USA > West Virginia > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, West Virginia : from the early days of Northwestern Virginia to the present > Part 37
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On the 4th. day of June the following delegates were selected to the Convention to meet at Wheeling on June 11th. by Harrison County, John J. Davis and John C. Vance members elect to the legislature, John S. Carlile, Solomon S. Fleming, Lot Bowen and Benjamin F. Shuttle- worth.
The convention met on the 11th. and on the 19th. of June passed an ordinance reorganizing the State government of Virginia in the inter- est of the Union, and on the 20th. elected Francis H. Pierpoint Governor, Daniel Polsley Lieutenant Governor and other State officers and ad- journed to meet on the 6th of August.
The members of the Legislature of the Western Counties of Virginia who had been elected to meet in Richmond, assembled in Wheeling July 1st. and proceeded regularly to transact business. On the 29th. they elected Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlile United States Senators who were admitted to their seats, thus recognizing the re-organized gov- ernment.
The convention reassembled on August the 6th. and on the 20th. passed an ordinance dividing the State, and directed that it be submitted to the people at an election to be held on the fourth Thursday in Octo- ber.
The election held in October 1861 to take the sense of the people on the question of creating a new state resulted favorably by a vote of 18,408 for and 781 against, delegates to a constitutional convention being elected at the same time.
The constitution having been approved by the people, the President
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in accordance with the act of Congress issued his proclamation admitting the State of West Virginia into the Union of State on the 20th. day of June, 1863.
As directed by the constitutional convention an election had been held in May 1863 for Governor, State officers and members of the Legis- lature so the new state took its place in the nation with all the machin- ery of government fully organized.
Thus were the long cherished hopes of the people at last realized and although accomplished in the midst of the confusion incident to civil war, yet they had proceeded under well established precedents and based upon the will of the people.
The years that have elapsed since that exciting period of her history has shown the wisdom of the course pursued, and from a comparative wilderness the mountain State has blossomed into a hive of industrial and agricultural prosperity and the future gives every promise, that, owing to her geographical position and natural resources, she will take a prominent position among her sister states in commercial and manufac- turing importance.
"Child of the storm
Born midst the throes of war."
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Incorporated Towns.
Settlement of Parkersburg.
The commissioners for adjusting the claims to unpatented lands on the western waters for the County of Monongalia in the year 1781 issued a certificate to Robert Thornton for 400 acres of land on the North Side of the Little "Kanaway River" to include his settlement made in 1773 with a preemption of 1000 acres adjoining. This entry included the land on which Parkersburg now stands.
Thornton sold his land to Alexander Parker for whom the City of Parkersburg was named.
Captain James Neal in the year 1785 came down the Ohio River in a flat boat from Pittsburg and located his homestead on the South side of the Little Kanawha River about one and a half miles from its mouth.
Here he built a block house which was the rendezvous of the settlers along the Ohio River during the Indian troubles and "Neals Station as it was called was a celebrated locality on the frontier, and nobly did its part in aiding the pioneers to sustain themselves in a savage wilder- ness against the raids of the Indians from North of the Ohio.
Captain James Neal was one of the early justices of Harrison County, was prominent in public affairs and had the entire confidence of the fron- tier. His descendants are still living in Parkersburg.
PARKERSBURG, W. VA., November 25, 1893.
Henry Haymond, Esq.,
SIR :- After sending my letter of yesterday I discovered an omission to answer your inquiry as to the origin of our City. You are aware I presume that the land of North Western Virginia was obtained by pur- chase of Treasury Warrant costing two cents per acre.
"Before that system was adopted many persons got title by toma- hawk marks around the land they desired, which was the case with the land upon which our town was built.
A man by the name of Thornton made an entry of that kind and sold his claim to a man by the name of Parker a resident of Chambersburg, Penna. for an old horse and one gallon of whiskey.
He, Parker, gave it to a daughter. She married a man in Pittsburg,
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Pa. by the name of Robinson, who had it surveyed into lots and some time after sold to a company of our citizens for the sum of $8,000.00 from which at small prices they realized quite a fortune. I purchased from the original owner 5 acres in the center of the town, then in a forest for which I paid $400.00, from which I realized $50,000 with a portion yet remaining. I state this to show you the great advance in the price of ground since I made the purchase.
Truly yours, D. R. NEAL."
Salem.
During the Indian troubles troops were frequently located at the present site of Salem to watch the trails leading from the Ohio River to the settlements on the West Fork River.
A war trail led up Middle Island Creek and up Long Run, and this was considered an important station to observe the movements of the Indians in their raids on the frontier.
Reminiscences of Salem in Pioneer Days by Isaac Fitz Randolph.
The first settlement of what is now Salem, Harrison County, West Virginia, was made before there was peace with the Indians.
A colony of about forty families came from Salem, New Jersey. These families consisted of Lippincotts, Maxsons, Babcocks, Plumers, Randolphs and Davises. William seemed to be a very common name among them, but it was always Billy, such for instance as Bottom Billy, Greenbrier Billey and Jarsey Billy of the old settlers. In the next gen- eration there were Flint Billy, Buckeye Billy, Rockrun Billy and Little Billy. All of these I have seen and was personally acquainted with the most of them.
The first thing these early settlers did was to build a block house for protection against the Indians. This was built on the high plat of ground between the turnpike and railroad, as they now are, East of the crossing toward Greenbrier. A town was laid out and called New Salem after the place from which they came. Each family built a cabin in the town around the block house, and took up a farm in the surround- ing valleys, some of which were several miles away. The next thing they did was to clear a piece of land for a crop. They went in Companies to do their work. Some stood with guns in hand watching for Indians while others cleared the ground, planted and tended the crops.
They built a two story log church, with a gallery and a high box pulpit. A chimney was built in the middle with a fire place on each side, and the men and women sat apart, one sex in each end of the house. Later the chimney was torn down and a stove put in. The church stood where the S. D. Baptist church now is. They at first had logs for seats, and when they went to church the men took their guns and some stood to guard the worshippers from the Indians.
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When the crops were raised they had no mills to grind their grain, but they made hand mills which answered for a time. My father's hand mill was sold at the sale after his death in 1843. After several years Bottom Billy Davis built a horse mill down on what is now known as the Hornor farm. This mill was a great labor saving convenience.
After peace was arranged with the Indians, my father, no longer needed as a spy, arranged to settle down to peaceful home life, and built a two story hewed log house on the east bank of Jacob's Run just south of the Alley that now leads to the Baptist church. When his house was built he married Mary, the daughter of Greenbrier Billy Davis, and took her to his new home. He lived there all the rest of his life and raised nine children, six sons and three daughters, of which I was the youngest and alone still live to tell the story. As the family grew large, another house was built back of the first. In this several of the children including myself, lived the first years of their married life. A little later I built the large log house in which Ralph Young lived until it burned three or four years ago.
Wild game, such as deer, bear, turkey etc., was very plenty in those early days. Bears were so numerous and so fond of pork, that hogs could not be raised. The bears would go into the pens and kill them. But the people retaliated and took bear meat in the place of pork.
My father and two other neighbors, being good hunters and having good dogs, made it a practice for a number of years to kill each fall sixty bears, twenty to a family. When the game became scarce around Salem the hunters would camp out some distance from home. The hides of their game were dried, made into large rolls and carried on horse back over East of the mountains and there traded for salt, potmetal, tinware, etc.
The people were healthy then living as they did on corn bread and bear meat, with rye coffee and sassafras and dittany tea.
The old ladies were mainly their doctors using native herbs and other natural remedies. The orthodox remedy for the measles was what they called "sheepnanny tea," which they said soon brought out the measles, and in a few days the patient was allright. The sick were not killed with ice and strong poisonous drugs as so many are nowadays by the M. D.'s of the school.
Times have changed. My father never wore a shoe until he was twelve years old. He would slide on the ice barefooted, but now a baby two months old is out of fashion if seen with bare feet.
The young had but little education. My father felt this so keenly that after his first children were large enough to go to school and there was an opportunity to send them, he attended with them. He learned rapidly, became a good reader, wrote a plain neat hand and was good at figures.
We made our own sugar. We had an arch with four kettles in which the sap-we called it sugar water-was boiled. I remember one year we tapped a part of the sugar trees Sixthday the 7th. of March, and gath- ered the sugar water that day. The next day, being Sabbath, we gathered no water until after sundown. I boiled the water until two o'clock in
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the morning. This I did for two weeks every night except on Sabbath eve. In two weeks we made 525 pounds of sugar, some molasses and a barrel of beer. Some may not know how the beer was made. We would boil three barrels of sugar water into one. In one kettle we put sassafras, burdock root and spice brush; into another a gallon of scorched meat. All was then put in a barrel and a gallon of yeast put into it. In twenty- four hours we would have beer that was delicious and healthy, not like the tanglefoot beer that they have now, which sets men so crazy that they get into the lock up, or go home and beat their wives and children.
People dress very different now from what they did when I was a little fellow. Then the men wore leather pants, a blue hunting shirt with a belt around the waist and a large cape on the shoulders, all nicely trimmed with fringe.
The little boys and girls wore nothing in the week days in summer but a tow and linen shirt that came down a little below the knees. On Sabbath the boys had a home made linen shirt, tow and linen pants, a calico jacket, a pair of moccasins and a coon skin cap. Then we were dressed for church. Things are different now. Then it took only eight yards of calico to make a lady's dress, and it was easily made in one day at home without a sewing machine. Now it takes twelve to fourteen yards of goods, a dressmaker about a week and several dollars to pay for it.
The forests are cleared away; the game and the Indians have disap- peared. The old time friends have gone too. Few indeed remain to tell the story of ancient hardships, and these also will soon be silenced.
Before I go I am glad to remind the present generation surrounded with all the comforts and advantages of modern life, of the obligations it is under to the sterling men and women of long ago."
An Act chartering the town of New Salem, passed December 19, 1794 is as follows :
Be it enacted by the General Assembly: That the lots and streets as already laid off on the lands of Samuel Fitz Randolph in the County of Harrison, shall be and hereby are established a town by the name of New Salem, and John Patterson, John Davis, Samuel Lippincott, James Davis, Zebulon Maxson, Benjamin Thorp, Thomas Clayton, William Davis, Jacob Davis, George Jackson and John Haymond, Gentlemen, constitute and are appointed trustees thereof.
Afterwards the town was regularly incorporated under the laws of the State, and on February 25, 1905, the Legislature passed an act entitled :
"An Act to amend and re-enact and reduce into one act the several acts, provisions, orders and decrees incorporating the town of Salem, in the County of Harrison and State of West Virginia, defining the powers thereof, and describing the limits of said town, and incorporating the city of Salem in said Harrison County."
The corporate limits of the town is described as covering about 800 acres and is divided into three wards. This charter is still in force (1909).
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Bridgeport.
Joseph Davisson, it is claimed, first settled upon the land on which Bridgeport now stands.
The exact date of his building his cabin is not known, as the entry omits the date. The certificate from the Commissioners of unpatented lands, which was issued to him at Clarksburg in 1781, states that as the assignee of Benjamin Coplin, he is entitled to 400 acres in Monon- galia County, on Simpson's Creek, adjoining lands of James Anderson, with a preemption of 1000 acres of land adjoining thereto.
As James Anderson, Andrew Davisson, John Wilkinson and John Powers all took up lands immediately surrounding Bridgeport during the years 1771 to 1774, it is presumed that Joseph Davisson joined the settlement about that time.
Mr. Benjamin Stout the oldest resident near Bridgeport says that Joseph Davisson was one of the first settlers near Bridgeport, and owned what was known as the Coplin farm, and the town was located on his land.
Among the early residents of the town he recalls Governor Joseph Johnson, Jedediah Goff, Charles Houser, Polly Anderson, William Black, Dr. David Davisson, Isaac Tyson and John Carpenter, Post Master.
The Circuit Court in an order entered March 21, 1887, sets forth that Jasper N. Wilkinson, Thomas H. Kenney and J. B. Martin, who reside in Bridgeport, have caused an accurate map and survey to be made of the territory in Harrison County to be incorporated as the town of Bridgeport, and it appearing that at an election held at the office of D. D. Wilkinson on the 28th. of February, 1887, a majority of the qualified voters within said territory voted in favor of such incorporation, and that all the provisions of Chapter 47 of the Code of West Virginia have been complied with, the said town is duly incorporated under said chap- ter.
Thomas H. Kinney, David D. Wilkinson and C. W. Johnson were appointed commissioners to hold the first election for officers of said town.
The act originally establishing the town of Bridgeport was passed January 15, 1816, provided :
That fifteen acres of land the property of Joseph Johnson at Simp- son's Creek bridge in Harrison County as soon as the same be laid off into lots with convenient streets, be established a town by the name of Bridgeport and that Benjamin Coplin, Mathias Winters, Peter Link, John Davisson, David Coplin, Jedediah Waldo and Joseph Johnson be and they are hereby appointed trustees thereof.
Shinnston.
The land upon which Shinnston now stands was first occupied by members of the Shinn family, who were Quakers from New Jersey.
The pioneer was Levy Shinn, who acording to the land records
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located 400 acres on the West Fork River adjoining lands of John Wood to include his settlement made in the year 1773 with a preemption right to 1000 acres adjoining.
Levy it appears did not remove his family to his homestead for a year or two after making his location.
Shortly after doing so he was joined by several members of his family including two brothers, Clement and Jonathan. There is a family tradition that Levy's lands lay West and South of Shinn's Run.
Jonathan's extended from the mouth of this run, down the river to the South and East, covering the present site of Shinnston, and that Clement's holdings lay South of Jonathan's on a stream called Middle Creek.
Jonathan willed the land covering the present site of Shinnston to his son Levy, who built the first house in 1802, which is still, 1909, standing.
The first child born in the new settlement was Asa Shinn. The Act of the Legislature establishing the town of Shinnston passed January 22, 1818, enacted.
That the lots and streets as already laid off on the lands of Asa and Levi Shinn on the West Fork of the Monongahela river in the County of Harrison, be established a town by the name of Shinnston, and that John Righter, Davis Wamsley, Samuel Shinn, John D. Lucas, Benjamin Wood, Joseph Wilson and Jeremiah Roby, Gentlemen, be and they are hereby appointed trustees thereof.
By an act passed May 26, 1852, Shinnston was incorporated, and the voters were authorized to elect seven trustees with the usual powers of such officers.
The Act was not to take effect until ratified by a majority of the voters of the town, and was to include the town "as the same has here- tofore been laid off into lots, streets and alleys."
During the war this charter was allowed to lapse and a new one was procured in 1877.
The Circuit Court on June 4, 1877, issued an order incorporating the town of Shinnston under chapter 47 of the code and appointed Albert Shinn, James Jackson and M. J. Ogden, commissioners to hold the first election for officers of said town.
The inhabitants of Shinnston and vicinity have always been noted for their sturdy independence of character and pronounced views of pub- lic questions. This is shown by their anti-slavery views at a time when to be an "abolitionist" was considered a reproach by a great majority of the people of Virginia.
In the Presidential election in 1860, Abraham Lincoln, who repre- sented the opposition to slavery, received twenty-two votes in the County, twenty of which were cast at Shinnston and two at Clarksburg.
In the stirring events following the election of Mr. Lincoln, a large meeting was held in Shinnston and by patriotic resolutions took strong ground in favor of the Union and against secession.
In the movement to divide the State they bore a prominent part and
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contributed much by their influence to its success in the County. The immediate neighborhood furnished about fifty soldiers to the Union Army.
Town of Miles End.
In 1809 John G. Jackson constructed a grist mill on Elk Creek at the mouth of Murphy's Run near the present village of Industrial, and added other factories until quite a town had sprung up.
"An Act of the Legislature passed February 12, 1814, set forth "That fifty acres of land at his factory on Elk Creek about one mile from Clarksburg, the property of John G. Jackson of the County of Har- rison, so soon as the same shall be laid off into lots with convenient streets, be established a town by the name of "Miles End" and that Stephen Dix, Isaac Coplin, John Sleeth, Thomas Synnet, William Gillas, Samuel E. Davisson and Oliver Phelps, Gentlemen, be and they be hereby appointed trustees thereof, &c."
It is not known how long the town had a legal status but for many years it was called the "Factory" after the various enterprises had been abandoned. The last surviving building of the town was torn down in July, 1907, to make way for a more pretentious dwelling, after standing for nearly a century.
The Legislature on the same date as the above act enacted, That it shall be lawful for John G. Jackson and he is hereby authorized and em- powered to erect and work cotton, woolen, carding and spinning machines, fulling and Oil Mills at his dam on Elk Creek in the County of Harri- son, which was heretofore established by the County Court for a water grist mill.
Besides the factories stated, Judge Jackson also established a furnace to smelt iron from ore and also a foundry at Miles End. The great scarcity of ore however caused this latter enterprise to fail. Many pits can still be found in the vicinity of Clarksburg made while digging for ore. He also built a dam two miles above on the creek, long known as the Hugil ford, and constructed a forge run by water power to work the iron smelted at his furnace.
It will thus be seen that Miles End was the scene of many enter- prises and great business activities, but not a vestige now remains of these except that the bed of the mill race can still be traced.
June 21, 1814.
John G. Jackson filed a petition in the County Court, setting forth that at the October Term, 1809, the Court had granted him the per- mission to erect a dam in Elk Creek at the mouth of Murphy's Run, five feet high, to work a water grist mill.
The dam has been built five feet high, a race has been dug a considerable distance, has constructed a large three story house 58 x 32 feet square, and has therein in operation two water wheels, whereby are driven a grist mill, oil mill, Fulling Mill, Carding machine and turning machine. That
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he is now preparing and procuring other carding machines, spinning machinery to go by water, and divers other valuable machinery calcu- lated to be of public utility, and that he is for that purpose constructing two other large water wheels and intends to increase their number pro- vided he can obtain the necessary privileges.
That the Legislature by two acts passed at their last session to en- courage the objects of your petitioner authorized him to drive the ma- chinery by water above mentioned, exclusive of the grist mill, although the establishment was for that sole object originally, and to lay out a town at his factory.
But your petitioner finds that the head of five feet in his dam is insufficient to supply water and give the force requisite to drive his various machinery.
Asks for permission to raise his dam eighteen inches higher.
The Mill pond passes through the land owned by David Davisson, John Hite, James Nutter and Stephen Dicks.
Judge Jackson at one time contemplated bringing the waters of the Buckhannon River down Elk Creek in order to increase the water power.
West Milford.
The land upon which West Millford now stands was conveyed in 1807 to Jesse Lowther by George Bush, the tract containing 130 acres.
In 1817 Jesse Lowther conveyed two acres along the river to Samuel Clemens and Jacob Romine, on which was erected a mill long known as Clemens Mill, and near it the little village gradually clustered.
An Act establishing the town of Millford was passed January 15, 1821, and provided,
That ten acres of land on the West Fork river the property of Jesse Lowther in the County of Harrison as the same is already laid off into lots and convenient streets, shall be established a town by the name of Millford, and that Robert Lowther, Jacob Coplin and Robert Maxwell, Gentlemen, be and they are hereby appointed trustees thereof.
The name of the town was afterwards changed to West Millford owing to there being another town of the name of Millford in Vir- ginia.
On January 22, 1885, the Circuit Court of Harrison County entered an order incorporating the town under the laws of the State by the name of West Millford, partially as follows:
"A certificate under oath of Rufus Holden, James A. Clark and Richard W. Stonestreet was this day filed showing that a majority of all the qualified voters residing in the described boundaries, containing 160 acres, have been given in due form of law in favor of the incorpor- ation of the town of West Milford in the County of Harrison, bound as herein set forth."
The order proceeded to authorize the town within the limits set forth to be duly incorporated and to exercise all the corporate powers conferred by the existing laws of the State. And Oliver Johnson, C. W.
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Helmick and Charles E. Stonestreet were appointed commissioners of election at the first election to be held in said town of West Millford, af- ter the certificate of incorporation shall be issued by the Clerk of the said Court.
The town is now, 1909, still acting under this incorporation.
Lumberport.
It appears from an order of the Circuit Court of Harrison County entered on the 18th. day of September 1901 on the chancery side thereof that a certificate under oath of G. D. Griffin, E. D. McCarty and J. W. Wadsworth was filed that day showing that a majority of all the qualified voters residing in a described boundary have been given in due form of law in favor of the incorporation of the town of Lumberport in the County of Harrison, the said town is incorporated under the provisions of Chapter 47 of the Code of West Virginia.
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