USA > West Virginia > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, West Virginia : from the early days of Northwestern Virginia to the present > Part 30
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
An air of listless inactivity broods over the whole town. Many of the people are hospitable and kind, the ladies, refined and educated, have more energy than the men, who for the most part are lazy and indo- lent, and delight in interfering with the affairs of strangers. Their principal occupation in the drowsy summer afternoons is to sit upon their door steps with their little negroes playing at their feet, and gaze into the street, at times discussing the war and marking out plans for our Generals to follow.
Pacing along the deserted streets in the twilight, the only sounds which are heard besides the tramp of your own footsteps are the merry
268
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
ringing laugh of childhood, the tinkle of a distant cowbell and the bray- ing of the Government mules.
The languid inactivity of the town reminds one of those primitive Dutch places in New York so graphically described by Washington Irving. There the resemblance ends for an ancient Dutch Burgher would be horri- fied at the unthriftiness and laziness of those claiming to be descendants of the Cavaliers. This is the old town.
At the depot, half a mile distant where the government buildings are erected for the commissary departments all is activity and bustle. Trains are continually coming and going bearing stores to distant posts. Troops are passing rapidly through, enthusiastic with patriotism and anzious to get a glance at Secessia. Messengers with dispatches are rapidly hurrying from camp to camp. There is the ceaseless roll of white topped army wagons, dissatisfied claimants hanging around the Quarter-Master's office, importuning the sentry for admission though knowing it is already full; the endless ringing of the blacksmith hammer, the activity and bustle of the wagon shop, enthusiastic individuals who have just discovered a new plan by which transportation can be hastened, or anxious to dispose of horses at a high price from disinterested motives, because they are good Union men; the arrival and departure of special trains laden with every description of stores and numerous Secessionists in the guise of Union men, watching the slightest movement and catching every whisper, hoping thereby to learn something favorable to the rebel cause, which they may be able to turn to advantage. This is the new town.
In a large orchard belonging to Major Jackson, between the old town and the new is located the government "corral" where are kept the horses, mules and necessary equipments for transportation.
Everything betokens the activity of the government depot. Here is a large hay house filled to its utmost capacity with a dozen men pressing and curing hay, forage masters issuing forage, men digging wells, ostlers cleaning and feeding horses, others breaking them to harness. All is bus- tle and work. There are no idle men here and every man is requird to do his whole duty.
Again we cross the bridge, the outer world is left behind and we breathe the enchanted air of "Sleepy Hollow."
Along in the thirties there was printed a piece of poetry describing several of the prominent citizens of Clarksburg in no very favorable light. It depicted them as land grabbers, negro stealers and hog thieves and desperate characters generally. The publication of this doggerell while creating wide spread comment and amusement put the town by the ears and resulted in a law suit for defamation of character against the poet and it was many years before the effects were effaced by time.
There is given below three of the verses that mention no names and will give a general idea of the character of effusion. Twelve verses are omitted.
269
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Old times in Clarksburg.
1.
Old Uncle Josey in a trance when he fell
He thought in his vision that he was in hell Where the Devil was jailer, and turned the key "Step in Uncle Josey, you're my prisoner" says he.
5. Oh then Uncle Josey when will they be here?
With hot lead and brimstone begin to prepare, And all of your old friends play each one his part,
For they'll buy and sell hell if you do not be smart.
14.
Pray Uncle Josey come tell unto me When you were in Hell what there did you see?
I saw lawyers and doctors of every degree,
But mechanics and farmers not one did I see."
The following notes are taken from the diary of a citizen of Clarks- burg.
June 17, 1840. A daily line of stages started on the North Western Turnpike to-day.
December 23, 1842. The Point Mills burned down.
May 1851. Great fire on the North side of Main Street burning from the Despard corner to the Goff building.
This includes the buildings from Third Street to David Davidson's business house, the site of the Stonewall Jackson house.
November 12, 1851. Fire destroyed all buildings on the South Side of Main Street from the Adams property to the Court House including Bartlett's Hotel.
1850. Waldo P. Goff had the first door bell in town and Luther Hay- mond the second one.
April 4, 1859. Bartlett's Hotel burned.
Illuminating gas was introduced into Clarksburg in 1871. Natural gas for heat and light was piped into town in 1891 from Big Isaac, Doddridge County by the Mountain State Gas Company.
Water works were established in 1888.
The street car line built in 1900.
Electric light plant was established in 1887.
The discovery of oil and natural gas in the West End of the County in 1889 has made great changes in Clarksburg. The population has in- creased, manufactories have been established and it is destined to become a large and prosperous city in the future.
Clarksburg's Only Duel.
On the 24th. day of April 1810 two young men stood facing each other on the banks of Elk Creek, back of the Randolph Academy, where the Central High School building now stands with pistols in hand and at the word fired directly at each other.
Their names were Thomas P. Moore and Charles K. Burnham the
270
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
result of the firing was that Burnham received a severe wound in the hip. Moore escaped unhurt.
The records of the County court show that on the 28th. of April, 1810, Thomas P. Moore and Charles K. Burnham were arraigned before the Court charged with fighting a duel on April 24, with weapons that might have produced death.
The order of the Court states that Burnham was not present owing to "indisposition."
Both parties entered into bond to keep the peace for twelve months and no further action seems to have been taken of the affair.
On the same day Archibald B. Wilson was charged with having been guilty of conveying a challenge from Burnham to Moore and acting as his second in the duel and also Lemuel E. Davisson for acting as sec- ond for Moore. They were also bound over to keep the peace.
The same course was pursued in the charges against Hugh M. Tate and Alexander H. Creel for assisting, aiding and abetting Moore and Burnham in figting a duel.
The records also show that Wilson who had acted as second for Burn- ham in the duel with Moore was charged with sending a challenge to fight a duel to John Phelps and that Davisson who had acted as second to Moore was charged with conveying the challenge. They also gave bond to keep the peace.
What caused the outbreak between Wilson and Phelps is not known, the gilded youth were evidently on the war path and were industriously engaged in painting old Clarksburg a bright red on that April day long ago.
An interesting romance, which came so near resulting in a sad tragedy, is behind these formal Court proceedings, clothed in legal verb- age, but the mist of almost a hundred years has obscured the occurrence from the recollection of men and only a dim tradition remains.
The innocent cause of this disturbance can be traced to Miss Rachel Pindall, a pretty blue eyed maiden, who had recently come to Clarks- burg from Monongalia County, and who was a sister to the celebrated lawyer, James Pindall, and to whom the two principals in the duel had been paying marked attention. It was the same old story of rivalry for the hand of a fair daughter of Eve that will be repeated in the future time and again as long as the human race shall exist.
After the duel Burnham abandoned the field and moved West, and in the following year Moore married the young lady in question and many of their descendants reside in Clarksburg to this day.
In the war of 1812 with England Thomas P. Moore entered the army and was promoted to the rank of Major, serving wih distinction in the invasion of Canada and along the Atlantic coast.
Lover's Bridge.
In the fifties there was a rustic wooden bridge spanning the Pike Street crossing of the little stream to the East of town, known by the un- poetic name of Still House Run.
271
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Its ancient stone abutments were covered with vines and foliage and each end was shaded by trees growing up from the banks of the stream beneath.
On summer evenings this secluded spot was a famous trysting place for young lovers and strolling couples, and rarely was there a moonlight night without its low railings being occupied.
This retired sylvan retreat was called Lover's Bridge by the young people and how many promises were there made to be broken will never be known as their name is "legion." It was the same old story and yet ever new.
The great civil war changed the social life of Clarksburg, and many of the boys who stood on the bridge in the moonlight and whispered sweet words of constancy and devotion in the ears of trusting maidens, were destined in the near future, to face each other on bloody battle fields in the great civil war, and never to meet again.
Alas! the sparkling waters of the rivulet are changed to the sulphur- ous drainage of a coal mine: the bridge with its beautiful natural sur- roundings is gone and its place is taken by a rude stone culvert with an unsightly fill over it. The little god Cupid who controls the destiny of lovers has fled in disgust. The romance hovering over the charmed scene has departed and Old Father Time has proven himself to be what he al- ways has been, a relentless image breaker.
The gulf of half a century yawns between those bright lovely hours of gilded youth and the realities of the present, and may the hand of the recording angel trace lightly in his book the unfilled pledges of the youthful lovers made on the tree clad old bridge in the long gone past.
William Scripps.
From recollections of Rev. John Scripps who was born in Bridewell Parish London and came to Baltimore with his father's family Wm. Scripps in May, 1791, and settled in Alexandria, Va. In the fall of 1792 his father Wm. Scripps removed to Morgantown, the following is his description of the trip.
In speaking of his father he says: "Suddenly recollecting that he had come to be a farmer he suffered himself to be victimized by land specula- tors in the purchase of a large tract of land said to lie on the bank of the Monongahela River and began immediately to prepare for removing to his purchase. The mode of transit in those days particularly across the mountains for all movables was on the backs of pack horses, but his chest of books and clothing, mahogany tables, cushion chairs, high post bed steads and even large flat boxes of window glass in frames, with which to furnish his new abode would not admit of such a mode of conveyance. His movables filled three wagons, one six horse and two four horse teams.
My mother rode Cavilier, a favorite horse that had carried General Washington through the war of the Revolution, but being old and super- annuated he was sold by the General's overseer to my father as suited for my mother. This was the last essential service poor Chevalier performed. The settlers on our road had been Revolutionary Soldiers and generally recognized and sympathized with the poor animal.
272
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
My father took upon himself the entire expense of the journey, not only of the wagoners and their teams but also of some hangers on Mechan- ics, who were to form a little colony on his estate and carry on business under his patronage.
There was not a public house on the whole 250 miles we traveled, un- less in the towns which were far and few between.
We were fully three weeks on the road and arrived at Morgantown early in December 1792.
My father on his arrival at Morgantown found his land twenty miles from any settlement and as he was not prepared to settle in a wilderness where no help could be hired, he set about purchasing a more suitable tract but was again victimized and bought another and another with the same results.
In 1794 he moved out to the least objectionable of his purchases.
In the beginning my father could be seen grubbing in his broadcloth and satin till they were worn out before he could get any other, for there were no stores in the country and no money in circulation to buy with if there had been.
Everybody made their own clothes of flax beginning with the culti- vation of the staple. Wool there was none for wolves prevented our keeping sheep. We once got a flock of twenty but they were all destroyed Provisions were not to be obtained save only by hard and constant labor for few settlers had land in cultivation more than sufficient to raise food for their own consumption, and generally by Spring there would be no bread in the country and people lived on greens, of spontaneous growth, which were daily gathered by women and children until they could raise vegetables. It was sometime before we had tillable land enough to raise wheat. Butter we could not indulge in, for what little we made with our surplus maple sugar at six cents a pound and a few eggs was all we could market to get money to pay taxes.
Pike Street.
Previous to the construction of the North Western Turnpike through Clarksburg about the year 1836 now Pike Street, Main Street was the only Western entrance into town, Pike Street extending no further West than 4th. Street, but after the new street was opened the town began gradually to spread to the West.
Robert Childers built the first house on the new extension on the South side of Pike Street just East of its junction with Sycamore.
Granville G. Davisson built the next one at the North East corner of Pike and Sixth, followed soon afterwards by Luther Haymond on the same side of Pike across Sixth from Davisson's.
273
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Mills in Clarksburg.
The first mill built in Clarksburg was prior to 1781, probably about 1776, and was owned by Webb & Davisson and stood above the present site on Elk Creek at the entrance to the "Narrows."
The Mill house stood it is supposed on the East Side of the Creek, as the ground there is more suitable for its location and more accessible than the opposite or Western side. In low water the remains of the dam are still to be seen.
In 1784 George Jackson obtained permission of the County Court to erect a mill on the site of the present one.
The "Point Mills" were afterwards constructed on the river below the mouth of Elk Creek about one mile from the Court House.
274
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Census of the County.
At the June Term, 1785, of the County Court, an order was entered that a list of all whites and buildings should be taken, distinguishing the dwelling houses, together with a list of the tithables subject to the pay- ment of County or Parish levies.
The inhabitated parts of the County were divided into districts and an assessor appointed to do the work in each district.
The reports made by these officials are valuable as giving a list of names of those resident in the County at that time. Many of the names are illegible or so carelessly written and spelled that they cannot be de- ciphered. Some names are spelled three or four different ways, for in- stance Hughes, Hewes and Hues are intended for the same family name.
The tithables or men of lawful age agregating 318. Several women are enumerated, they being owners of property. The most of the inhabi- tants are on the waters of the Valley and West Fork Rivers, there being but few west of the latter stream.
The reports of John Sleeth, Thomas Cheney, Benjamin Robinson John McCalley, George Jackson and John Powers cover the present limits of the county. These are all of the reports found for that year. It is possible that there were others for thinly settled parts of the County but if there were such they cannot be found.
John Sleeth list of tithables for the year 1785, from the mouth of Lost Creek, upwards, including the whole of the livers in the West Fork settle- ment :
Alex. West
Thomas Hughes
James Tanner
John Runyon
Henry Flesher
Elias Hues
Matthew Richards
James Campbell
John Richard
Joseph Kester
Christen Harrison
John Collins
Conrad Richards
William Hannan
John Brown
Samuel Borris
Jesse Huse
George Brush
Jacob Harleson
David Wales Sleeth
Jacob Cozad
Ebenezer Haley James Sleath
John Sleeth
John Waggoner
Samuel Bonet
George Collins
Richard Clark
Thomas Doyl McCune
Adam Bush
Jacob Bush Abraham
Elizah Joseph Crozan
Isaac
Edmond West
Edmund West, Constable.
Joel Lowther
Thomas Hughes Daniel Cane
James Schoolcraft
John Huggle
Adam O'Brien
John Hacker
Alex. Sleeth
Joseph
275
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Thomas Cheney, list of tithables for 1785, from the mouth of the West Fork River up to Simpson's Creek including the Valley River :
Moses Hoff
Enoch James
John Wickwire
Robert Plummer, Constable
Jacob Biglar
John Owens
Edom Freeman
Jacob Tetrick
Owens Owens
George Tetrick
John Tucker
Lambert Flowers
William Tucker
Samuel Tucker
Thos. Cheney
Joseph Saxton
John Goodwin
Henry Snider
Nathan Tucker
John Goodwin, Jr.
John Davis
Koonrod Koon
Evan Thomas
Jonah Edwards
Henry Bucher
Ezekel Thomas
George Moorehead
Joseph Koon
Evan Thomas
Benjamin Robinson list of tithables for 1785 from the County line up the west side of the West Fork River to Limestone creek :
David Wamsly
Samuel Harbert
John Wood
Thomas Bartlett
Edward Harbert
John Cutright
Robert Bartlett
Joseph Wood
Christopher Carpenter
Benj. Bartlett
Edward Cunningham
Benj. Robinson
Barns Allen
Thomas Cunningham
Levi Shinn
John Warmsley
Joseph Wamsley
Samuel McIntire
Peter Cornelison
John McCalley's list of tithables for the year 1785 from the mouth of Limestone up both sides of the West Fork River to Lost Creek.
John Cain
George Richards
Jonathan Coburn
Abijah Ward
Jacob Richards
William Tanner
Jacob Richards, Jr.
Isaac Richards
Isaac Davisson
Job Hughes Josiah Davisson
Nicholas Bulgar
John McCally
John Hess
John Myers
John Read
William Lowther
Thomas Read
Robert Pike
Thomas Barkley
Thomas McCann
Benjamin Richards
James Meek
Cornelius Ward
George Jackson list of tithables 18th. July, 1785, on the waters of Elk Creek.
Samuel Beard
Obadiah Davisson
Notley Duvall John Duvall
Christopher Nutter
David Murphy
Benjamin Shinn
Benjamin Coplin
Joseph Hasting
Mathew Nutter
George Drake
Wm. Carder
Daniel Fink
Benjamin Cutter
Geo. Jackson
John Davisson Henry Russ
Levi Douglass John Radcliff
Sotha Hickman John Wolfe Thomas Nutter Jacob Wolfe
John Wade Lovberry
James Shreve
Lewis Duvall Hezekiah Davisson
John Murphy Bazel Williams
Francis McCann
Dinnes Murphy John Gregory
Wm. Haymond
Wm. Davis
Jonathan Lambert
Amaziah Davisson
Daniel Davisson Gilbert Hustead
John Prunty
Major Powers Joseph Gregory Wm. Murphy
Andrew Davisson
William Runyan
Nicholas Carpenter
276
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
John Powers list of Tithables for the year 1785 on the waters of Simpson's Creek and the Thompson settlement.
William Bartlett
William Thompson
Thomas Webb
Watson Clark
Elizabeth Webb
Aaron Smith
David Edwards
George Stewart
William Asa
James Anderson
Thomas Bartlett
Jonathan Stout
Caleb Stout
Walter Everet
John Stackhouse
Joseph Davisson
John Nutter
John Sailor
William Robinson
Joseph Wilkinson
Isaac Shinn
Samuel Shinn
Samuel Smith
Jacob Kees
Samuel James
Jacob Kees
Joseph Davis
Isaac Edwards
Thomas Stout
Ralph Morrow
William McKenney
Bonham Stout
Ann Davisson
John Bartlett
Samuel Wilkinson
Joseph Wilkinson
John Allen
James Anderson
Daniel Stout
Henry Thompson
Isaac Stackhouse
Thomas Wilkinson
A list of taxable and tithable property and tithables as per order of Court 1785. Salathial Goff's Cheat River District and Horse Shoe Bot- tom.
James Parsons
William Parsons
Mickle Parsons
George Richardson
James Shaw
William Shaw
Salathial Goff
Hannah Cuper
David Minear
Philip Minear
Adam Minear
Edward Johnson
Thomas Wilmoth
Neriah Gandy
Philip Fisher
Patrick Magonagan
H. Delay's list of tithables for 1785 from Petty's Ford up to Joseph Crouches.
Anthony Chevelear
Charles Persons
George Westfall
Henry Delay
John Crouch, Jr.
Janathan Crouch
John Currence
Ebenezer Petty
John Crouch, Sr. Lidda Currance William Currence
The tithables and taxable property of Buckhannon River settlement taken by Edw. Jackson, 1785.
Charles Foransh
John Jackson
John Bosart Henry Runyan
Henry Fink, Sr.
David Casto
John Cutrite, Jr.
Henry Fink, Jr.
John Cutrite, Sr.
John Bush
Joseph Hall
John Jackson, Jr.
Edward Jackson
Jacob Westfall list of tithables 1785 from Leading Creek up to Petty's Ford, including both sides of the Valley River.
John Bowers.
277
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
Aaron Richison
Jacob Stalnaker, Sr.
Samuel McHenry
Abraham Kittle
Jacob Stalnaker, Jr.
Samuel Quick
Anthony Smith
Jacob Westfall, Sr.
Thomas Philipps
Benj. Wilson
Jacob Westfall, Jr.
Thomas Bore
Benj. Cutright
John Johnson
Valentine Stalnaker
Benj. Jones
John Yoakum
William Cassity
Cornelius Bogard
John Kittle
William Smith
Daniel Westfall
Jacob Kittle
William Levit
David Cassity
John Cassity
William Blair, Sr.
David Henderson
Matthias Whitman
William Briggs
David Philipps
Michael Toner
William Blair, Jr.
Elizabeth Springstone
Nicholas Smith
Zachariah Westfall
George Bredin
Nicholas Pettro
William Anglin
Henry Prettioc John Trubies
Peter Bredin
Samuel Eberman
John Wilson
Phineas Wells
Alexander Blair
Isaac McHenry
Philip Clem
Elizabeth Shaver
Jonathan Smith
Richard Kittle
Hezekiah Rosecronts
Jacob Wolf
Solomon Ryan
Jacob Shaver
Joseph Donahue
Jonas Friend
Jacob Brinkle
Thomas Holder
Benjamin Hornbeck
Joseph Friend
George Reeding
Andrew Skidmore
James Bodkin
C. Westfall list of tithables for 1785 taken from Leading Creek down to the County line including or comprehending those betwen the East Side of the Valley River and Cheat Mountain.
Cornelius Westfall
Daniel Booth
George Westfall
John Westfall
Philip Washburn
Hannah Wire
Robert Maxwell
Samuel Cole
Wm. Haddix
William Westfall
Wm. Wilson
Wm. Clark
Aaron
Patrick Hamilton's list of tithables 1785 from Jacob Crouches up to the County Line :
George Allford
Margaret Bare
Joseph Crouch
John Alexander
Richard Elliott
Patrick Hamilton
Judy Crouch
Wm. Hamilton
John Hamilton
Robert Henderson
David Hadden
James Lecky, Jr.
John Hadden
Thomas Lecky
James McClain
James Lecky, Sr.
James Moor
Joseph Milton
Franceys McDonald
James Prathor
Jacob Riffel
Charles Nillson
Daniel Simerman
George Shavers
Elmer Riffel
John Warrick
George Willson
Christopher Truby
Peter Shavers
Benj. Abbot
John Allford
Population of Harrison County for the years given below.
1790
2080
1850.
11728
1800
4848
1860.
13790
1810
9958
1870.
16714
1820
10932
1880.
20181
1830.
14722
1890.
21919
1840
17669
1900
27690
John Pauly
Peter Casity
Nicholas Wolf
George Teter Jacob Shook
278
HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY
County Districts and Townships.
The constitution of 1852 required County officers to be elected by the people instead of being appointed as heretofore, which required a change in the method of choosing County officers and in other local matters.
The legislature by an act passed April 2, 1852, appointed Commis- sioners named in the Act and directed that they lay off their respective Counties into districts as nearly equal in territory and population as possible, and to number the same. They were also required to establish a place for holding elections in each district, not more than two such places in any district, and were required to make report of their action to the County Court which was to record the same.
Under this act Harrison County was divided into five (5) Districts and the following commissioners were appointed: Cyrus Vance, Luther Haymond, Samuel Hoff, Lemuel D. Shinn, William R. Bennett, Abia Minor, Byron J. Bassel, David C. Coplin, James McCalley and Phineas Randolph, as directed by the law.
The Legislature by an act passed July 31, 1863, appointed commis- sioners and directed that they divide their respective counties into town- ships, laid off as compactly as practicable with natural boundaries contain- ing as nearly as possible an equal number of population, but not less than four hundred to designate each township by name, and to make report of their action with maps to be filed with the Recorder of the County.
The Commissioners named in the Act for Harrison County were Luther Haymond, Selden M. Ogden, Sidney Haymond, John W. Boggess and Jacob Highland.
The commissioners laid off the County into ten Townships, which were named as follows: Elk after the creek that runs through it. Grant after General U. S. Grant. Union to signify the opposition to secession. Ten Mile after the creek that runs through it. Sardis after the town of that name. Eagle after the American Eagle. Clay after Henry Clay, the Kentucky statesman. Simpson after the creek of that name. Coal after the coal found in its boundaries. Clark after General George Rogers Clark, for whom Clarksburg was named.
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.