USA > West Virginia > Mineral County > Keyser > History of Keyser, West Virginia, 1737-1913 > Part 2
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Mrs. Cornelia Peake McDonald's sister, Mrs. Ellen Peake DeCamp visited at Wind Lea in the Summer of 1854, accompanied by her daughter, Sally DeCamp, born 1852. Mrs. McDonald tells the story as follows:
"One night while here, Mrs. DeCamp awoke and ran screaming out of the house and wringing her hands. When the family reached her, she cried out, "James (her husband) is dead. I saw him in my dreams."
Shortly thereafter she received news of her husband's sudden death at Governor's Island, New York. He was buried in Woodland Cemetery, on officer's row."
Mrs. McDonald supplies the background for better understanding of this incident thus:
"In 1849 Mrs. Ellen DeCamp's husband, James DeCamp, joined a party of gold seekers, traveling by wagon train to California. Among his companions were Edward Charles McDonald, (born July 26, 1803 - died January 15, 1862), a brother of Col. Angus William McDonald, Richard Holliday, nephew of Col. Angus William McDonald, and Robert Baldwin Sherrard, a McDonald relative of Winchester, Va."
"Ther families were left at home. Ellen DeCamp grew restless at the prolonged absence and lack of news from her husband. In spite of the objections of those at home and without definite knowledge of his whereabouts, she set out to join him. She took her son, Jack, and a daughter, Cornelia, and a young negro nurse with her. They traveled by water to the Isthmus of Panama, the family being carried across it on backs of coolies. Jack died and was buried at sea. Her life in California was one of hardship; dangerous, and privation which she bore with great courage and fortitude."
"Another daughter was born in San Francisco. Her husband's health was delicate and he required much of her care and attention. She returned home by sea, escorted by Major-Paymaster, later Brigadier General, Benjamin Alvord, U.S.A., , a friend of her father-in-law, Major-Surgeon E.G.I. DeCamp, U.S.A. They landed safely at Governor's Island, New York. She came at once by train to
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Wind Lea. Her husband soon afterward returned from the west coast to New York, where he died soon after arrival"
In 1857 the Angus McDonalds moved to Romney, then later to Winchester, Virginia. Winchester they lived in a brick mansion called "Hawthorne," on what is now Route 50 west.
"Col. McDonald joined the Confederate Army in 1861 and for a while was commander of the 77th Va. Regiment. Before long he was captured by the Union forces and underwent a long improsonment, from which he was released in the autumn of 1864 in a much debilitated condition. He died in Richmond, Virginia, December 1, 1864. His funeral was held at 4:00 p.m., December 3, 1864, in St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal Church, Richmond. President Jefferson Davis attended it.
Col. McDonald sold the "Stone House" in 1857 to Acquilla Brown McCarty, grandson of Edward McCarty, Jr., who with his son, Patrick, had built it in 1815. Acquilla, who was known as "Quill" McCarty, was quite a character, a hard working, hard swearing, hard drinking man. The custom of that day, before the Civil War, was to save all the day's dish water in a large crock, suds with all the grease (they used "home made" lye soap to wash the dishes) and at the end of the day thicken the solution with cornmeal and make large cornpones out of it, to feed the dogs. "Quill" came in about 9 o'clock one evening from plowing corn; being very hungry, he took a glass full of whiskey and then ate all of a large corn pone which was on the kitchen table. The pone was the dog's pone, made with the dish water and grease savings of the day. He ate it all and said he never slept better than that night.
Early in the Civil War, the Union army confiscated the "Stone House," using it as both hospital and prison. In 1870, "Quill" sold it to Amos Umstott, father of Miss Ida Umstott and Mrs. Joseph Arnold, whom many of Keyser residents will remember.
When Amos Umstott died, the "Old Stone House" was bought by George Leps. The Leps family lived there until about 1925-30.
Col. Angus William McDonald A Photograph in 1852
Mrs. Cornelia McDonald A Photograph about 1890
10.
CHAPTER 6
The Coming of the Railroad - New Creek Depot
With the coming of the railroad in 1852, the village began to develop rapidly on the western bank of New Creek.
James Mosley had died in 1849 and his farm was divided into three parts -
Part I was given to his widow, Mrs. Mary Mosley and her son, William Mosley. It comprised the "homestead" on Welch Street and the fields north of the railroad track as far west as the present Allegheny Street.
Part 2 - Elizabeth Mosley, a daughter, married to Cornelius Long, received Hominy Island and the western part of the farm from the present A Street to the E Street run.
Part 3 - Sarah Mosley, another daughter, married to her first cousin, Joseph McCarty, received the land from the present Center Street, south to Lincoln Street and west to Mineral Street.
In addition each of these plots of land was alloted a "wood lot" on what is now Fort Hill, site of Potomac State College.
Another Mosley heir, a son, George Washington Mosley, received a cash settlement.
A central section adjacent to the railroad was laid off into a "Station Lot." It contained several acres; its bounds were - beginning at the present North Water Street crossing of the B&O RR, south on Water Street to Center Street, west to Main Street, north to the Mineral Street crossing of the railroad, then along the railroad right of way to Water Street. This was the real nucleus of present- day Keyser.
There were only three dwellings on the Mosley farm at this time
(1) The original homestead on Welch Street
(2) Mrs. Cornelius Long's home on Hominy Island
(3) The home of Mrs. Mrs. Joseph McCarty on Center Street, where the Vernon Twigg property is now.
The Mosleys owned a number of negro slaves. Near the "homestead" were two trees about 6 feet apart, each having iron rings bolted into its trunk. This was where they flogged their slaves, tying the victim's arms to the iron rings.
One Mosley son, George Washington Mosley, took a cash settlement as his portion of the estate and engaged in many businesses here until his death in 1896. In 1852 he built the New Creek Hotel by the railroad station at the eastern end of Mozelle Street, facing the railroad. Part of the hotel is still extant at 208 Mozelle Street. It was built to accommodate passengers on the railroad and furnish an eating shop for the trains as there were no dining cars on the B&O at that time. Washington Mosley's wife, Susan (Myers) Mosley supervised the cooking.
For the first two years of the hotel's existence, it was rented to John W.C. Miers. The following item is of interest .-
"An election was held May 25, 1854, in District No. 1 Hampshire
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Co., Va., at the house of John W. C. Miers at Paddy Town."
"Samuel Arnold, Robert K. Sheetz, James Paris, John Wineow and Nimrod Alkire. Commissioners."
"Cornelius R. Long, Conductor."
John W. C. Miers was the grandfather of Miss Josephine Miers of Mozelle St.
John Grimes bought a large lot on the western side of Main Street, from Armstrong Street corner to where Jay's Shoe Store is now and extending through to what is now Davis Street, on which he built several small dwellings and a livery stable, all in the 1850's.
The First Methodist Church, organized in 1850, built a wooden church on a stone foundation at the corner of Welch and North Water Street where the Shaffer Electric Co. is now. The first members were -
Mrs. Mary (McCarty) Mosley, widow of James Mosley.
George Washington Mosley, her son
Mrs. Susan (Myers) Mosley, his wife
Aaron Singleton
Mrs. Mary Singleton, his wife
William E. Mytinger
The Methodists built a parsonage, still standing today at 106 East Piedmont Street.
The other pre-Civil War Church in Keyser was the Mt. Hope Presbyterian, organized in 1853, in the parlour of the Robert K. Sheetz mansion, now the home of Dr. From, and now known as the Radical Hill Mansion house. They built a church in 1855 at 152 Overton Place on land donated by Mrs. Sarah (Mosley) McCarty. A graveyard surrounded the church. About 25 years ago the graves were removed to provide a site for the Boy Scout Cabin. In a separate chapter a list of those once buried there will be given.
Col. James H. Dayton, son of the Rev. Roland Dayton of 21st Bridge, built a large home at the juncture of Main and East Piedmont Streets. This house was recently demolished to provide a site for the J. Paul Blundon home. It is to be noted that Colonel Dayton was a full U.S.A. colonel and later fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi in the Civil war.
Where Dr. Clem Montgomery now has his office and home, James I. Barrick had his two story home in the 1850s.
One of Col. Dayton's brothers had a home, still standing, on the river bank belo w the east end of Argyle Street.
The house on Halde Street, long the home of N. Creed Taylor, was built long before the Civil War.
Soon after Col. Angus W. McDonald moved away from Keyser, the name of the post office was changed on August 8, 1857, to New Creek Station, Virginia; Norman C. Smoot was post master.
In 1852, Col. William McCarty Armstrong, a nephew of Mrs. Mary (McCarty) Mosley, and son of William Armstrong, Senior and his wife, Elizabeth (McCarty) Armstrong, purchased much of the Mosley land at New Creek Station. The tract bought extended from Main to Street.
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He built a large brick mansion house where the Keyser High School is. It had extensive grounds around it. He also had a general store in a one story building facing the railroad at the rear of the present Army & Navy Store building, corner of Main and Armstrong Streets. Armstrong Street was named for him. His father had been sheriff of Hampshire County.
During this decade there was a water powered shoe factory at the southern end of Willow Avenue on New Creek. Several stores were built on Patrick Street and a livery stable on Water Street at Armstrong. Keyser was beginning to grow.
The compiler of this history had a great aunt who lived here at 119 Center Street, during the decade before the Civil War. She said the favorite place to pick huckleberries was at the corner of North Mineral and Piedmont Streets. Center Street was a dirt road, much like a country road with fences on each side. When she was about six years old, if she had been a "good girl," her mother would dress her up in her "good clothes" on Saturday afternoon and let her walk down the road to Aunt Sally McCarty's house (the present Vernon Twigg house site) and visit with Aunt Sally who would have tea and cookies for her. Aunt Sally had had four children, all of whom died of scarlet fever.
Twice yearly her mother would take her to Cumberland on the train to shop. The mother would have the children stand on the back porch to watch for the train. The view from Center Street to beyond what is now "Z Tower" was uninterrupted by any buildings. When the children saw the smoke of the engine, they and their mother would hurry across the vacant field to the passenger station.
This aunt also attended the Mt. Hope Presbyterian Sunday School on Overton Place, and remembered sitting, when she was a small child, on the knee of the young pastor to learn her catechism. He was from New York state and had red hair and boarded at the Armstrong mansion. His last name was Woodworth and later he went to Burlington, W.Va., where his descendants still reside.
Soon all this would be changed by the conflict of the Civil War.
F
Main Street, Looking North, KEYSER, WEST VIRGINIA Early 1920's
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CHAPTER 7 The Civil War Period
Col. Edward McCarty Armstrong was the largest land owner and most prominent business man at New Creek Station in 1858; he lived in the newly built mansion where Keyser High School now stands, and had the principal store. The post office was in his store.
His first wife, Hanna Pancake of Romney, died here in the mansion on August 3, 1854.
He was elected delegate from Hampshire County to the Virginia Convention held at Richmond, February 12, 1861, which was to consider Virginia's secession from the Union. Mr. Armstrong voted against the Ordinance of Secession; however, his first loyalty was to his state, he therefore wholeheatedly supported the Confederacy. He joined the Confederate army and went into eastern Virginia, leaving his father, William Armstrong, his second wife and his children at New Creek. His store was taken over by Col. James H. Dayton, who became postmaster here on April 28, 1862. Soon after this Col. Dayton joined the Union army.
New Creek was an important military base during the War. Its fort was built and occupied in 1861. It was important because it commanded roads leading to the South Branch and Shenandoah Valleys - to Romney, Petersburg, Moorefield, Franklin, and Winchester.
During the war, it was a training camp for Union soldiers from Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, thousands of whom trained here, but only 500 to 1,000 at any given time. A permanent garrison with cavalry was maintained to protect the railroad.
The principal fort was Fort Fuller, also called Fort Kelly, which occupied the site of the Administration building of Potomac State College. Hoover Hollow road was guarded by a swivel gun position, called Fort William, at the juncture of B Street and Fort Avenue. As a boy, the author played in its trenches.
Fort Piano was on top of the steep mountains just east of New Creek, back of Willow Avenue. There were cannons on Queens' Point.
In the Mount Hope Presbyterian church yard, above Cliff Street, on Overton Place, there were nine pound cannon to protect the New Creek road (now South Water Street).
During the War, Keyser's two churches - the Methodist and the Presbyterian were burned accidentally by careless soldiers.
The first local shooting engagement here was in June 1861, when a company of Confederate Infantry marching all night from Romney, came to Bull Neck Mountain at Lover's Leap here and burned the Twenty-first railroad bridge.
Later General Averell's great raid on Salem, Virginia, was launched from New Creek and after the raid returned here.
On November 28, 1864, a Confederate force under General Rosser, managed by wearing some stolen blue Union uniforms, to pentetrate Fort Fuller about 10:00 a.m. They withdrew about 4:00
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p.m. While there, they captured about 400 Union soldiers and also several private citizens, all of whom were taken to Libby Prison, Richmond. Among the citizens captured were Andrew Shillingburg, of Elk Garden, I.D. Caldwell, and Marshall M. Sayre.
The author's great aunt recounted to me how one Union soldier, to escape capture, hid in her mother's pig pen at the rear of 119 Center Street. Her mother, pretending to feed the hogs, took food to the soldier. He hid there until the confederates had withdrawn.
The only fatality was a Confederate soldier, who was killed at the corner of Main and Center Streets, where Minnich's Flower Shop is now. His body lay there three days in the open field until burial in the Armstrong Mansion yard, now the Keyser High School yard.
Mr. John Hughes came to Keyser in 1861 and had a general store here. In his biography published in 1893 it states, "He (Mr. Hughes) came to Keyser in 1861 and had a mercantile establishment at this place. He carried on a very extensive business up to 1864, doing a cash business of about $500.000 daily, but in November of that year a raid was made on the town and the troops (confederates) robbed his store of about $15,000 worth of goods. Mr. Hughes saved about $20,000.00 in cash, which he had on hand, about $10,000.00 of which was desposited with him. He made his escape across the Potomac into Maryland, hid this money there, and while on his return, came very near being made a prisoner of war."
Mr. Hughes was the father of Mrs. Nettie Hughes Carrier, and an uncle of Charles Siever, Sr.
The official report on the losses of the Union Army resulting from this raid are as follows:
"Army supplies captured at New Creek, W.Va. by Gen. Thomas LaFayette Rosser (Confederate Army) in the raid of November 28, 1864 -
Clothing, Camp and Garrison Equipment. 100 axes
225 hats
750 Great Coats (Cavalry & Infantry)
160 dress coats
300 caps (kepis)
1200 trousers (cavalry)
1400 uniform jackets
400 blouses (coats) 500 trousers (infantry) 1500 flannel shirts
1500 pairs of drawers
500 pairs of boots
250 knapp sacks
300 woolen blankets
300 canteens
250 rubber blankets
100 spades
250 haversacks 100 shovels
100 camp kettles
50 hatchets
100 mess pans
23 guidons
4 camp colors
500 shelter tents
4 wall tents
54 Sibley tent stoves
350 pick axes & handles
8 hospital tents
150 Company & Regimental Books
Approximate Value: $34,000.00 Means of Transportation
76 single sets of horse and mule harnesses (worn)
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2000 pairs of stockings
4 four horse wagons
21 two horse wagons
3 ambulances
39 mules
118 horses, all serviceable
169 horses, unfit for service and a large portion of same worthless.
Approximate value $30,000.00
Forage
25 tons of hay
1600 bushels of grain. Value not over $3,000.00
Buildings
Most of the buildings were burned; they had been erected by Capt. M.D.W. Loomis, Asst. Quarter Master under direction of Major General Fremont in the spring of 1862.
Approximate cost $33,000.00
Total losses in stores -
Quarter Master's stores - $72,000.00
Commissary stores - 18,382.00
Government buildings - 33,000.00
Total - $123,382.00
A diary kept by a local post office employee, William S. Purgitt, describes the town when news of Lee's surrender was confirmed.
"Monday, April 10th - 1865, cloudy. News confirmed of surrender of Lee and his army. Great rejoicing in this place. All drunk and a number of speeches delivered by - Majors Work, Troxal and others."
"April 11, 1865, New Creek, cloudy and warm. Dull. All stupid. Day passed very quietly. Rain at night."
One of the commanders at Fort Fuller was General Lew Wallace, who later wrote the book, "Ben Hur." Major Benjamin Harrison, later the President of the United States, was a commander here.
The Ringgold Cavalry from south western Pennsylvania were stationed here for most of the War. Col. Mulligan's Chicago Irish Volunteer Regiment from Illinois camped here on St. Cloud Street from Orchard to Gilmore Streets for quite some time.
Some residents went into the Confederate Army. One of whom, Capt. Robert Sheetz, C.S.A., was killed in battle.He is buried at Eusebia Presbyterian Church, Route 46, and was the brother of Miss Sue and Miss Maggie Sheetz, both of whom taught school here for many years.
Keyser held a memorial funeral service for President A. Lincoln as follows:
"April 19, 1865. At the camp of the 22nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Calvary at New Creek, West Virginia (Present city of Keyser, W.Va.)
"On the 19th, while the funeral exercises were being held in Washington over the murdered President, in accordance with an order from the General-in-Chief, an artillery salute was fired from
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the fort, and the troops formed at their various camps to hold funeral services. Our regiment marched out without arms and formed on three sides of a square, while the field officers, the speakers, the band and quite a concourse of citizens occupied the other side. Lieutenant Welch of Company C, made an eloquent and touching address in eulogy of the lamented President. He was followed by Chaplain Patterson. The men retained their places in silence, giving most respectful attention. The band played appropriate music and the exercises closed. Business was suspended and flags draped and hung at half mast."
Farrar, Samuel C., The Twenty-Second Pennsylvania Cavalry, and the Ringgold Battalion, 1861-1865. (The New Werner Company, Akron, O., and Pittsburgh, 1911), pg. 461.
1865 April 19 (At New Creek, W.Va.)
(Wed.)
"This morning I shut myself up and bend every effort of my mind to prepare an address for 12 M. today. I never labored harder, and İ have the consciousness of having succeeded beyond my expectations
Never was a task so difficult. Yet when a man wills to do anything he can do it - if at all within the field of possibilities.
The theme was too awful for any youthful mind to handle,-Death of Lincoln."
From the Civil War diaries of Robert Caldwell Welch, Lieutenant, Co. C, 22d Pa. Volunteer Cavalry (In the possession of his grandson, James P. Welch, Hampton, Virginia)
Lt. Welch was then 25 years and 8 months old.
"April 19, 1865, Wednesday, New Creek, clear and nice, President Abe Lincoln's funeral today. Solemnity prevails. News generally good. Beautiful day. Stores closed. Post office also closed."
From diary of Wm. S. Purgitt, unpublished, in possesion of Mrs. Marietta Miller Welch, Keyser, W.Va.
The Keyser Vigilant Reel & Hose Company, circa 1910
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West for F
Brand
HIGH ROCK MT.
50
Longs IstES
Queen Point
A
NEW CREEK
N
BuHl Neck
Paddytown
MANO
"Bad Artill.
Sam! Arnold
GREEK MOUNTAIN
Summe
KNO
Cresap's Mill!
Cavalry
e k
stone
Jacob Knabenshus
Gap
Map of Keyser, W.Va., and vicinity, drawn by John R. Meigs, Lieut. U.S. Engineers in Aug. 1863, from "War of the Rebellion Atlas," Library of Congress.
Where the name Sam'l Arnold occurs is where Bogg's Lumber Supply Store is now;
Cresap's Mill is now the site of "Swede" Wells' home, below and to the left of Cresap's Mill, the cluster of white dots is the first drawn bridge (the Blue Jay).
The cluster of nine white dots above and to the right of the name Sam'l Arnold is a camp of Union soldiers at what is now the southern end of Keyser.
18
,
NTA 1
FORT FULLER
Valley
DE Neal'a G&P
Road
This photo was taken by George W. Parsons in May 1865. The foreground camp is of the 22nd Penna. Cavelry (Ringgolds)
The first row of tents in the foreground (actually the back of the camp), from the left of the picture belonged to Co. M; the 2nd row Companies L and K; the 3rd row Companies I and H; the 4th row Companies G and F and the last row Companies E and D.
The officer's quarters were on the further side of the long street (Mozelle St.)
The large, square brick mansion house with cupola in the center of picture was the home of Edw. M. Armstrong, whose store was in the building facing the railroad at ohe crossing of the railroad at what is now Main St. (rear of present Coffman Fisher Bldg.).
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CHAPTER 8 The Post War Period
At the close of the Civil War, New Creek Station, being on the main line of the B&O RR, became the "railhead" for the commercial interests of a large territory - the rail supply and shipping point for Grant, Hardy, Pendleton, and much of Hampshire Counties.
During the war, two residents were delegates to the Wheeling Conventions which began the processes which resulted in the formation of the State of West Virginia. They were James I. Barrick and James Trout, who was the delegate to the second Wheeling Convention.
This part of Hampshire County was predominantly Union in sentiment. The first session of the West Virginia legislature moved the county seat from Romney to Piedmont for the duration of the War.
In 1865 there was much agitation for separating this part of the county from Hampshire and the formation of a new county, which was done in February of 1866. The new county was named Mineral, from its weath of mineral deposits ..
There was much dissention as to whether Piedmont or Keyser was to be the county seat.
In 1865, Col. Edward McCarty Armstrong returned to Keyser and sold his land and home here to the Davis brothers of Piedmont; these were Henry Gassaway Davis, William Davis and Col. Thomas B. Davis. This land extended from Main to A Street, taking in much of Fort Hill.
They were interested in developing their real estate here and used their influence, which was considerable, in New Creek being made the county seat. They had a surveyor lay off 600 lots which they sold for an average of more than $300.00 each and realized about $200,000.00 on their sale.
As an inducement to have the courthouse here, they donated to the county court, one acre of ground "just west of the old Union Army blacksmith shop," Armstrong Street (now Harman's Store site) as a site for same. The county court met in an abandoned Union Army Hospital building on the river bank back of Argyle Street and gladly accepted.
The first grand jury met in the same abandoned Hospital building. The record reads:
"At a court held at New Creek in the most easterly Army Hospital building at said place, April 16, 1866, present - Judge E. C. Bunker,
The Grand Jury present -
James Carskadon, foreman
John Arnold Carlton Jones Frederick Nethkin
Lambert Ellifritz John Blackiston Fielding A. Barnhouse
Sanford Thrush John Blue John J Rotruck
George W. Leatherman
William Ferrebee Henry Paxton Henry Head
Abraham Stickley Edmund Duling
John Baily Joseph Workman Josup Baker
with Thomas P. Adams, Deputy Clerk."
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New Creek was surveyed by Thomas P. Adams and later by Saint Cloud Ambrose, for whom St. Cloud Street is named.
Col. Thomas B. Davis made Keyser his home and lived in the Armstrong mansion until his death in 1911. He was the son of Caleb and Louisa (Brown) Davis of Baltimore. e and his brothers were early developers of Piedmont. The colonel was a banker, coal and lumber magnate, railroad developer, race horse owner and millionaire. At his death, his estate was appraised at over four million dollars.
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