USA > West Virginia > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, West Virginia : from the early days of Northwestern Virginia to the present > Part 28
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1822 and 1823. . Daniel Kincheloe and Jedediah W. Goff
1823 and 1824. Daniel Kincheloe and John Cather
1824 and 1825. . Daniel Morris and John Cather
1825 and 1826. George I. Williams, Jedidiah W. Goff and
John Cather, vice Goff, deceased
1826 and 1827 . John Cather and George I. Williams
1827 and 1828. . George I. Williams and John T. Brown
1828 and 1829. . George I. Wiliams and John T. Brown
1829 and 1830. George I. Williams and George I. Davisson
1830 and 1831.
George I. Williams and George I. Davisson
1830 and 1832.
. George I. Williams and George I. Davisson
1831 and 1832
. George I. Williams and William Johnson . Waldo P. Goff and Daniel Kincheloe
1832 and 1833
1833 and 1834. . John Cather and Daniel Kincheloe
1834 and 1835. . Wilson K. Shinn and Daniel Kincheloe
1835 and 1836 William A. Harrison and Daniel Kincholoe 1836 and 1837 William A. Harrison and Wilson K. Shinn
1810 and 1811
Daniel Morris and George I. Davisson . John Prunty and James McCally
1818 and 1819.
250
HISTORY OF
HARRISON COUNTY
1838 . William A. Harrison and Jesse Flowers
1839 . Edward J. Armstrong and Jesse Flowers
1839 and 1840. Edward J. Armstrong and George H. Lee 1840 and 1841 Edward J. Armstrong and George H. Lee
1841 and 1842. Edward J. Armstrong and Daniel Kincholoe
1842 and 1843. . Benjamin Bassel and Augustine J. Smith
1843 and 1844. Edward J. Armstrong and Luther Haymond 1844 and 1845. Benjamin Bassel
1845 and 1846. . Jesse Flowers
1846 and 1847
John S. Duncan
1847 and 1848 .Joseph Johnson
1848 and 1849. Benjamin Bassel
1849 and 1850 Charles S. Lewis
1850 and 1851
. Charles S. Lewis
1852. Charles S. Lewis and Thomas L. Moore
1852 and 1853. . Thomas L. Moore and Cyrus Vance
1853 and 1854. Thomas L. Moore and Andrew S. Holden
1855 and 1856 Robert Johnston and Andrew S. Holden
1857 and 1858. . Robert Johnston and D. D. Wilkinson
1859 and 1860 John S. Hoffman and Jefferson B. West
Messrs. Hoffman and West were the last representatives from Harri- son County to serve in the assembly at Richmond.
Lloyd Holden and George W. Lurty served in that body in 1863 and 1864 having been elected by the confederate soldiers from the County.
Under the Restored Government of Virginia the County was repre- sented at Wheeling by
1861 John J. Davis and John C. Vance
The following have represented the County under the New State Govern- ment:
1863 Solomon S. Fleming and Nathan Goff
1864. Solomon S. Fleming and Nathan Goff
1865. Solomon S. Fleming and Nathan Goff 1866 . Solomon S. Fleming and Nathan Goff
1867. Solomon S. Fleming and Nathan Goff, Jr.
1868 . Solomon S. Fleming and Nathan Goff, Jr.
. Solomon S. Fleming and Sidney Haymond 1869
. John J. Davis and Nathan Goff 1870
1871
Charles S. Lewis and Thomas J. West
1872 . Truman Elliott and Thomas J. West 1873. M. W. Davis and Thomas S. Spates
1875 . W. D. Carlile and Thomas J. West 1877 James Duncan and F. W. Cunningham 1879 . John C. Johnson and Ira C. Post
1881
John L. Ruhl and Charles W. Lynch
1885. .Ira C. Post and Jesse F. Randolph 1887.
Henry Haymond and M. G. Holmes 1889
. Alex. C. Moore and Gwin. Minter
1891.
. Charles W. Lynch and Geo. F. Randal
. Edwin Maxwell and Henry Wickenhoover 1893.
Jeremiah W. Hess and Harvey W. Harmer 1895
Jeremiah W. Hess and A. W. Davis
1897.
John W. Davis and Z. W. Wyatt 1899.
1901. . Lloyd Washburn and D. M. Willis
1903.
Edwin Maxwell and Jasper S. Kyle
1905 .Haymond Maxwell and M. C. Jarrett
1907. Charles M. Hart and Marcus L. Riblett
. Charles M. Hart and Marcus L. Riblett 1909
251
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Roads
The first explorers west of the mountains came on foot and carried all their effects on their backs, following the trails made by wild animals and the Indians.
As settlements increased pack horses were used and all the early set- tlers brought their belongings in this way.
Long before the permanent occupation of the County, traders with a long string of horses loaded with goods crossed the mountains in Pennsyl- vania to trade with the Indians in the Ohio Valley.
The first mention of vehicles crossing the mountains was in General Braddock's disastrous expedition against the French at Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh) in 1755. Upon this occasion a large number of wagons car- rying supplies and ammunition accompanied the Army, and a fairly good road was cut out through the forest from Fort Cumberland to the Monon- gahela River.
The General Assembly in November 1766 appointed commissioners "To view, lay out and direct a road to be cleared from the North branch of the Potomac to Fort Pitt on the Ohio, by or near the road called Brad- dock's road, in the most direct and cheapest manner the said commission- ers think fit, and two hundred pounds were appropriated for that purpose.
Over the Braddock road most of the early pioneers traveled to West- ern Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Sometime later the Assembly authorized the construction of a road called the State road from Winchester by way of Romney to Morgantown.
The Assembly in October 1786 appointed a commission consisting of William Haymond, Nicholas Carpenter, Hezekiah Davisson, Thomas Webb, John Powers and Daniel Davisson of Harrison County to lay out and open a wagon road from some point on the State road as deemed best by them to the mouth of the Little Kanawha River, now Parkersburg.
The work was to be let to the lowest bidder, the road to be thirty feet wide, the commissioners are to receive five shillings a day 831/3 cents. and the expenses to be borne by Harrison County.
This road was first made from Clarksburg East to some point at or near the Cheat river, where it is supposed to have joined the State road.
The work west from Clarksburg must have been very deliberately conducted, as from the report of a traveler as late as 1798 it appears that there was nothing but a blazed way through the woods on this end of the road at that time.
Another traveler in going East from Clarksburg in 1790 speaks of a wagon road near Cheat River.
Another one says he left Alexandria with wagons June 30 and ar- rived at Morgantown July 18, 1796.
252
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
The celebrated National Road, which practically followed the Brad- dock route was the work of the National Government. It went by Cum- berland, Uniontown and Wheeling and was completed in 1820.
The original intention was to extend it to the Mississippi River, but the era of railroads prevented this being carried out.
This road was the most traveled thoroughfare in this country being the great commercial artery from the west to the east. Taverns were strung all along the road and from Wheeling east of the mountains droves of cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, wagons, carriages and stage coaches were al- ways in sight.
But the shriek of the locomotive caused the taverns to close their doors, and grass to grow on the path which the great procession had trod for years.
The National road cost the government seventeen hundred thousand dollars, and was fourteen years in process of construction.
The North Western Turnpike.
In 1827 a charter was granted to the Northwestern Turnpike Com- pany to construct a turnpike road from Winchester to Parkersburg by way of Romney and Clarksburg. The state being a large stockholder.
In 1831 the State practically assumed charge of the construction of the road which reached Clarksburg in 1836, and where it passes through the town is still known as Pike Street.
The chief engineer of the road was Colonel Claudius Crozet, a French engineer, who was said to have been a soldier in the wars of Napoleon. He was assisted by Charles B. Shaw.
In 1848 the State appropriated $60,000 for macadamizing the road from the Valley River to Parkersburg.
The distance from Winchester to Parkersburg is given at 23634 miles. of which 83/4 miles was in Maryland. The cost of construction was given at $400,000.
The building of this road was looked forward to with the highest an- ticipation by the people living along its course, as it gave them a much better outlet to the East than they had ever had before.
Stage lines were put on, tavern stands opened, mails were carried and connections made at Parkersburg with steamboats.
The first coaches or public conveyances in Harrison County ran from Clarksburg to the National Road at Uniontown about 1830.
The Clarksburg merchants rode on horseback to Baltimore generally making the trip in six days.
Wagons hauling 4000 pounds of goods were about fifteen days on the road from Baltimore, the bills of lading allowed twenty days for the trip. The round trip from Clarksburg to Baltimore was considered to be thirty days. Freight rates were from 212 to 3 cents per pound.
Live stock was driven East at an early day, as they furnished their own transportation.
The drivers of these freight wagons would often have a number of bells attached to the harness and took pride in making a good appearance and presented an interesting sight.
253
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
The driver of the stage coach was an important personage along the road, and the arrival of a coach at a town always caused a crowd to as- semble to view the passengers and hear the news.
Long after the stage coach had given way to the locomotive old driv- ers used to boast of their crack teams, and how they had driven Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Thomas H. Benton and General Zachary Taylor and other celebrities safely on their way to Washington, over the National road.
In entering Clarksburg from the East it was customary for the stage driver to blow a long blast from a trumpet as he came down the Jackson hill on Pike Street to the Elk Creek bridge, and in coming from the West the trumpet would ring out from the top of the hill between 6th. and South Chestnut Streets. This was to notify the Post Master and Tavern keeper of the arrival of the stage.
Along the line of these roads there was considerable opposition to the building of railroads, the argument being used that the railroad would carry all the passengers and live stock, which would close all the taverns and that there would be no market for provisions or grain.
An act of incorporation was granted to the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- road Company by Maryland, February 28, 1827, which was confirmed by Virginia March 8, 1827, and by Pennsylvania February 22, 1828.
The road was opened to Ellicott's Mills and the first locomotive ran on it August 30th, 1830.
Frederick was reached December 1, 1831. Harper's Ferry December 1, 1834. Cumberland November 5, 1842, Piedmont July 21, 1851, Fair- mont June 22, 1852, and Wheeling December 24, 1852, a distance of 379 miles.
The work of constructing the Parkersburg branch from Grafton was commenced in August 1852 at Brandy Gap Tunnel, Thomas S. Spates be- ing the contractor and was completed in January 1857.
The first locomotive reached Clarksburg in July, 1856, from Grafton. As the construction of the railroad progressed West from Baltimore, freight and passengers were hauled from the terminus of the road to Clarksburg, Fetterman being the last station hauled from, beginning in 1852 and ending in 1856.
The coach stands rusting in the yard,
The horse has sought the plow.
We have spanned the world with iron rails And the steam King rules us now.
254
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Clarksburg.
A view from the summit of the hill of Pinnickinnick in the year 1764 in the reign of King George the III. would have disclosed nothing to the vision but a billowy sea of illimitable forest, and a glimpse of Elk Creek flowing at its base, which for thousands of years had heard no sound save that of its "own dashings."
The sounds of civilization would have been unheard, not even the smoke of a white man's cabin would have been seen, but stretching for thousands of miles westward, all was wrapped in the solitude of primitive nature.
But a mighty transformation was destined in the near future to come over this lonely scene, which had for an untold number of centuries slum- bered in the night of a savage gloom. The frowning barriers of the Alle- ghenies were soon to be swept away before the restless advancing tide of civilization ever moving Westward, and the great valley of the Mississippi was soon to be peopled with teeming millions of the Anglo Saxon race.
As is stated elsewhere in this volume John Simpson, a trapper, who in 1764 located his camp on the West Fork opposite the mouth of Elk Creek is the first white man known to have visited the present site of Clarksburg.
Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh, had been garrisoned by British troops since it was captured from the French in the year 1758, and it is more than likely that explorers had passed through this region before the ar- rival of Simpson, but there is no record of their doing so.
As early as the year 1772 settlers began locating their lands near where Clarksburg now stands, and in 1773 Daniel Davisson took up 400 acres, upon which the principal part of the town is now located.
The year 1774 found the following persons settled in the neighbor- hood of Clarksburg, Daniel Davisson, Thomas Nutter, Samuel Cottrill, Sotha Hickman, Samuel Beard, Andrew Cottrill, Obadiah Davisson, John Nutter, Matthew Nutter and Amaziah Davisson. There were no doubt others located on public lands of which no official record was made.
The town was named in honor of General George Rogers Clark, who gained great fame on the frontier by his many expeditions against the British and Indians in the Indian Wars and the war of the Revolution, particularly by his bold capture of the fort of Vincennes now in the State of Indiana in the year 1778.
Major William Powers who resided on Hacker's Creek was conver-
255
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
sant with affairs in the early settlement of Harrison County, stated that at a meeting of the settlers one of the Shinn's suggested that the town be named after General Clark, which was assented to and the few log cabins clustered together were christened Clarksburg.
This event must have occurred between the years 1778 and 1781 as General Clark was not generally known until the former year, and the plats of the surveys of Daniel and Andrew Davisson made in the latter year recorded in the surveyor's office of Monongalia County both refer to Clarksburg, it follows that the date of naming the town must have been between those years.
The first official recognition of the name yet discovered is in the two surveys mentioned. It doubtless occurred earlier in the records of the Monongalia County Court, but as they were destroyed by fire in 1796 this cannot be verified.
In 1784 the town is described in an old letter as follows: Clarksburg was built by two rows of cabins extending from near where the Court House now is to Jackson's house on the East side of Elk Creek. It had been built for a fort."
The Jackson house here referred to stood on the East side of Elk Creek and on the North Side of Main Street just East of the intersection of Maple Avenue.
This same writer states "Some little time I went to school, but spent much of my time in Clarksburg playing ball, &c. But I never could find agreeable company with those high frolicking people for I never attempt- ed to dance more than two or three times in my life."
This glimpse into the social life of the early inhabitants of Clarks- burg indicates that they were a fun loving people fond of innocent amuse- ments, in spite of their dangerous surroundings and hard struggles for existence.
In October 1785 the General Assembly of Virginia passed the follow- ing act :
An Act for establishing the town of Clarksburg in the County of Harrison.
I. Whereas: A considerable number of lots have been laid off and houses built thereon by the proprietors of the place fixed for the erection of the Court House and other public buildings in the County of Harrison and application being made to this Assembly that the same may be estab- lished a town.
II. Be it therefore enacted: That the said lots so laid off, or here- after to be laid off by the trustees, shall be and the same are hereby estab- lished a town by the name of Clarksburg, and that William Haymond, Nicholas Carpenter, John Myers, John McAlly and John Davisson, Gen- tlemen, are hereby appointed trustees of the said town, who, or any three of them, shall have power from time to time to settle and determine all dis- putes concerning the bounds of the said lots, and in case of the death, re- signation or removal out of the County of any one or more of the said trustees it shall be lawful for the freeholders of the said town to elect and choose others in their stead, and those so chosen shall have the same power and authority as any one particularly named in this act.
256
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
III. Provided always and be it further enacted: That half an acre of ground, or so much thereof as may be thought necessary either in one entire or two separate parcels shall be laid off by the said trustees in the most convenient part of the said town, and appropriated for the purpose of erecting thereon the Court House and other public buildings, and that the said trustees have full power to lay off as many lots, streets and alleys as to them shall seem convenient for the benefit of the said town, and that the possessors of any lot or lots in the said town shall before the first day of January one thousand seven hundred and ninety, build thereon a dwell- ing house of at least sixteen feet square, either of stone, brick, frame or hewed logs, with a stone or brick chimney and upon failure thereof shall forfeit their lot or lots to the said trustees to be further disposed of as they may think proper for the benefit of the said town.
IV. And be it further enacted that the freeholders of the said town shall be entitled to and have and enjoy all the rights, privileges and im- munities which the freeholders of other towns not incorporated have and enjoy.
On December 4, 1789, the General Assembly passed an act entitled : An Act granting further time to the possessors of lots in the towns of Clarksburg, Morgantown, Harrodsburg and Louisville for building thereon :
Whereas it is represented that the hostilities of the Indian tribes and other causes have prevented many of the possessors of lots in the town of Clarksburg in the County of Harrison, of Morgantown in the County of Monongalia, of Harrodsburg in the County of Mercer and of Louisville in the County of Jefferson, from building thereon in pursuance of the Acts by which said towns were established.
Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, that every possess- or of a lot in any of the said towns shall be allowed the further space of three years, after the day limited by law, shall expire for building there- on, conformably to the acts for establishing the said towns respectively.
By an Act of the General Assembly passed November 2, 1792, the purchasers of lots in the towns of Clarksburg, Milton, Abingdon, and Morgantown from the difficulty of procuring materials were allowed a further extension of five years to build houses thereon and save the same.
The County Court of Harrison County at its first session held on the 20th. day of July 1784 at the house of George Jackson near the present town of Buckhannon selected Clarksburg as the County seat of the new County and the place where the public buildings should be erected, on lots numbered Seven and eight, donated for that purpose by Daniel Davisson and Joseph Hastings.
This Court adjourned to meet in the following month of August at the house of Hezekiah Davisson in Clarksburg, which was the first Court of any kind held in Clarksburg.
The first Court House, which was built in 1787, stood on what is now the North East Corner of Second and Main Streets and the jail stood on the opposite side of Main Street near where the Presbyterian church now stands.
There is a tradition that it was proposed to locate the County Seat on Simpson's Creek on the farm afterwards for many years owned by Doctor
257
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
William Dunkin, but it was stated that the land was owned by a widow who objected to the location being made on her property for the rea- son that she did not wish her boys to be brought up in or near the town that she knew would spring up at the County seat, and Clarksburg was then selected.
The American Gazetteer published in Boston in 1797 has the follow- ing information about Clarksburg :
"Clarksburg is the chief town of Harrison County, Virginia. It con- tains about forty houses, a Court House and jail. It stands on the East side of the Monongahela River 40 miles S. W. of Morgantown."
The County Court Passed an order on June 16, 1828, appointing Thomas Haymond, Joseph Johnson and John Reynolds to lay off Clarks- burg into streets and alleys under the Act of Assembly passed January 16, 1828.
Clarksburg was incorporated by an Act passed March 15, 1849, which authorized the voters on the first Monday in May in each year to elect viva voce seven free holders to serve as trustees for one year, and in case an election should not be held then the same trustees last elected shall re- main in office until a new election shall be held.
The boundary of the town was as follows :
"Beginning at the mouth of Elk Creek, thence running up the same to the mouth of a small drain a few rods below the North Western Turn- pike Bridge on the land of James M. Jackson, thence due East one hun- dred rods to a stake: thence due South to Elk Creek, thence down the same to a point in said creek, lying due west from a certain spring known as the Monticello Spring on the land of John Stealey; thence due West to the West Fork of the Monongahela River and thence down the same to the mouth of Elk Creek to the beginning.
From time to time the laws incorporating the town were amended as the population increased one of the amendments dividing it into five wards until on February 26, 1897 an act was passed amending and re- enacting and reducing the several acts into one and this charter is still in force.
The town records prior to 1832 cannot be found but the officers elect- ed that year were :
Board of Trustees, Charles Lewis, President, John Field, Clerk, T. S. Prim, A. Werninger and William M. Bartlett, Assessor, James Reed, Bailiff, Notley Shuttlesworth, Treasurer Jacob Stealey.
Since that time the following persons have been presidents and Clerks of the Board of Trustees :
Presidents, John Stealey, Charles Lewis, Luther Haymond, A. J. Smith, Aaron Criss, Nathan Goff, Jas. P. Bartlett and Enoch Tensman, Daniel Kincheloe, Wm. P. Cooper, Thomas S. Spates, L. D. Ferguson and R. S. Northcott.
Clerks, A. J. Smith, Richard W. Moore, James P. Bartlett, E. L. Stealey, Robert L. Criss, Burton Despard, Luther Haymond, Samuel R. Stealey, Robert S. Criss, Burton Despard, Luther Haymond, Samuel R.
In 1870 the town authorities accepted Chapter 42 of the Code and thereafter the chief officers were a mayor and recorder and the governor- ing Board designated as a Council.
258
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
In 1832 the total assessed value of property was $110,745, Tax $124, tithables 107.
In 1785 the list of tithables or those liable to pay taxes residing on Elk Creek including the inhabitants of Clarksburg was forty-three.
Isaac Van Meter of Hampshire County in 1801 with George Harness, L. Branson and John Miller made a tour to view lands west of the Ohio. He kept a record of the journey of which the following is an extract :
"Saturday, April 18. Crossed Cheat River, which is about the size of the South Branch or perhaps larger; hills remarkably high on both sides. Passed through the best body of timber and upland I ever saw, for about two miles. The face of the country from that to the Monongahela River, which appears to have about as much water in it as Cheat, but not quite so wide, has generally a good appearance for wheat and lies well for cultivation, but not rich and well timbered.
From there to Clarksburg the land is more fertile and inclined to grass.
Lodged at Joseph Davisson's six miles this side of Clarksburg.
Sunday, April 19. Breakfasted at Daniel Davisson's in Clarksburg and waited until after dinner.
Clarksburg has a tolerable appearance on Main Street with an Academy on an elevated piece of ground near the town.
We were informed that nearly fifty children are generally taught there. The Court House is on one side of the street, and the jail on the other near the center.
Left Clarksburg and lay at Mr. Clayton's fifteen miles distant. The face of the country is very rough, but some small strips of bottom well adapted for meadow.
Monday, April 20. Down Middle Island Creek fourteen miles in which distance we crossed it seventeen times. A rough hilly country and poor.
I was informed that on the Creek there is a bend of seven miles around and comes within thirty yards of itself. A ditch is cut through and a mill erected with only a seven feet fall in that distance.
In digging the race which I am informed is twenty-five feet deep, the earth was so hard that it was a custom to give visitors a pint of liquor to dig up as much dirt. The undertaker after being at a very great ex- pense had thought of giving on account out
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