfume, all adding their mite to beautify and adorn this many colored carpet of nature's own weaving.
In the fall of the year the great unbroken limitless forest presented a gorgeous array in its autumnal hues.
As far as the human vision could extend stretching out across hill and dale, mountain and plain, brilliant in its bright coloring of green, brown scarlet and gold would be spread this most beautiful of nature's mantles rivaling the tinted colors of the rainbow itself in its glorious panorama.
The fruit and nuts that grew naturally in the Monongahela Valley and surrounding territory were quite numerous and valuable.
The first fruit which ripened in the woods was the wild strawberry. It grew on poor land in open spaces bare of timber. The berry was small and more acid than the cultivated variety. It was not abundant in any place.
The service tree was the first to bloom in the early Spring. The ber- ries ripened in June, were red, small and of a very agreeable flavor. They generally grew along water courses. Birds were very fond of them and got most of the crop.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Blackberries grew in places where trees had blown down sufficient to create small openings in the forest and permit the sun to enter.
Wild raspberries were not very abundant but were of an agreeable flavor.
Elder berries grew in open places and clearings and were used by many.
Gooseberries of an agreeable flavor were small and not plentiful.
Huckleberries grew in patches on the hills and poor ridges.
Plums were quite abundant and grew on rich land and were of differ- ent sizes and colors, and of good flavor.
Mulberries grew quite plentifully and were much sought after by both man and the birds.
Grapes were in abundance and of different varieties, the best being known as Fall grapes and grew in coves and the high slopes of the Hills.
Black haws grew on large bushes along the streams and were very sweet and much loved by children. There were also red and sugar haws. Wild cherries were abundant in many places.
Pawpaws were plentiful but were not generally used.
Persimons after several frosts, were considered a delicacy, a kind of beer was made from them. They were the favorite fruit of the possum. The crab apple was very abundant and the tree was noted for the beauty and fragrance of its bloom.
The fruit was universally used by the early settlers.
There was also a great variety of nuts and in abundance. Such as the hickory nuts, black walnuts, white walnuts, (butternuts) hazelnuts, chesnuts, beechnuts and acorns.
All of these were of use to the settlers by being eaten by them or their domestic animals and fowls.
The sugar tree, by the sugar it produced in the Spring, contributed much to the comfort of the inhabitants.
Ginseng, which grew in the woods, was gathered and shipped East when roads were opened, and became quite a profitable article of commerce.
Thus it will be seen that Providence had provided for the country west of the mountains a great variety of fruits, nuts and plants for hu- man use, perhaps not excelled by any other part of the continent.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Native Animals and Birds.
The unbroken forest which originally covered what is now West Vir- ginia was inhabited by numerous wild animals, which have almost entirely disappeared.
Among them, first in size was the buffalo. These did not exist in great numbers as forage for them was not very abundant. Their principal food in the summer was a plant known as the pea vine, the leaves and sprouts of trees. In the winter they had to depend on moss and the small limbs of trees and bushes known as "browse." This was very light provender for an animal of the size of a buffalo and in the Spring of the year they must have been very weak and thin.
The last one known to have been killed in what was once Harrison County territory, was in 1825 in Randolph County.
The Elk, the most stately and lordly resident of the forest, was not very numerous, and the last one killed in Randolph was in 1843.
Deer and bear were very numerous, and contributed largely to the support of the settlers. A few of them still live in the Allegheny moun- tains.
Panthers were in small numbers, but wild cats were quite numerous, the latter giving much annoyance in the destruction of pigs and poultry.
Wolves were numerous and were by far the most ferocious and de- structive animals in the forest.
Sheep, pigs and calves were destroyed by them in great numbers. They were hunted, trapped and a price set upon their heads, but they were very cunning and hard to trap.
The last one killed is said to have been in Randolph County in 1897. It is said that the disease of hydrophobia was the principal cause of their rapid extinction.
The grey fox, the black and grey squirrel, the raccoon, ground hogs, minks and muskrats were natives and quite numerous.
Squirrels at times would become very plentiful, threatening the de- struction of the corn crop, when suddenly as if by common consent they would commence traveling towards the East, swimming the rivers that crossed their path in countless numbers and disappearing in the woods.
After this emigration they would be scarce for years, then multiply, emigrate and perish as before.
Beavers were found in small numbers; otter were more numerous and they were much trapped for their furs, which were valuable.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Of animals, not natives West of the mountains, but who followed the white man, as he traveled to the waters of the Ohio, were the red fox, pos- sums, rats and mice.
The red fox was brought from England into Virginia at an early day for the purpose of hunting him with hounds.
Of the fowls of the air, the buzzards or vultures, grey eagles, bald eagles, ravens, wood peckers, hawks, wild turkeys, wild pigeons and phcas- ants were here in great numbers. Wild geese and ducks were here only on their migrations in the spring and fall. The wood duck raised its young in hollow trees but went south in the winter.
It was no uncommon thing to see flocks of buzzards numbering fifty or one hundred perched on trees over the carcass of a deer or domestic animal.
The crow, blackbird, song birds and the quail were not natives here, but followed the trail of the white man as he cleared out the forest.
The honey bee moved along generally a little ahead of the settler and his presence was considered by the Indian as a harbinger of the coming of the whites.
Rattlesnakes and copper heads were plentiful and very much dread- ed. Gnats, gad flies and other winged insects were the pests of the coun- try to both man and beast. While they were prevalent, cattle grew poor and cows gave less milk. Frequently fires would be built while outdoor work was being done as the smoke kept them at a distance.
The little book in the County Clerk's office entitled "Record of Wolf Heads" shows that from the organization of the County a bounty of twelve shillings and six pence was paid for killing an old wolf and six shillings and three pence for killing a young one.
In the year 1800 the monetary system of pounds, shilling and pence was changed to that of dollars and cents, and two dollars were paid for killing an old wolf, and one dollar for a young one.
In 1802 the bounty was increased to six dollars for an old, and three dollars for a young wolf, and the last entry made in the record book July 8, 1805, shows that that sum was still paid.
The person killing a wolf either cut off its head or took the scalp, which included both ears, proved his claim and received a certificate from the County Court for the amount of the bounty.
The Legislature of the Colony authorized the payment of one hundred pounds of tobacco for each old wolf killed, and Counties were allowed to commute their tobacco dues by the payment of twelve shillings and six pence in money, which thus became the bounty for killing wolves.
The first certificate for bounty for killing an old wolf was issued January 21, 1785 to John Hannaman for twelve shillings, six pence.
For the year ending in October 1796 the County paid for
Wolf bounties
15 pounds 6s. 3d
For the year ending October 1798
18 pounds 15s. 0d.
For the year ending October 1799
13 pounds 14s. 0d.
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
The certificates granted by the County Court were forwarded to the Auditor at Richmond for settlement and were often taken by members of the Legislature as will be shown by the following receipt :
"Received of Benj. Wilson, Clerk of Harrison, a list of wolf claims for the years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805 and 1806, in pursuance of an order of the said Harrison County Court made in October 1806, for the purpose of drawing the money on sd. claims, which we are to pay to the future or- der of sd. Court, or in case we do not draw the money, to return the Au- ditor's Warrant for the claims or the list.
Witness our hands and seals 19th. Nov. 1806. The list amounts to 399 dollars.
JOHN PRUNTY. [SEAL.]
ELIAS LOWTHER.
[SEAL.]
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Life of the Settlers, Houses, Weddings, Amusements and Diseases.
The settler usually arrived bringing all his worldly goods upon pack horses, and selected a site for his cabin, near a Spring. For this reason most of the houses in West Virginia are located in a hollow or on low ground. He would then fell trees and cut them into logs to build the cabin, and split clapboards with which to cover it. His neighbors, if he had any, would be notified that on a certain day he would have a "rais- ing." The neighbors would turn out on that day to lend a helping hand to the new comer, and the logs would rapidly be placed in position, one on the top of the other in the form of a pen, notched at each end in order to fit closely. The opening between the logs was filled with split sticks and then plastered with wet clay. This was called "chinking and daubing."
The roof was of clapboards held in place by heavy poles laid on top and pinned down at the ends.
The door was made of "puncheons" split from logs and swinging on wooden hinges. The floor was of split logs, with the hewn side up and fastened down by wooden pins, driven through holes at the ends into sleepers. Openings were left for windows, which were sometimes covercd with greased paper to let in the light. Small spaces were left here and there for loop holes.
A doorway was cut through one of the walls and split pieces of wood called door cheeks reaching from the top to the bottom of the opening were pinned with wooden pins to the ends of the logs.
A wooden latch was placed inside the door. To this was attached a leather string, which ran through a hole in the door above the latch. By pulling on this string from the outside the latch would be raised and ad- mittance gained. By pulling the string in to the inside the door could not be opened from the outside, and was considered locked.
At one end would be built a chimney and the flue would be carried up to the top of the cabin by small sticks placed one above the other with clay between and plastered heavily inside with clay, called "cat and clay" and would last for many years without burning, the chimney being a crib of logs lined with flat stones, and a stone hearth.
The whole house was often completed without the use of a nail, the axe and the auger being about all the implements used in its construction. Expert axmen took great pride in their work, and it is wonderful how smooth and close fitting the floor of a cabin could be made by this tool alone.
The furniture of the cabin was of the rudest character, wooden blocks
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
with legs inserted answered for chairs. The table was two or three slabs fastened on pieces fastened to the wall and supported at the other end by wooden legs.
Wooden platters and bowls were much in use and pewter plates and spoons were considered unusually elegant. The bedsteads were simply poles held up by forked sticks at one end and the other end by the wall, and sticks laid across on which to lay the skins and blankets.
Over the doorway was hung the rifle on two dogwood forks, just as cut from the bush, and pinned to the wall.
At night the cabin was lit from the wood fire supplemented by dip tallow candles and a lamp made of a gourd filled with lard, in which was placed a twisted rag wick. In some localities pine knots were used. The cooking utensils were iron pots, frying pan and a dutch oven.
After completing a shelter for his family the first thing to be done was to clear out ground for a corn crop, for on corn bread and game from the woods, depended the lives of the pioneers.
Such was the rude home of the pioneer, which in time was generally followed by a hewn log house much more pretentious and comfortable than the first one.
It was not until portable saw mills were introduced a few years be- fore the civil war that frame or wooden buildings came generally into use, but in the thinly settled regions of the State log houses are still in use.
Dress of the First Settlers.
The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of loose frock coat, reaching half way down the thighs, open in front and made so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted. The sleeves were large. The cape was large and fell down over the shoulders and was often hand- somely fringed with a ravelled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt. The bosom of this dress served as a wallet to hold provisions or other necessary articles. The belt, which was always tied be- hind answered several purposes besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather the mittens and some times the bullet bag occupied the front part of it. To the right side was suspended the tomahawk and to the left the hunting knife in its leathern sheath.
The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen and occasionally of dressed deer skins, these last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather.
The shirt and jacket were of the common fashion. A pair of drawers or breeches and leggins were the dress of the thighs and legs, a pair of moccasins made of dressed deer skins covered the feet. In cold weather the moccasin was stuffed with deer's hair or dried leaves so as to keep the feet warm, but in wet weather it was generally said that wearing them was a "decent way of going barefooted."
Owing to the spongy texture of the leather of which they were made they were no protection from dampness or rain, and it is owing to this cause that so many of the early settlers were afflicted with rheumatism.
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To prevent this disease as much as possible it was their custom to sleep with their feet next the fire.
In the latter years of the Indian wars some of the young men affected some portions of the Indian dress, which did not meet with the approval of the female population.
The women of the country dressed in dresses of linsey and petticoats of plain material. They also wore coarse shoes and moccasins and sun- bonnets.
They wore no watches, bracelets, chains, rings or diamonds, nor decor- ated their heads with ribbons and huge ill-shaped hats and bird feathers such as their fair descendants now adorn themselves with.
Many of them were pretty well grown up before they ever saw the in- side of a store room, or knew what one was except by heresay. Instead of spending much of their time in primping and ornamenting themselves, they had to handle the distaff or shuttle, the sickle or weeding hoe in order to help the head of the family make both ends meet.
Life of the Settlers.
Dr. Joseph Doddridge in his most valuable book, relating to the set- tlement of Western Pennsylvania says:
"Land was the object which invited the great number of settlers to cross the mountains for as the saying then was, "It was to be had for the taking up."
"Some of the early settlers took the precaution to come over the mountains alone in the spring, and after raising a crop of corn, return and bring their families out in the fall. This I should think was the bet- ter way. Others, whose families were small, brought them with them in the Spring. My father took the latter course. His family was but small and he brought them all with him. The Indian meal which he brought over the mountains was expended six weeks too soon, so for that length of time we had to live without bread. The lean venison and the breast of the wild turkey we were taught to call bread. The flesh of the bear was de- nominated meat. This artifice did not succeed very well, after living this way for some time we became sickly, the stomach seemed to be always empty and tormented with a sense of hunger.
I remember how narrowly the children watched the growth of the po- tato tops, pumpkin and squash vines hoping from day to day to get some- thing to answer in the place of bread. How delicious was the taste of the young potatoes when we got them. What a jubilee when we were permit- ted to pull the young corn for roasting ears. Still more so when it acquired sufficient hardness to be made into "Johnny Cakes" by the aid of a tin grater. We then became healthy, vigorous and contented with our situation, poor as it was.
Most of the early settlers considered their lands of little value from an apprehension that after a few years cultivation it would lose its fer- tility, at least for a long time. I have often heard them say that such a field would bear so many crops and another so many, more or less than that. The ground of this belief concerning the short lived fertility of the
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HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
land in this country, was the poverty of a great proportion of the land in the lower parts of Maryland and Virginia, which after producing a few crops, became unfit for use and was thrown out into commons.
In this unfavorable opinion of the nature of the soil of our country our fore fathers were utterly mistaken. The native weeds were scarcely destroyed before the white clover and different kinds of grass made their appearance. These soon covered the ground so as to afford pasture for the cattle by the time the wood range was eaten out as well as protect the soil from being washed away by drenching rains so often injured in hilly countries."
The settlements composed a self supporting community nearly every thing in use was made at home. The great want was salt, iron and am- munition. To get these the only commodity to exchange for them were furs and skins which were taken East of the mountains on pack horses.
As the population increased and roads were opened for wagons, other articles such as hides, linen from flax, linsey, butter, honey, beeswax, ginseng and snake root were shipped. Later cattle and hogs were driven to the sea coast.
Nearly everything in use was made at home. One man writing in 1787 from East of the mountains where conditions were better than West of them, says: " I never spent more than ten dollars a year which was for salt, nails and the like. Nothing to eat, drink or wear was bought, as my farm produced all."
Every man and woman was a jack of all trades. A fine example of development in this line is given of a pioneer in Western New York, who was a farmer, hunter, trapper, road builder, tailor, shoemaker, lumberman, butcher, hatter, blacksmith, brick-layer, teacher, lawyer and Justice of the Peace.
There was but little trouble in procuring meat, as game abounded in the forest and fish in the streams, but the great difficulty was bread, and often there was none to be had until the corn crop came in.
Hand graters were used to make meal, and mush and milk was one of the substantial dishes.
Indian corn was a great factor in the settlement of Western Virginia. It came early and could be used as food in many different ways. Hand mills consisting of two dressed mill stones set on a section of a tree and turned by hand were in use until tub mills run by water were introduced. Every house had a hominy block.
Cattle got fat in the summer by ranging in the woods, the pea vine being their principal food. In the winter they ate a kind of moss and browsed on the limbs of trees, such as the linn, maple and beech.
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