USA > West Virginia > Monongalia County > History of Monongalia County, West Virginia, from its first settlements to the present time; with numerous biographical and family sketches > Part 33
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 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57
The New Dominion, the Democratic paper of the county, was established April 11, 1876, by William L. Jacobs and Julian E. Fleming. It was first issued as a quarto, 26x40, forty columns, at $2 a year. In October, 1876, Mr. Fleming became sole proprietor, and changed the form of the paper, April 1, 1877, to a folio, 24x36, with twenty-eight columns, and reduced the price to $1.50. At Kansas City, in 1875, Messrs. Jacobs and Fleming discussed the projection of a Democratic paper at Morgantown; and, in faith of a great future for West Virginia, selected as the name of their pa- per the title of "New Dominion," reasoning as Virginia was the "Old Dominion," why should not West Virginia become the New Dominion. Julian E. Fleming was born in Mor-
439
JOURNALISTIC HISTORY.
gantown; attended the West Virginia University, and en- gaged in 1874 in publishing the Bulletin, and in 1876 em- barked in publishing the New Dominion.
In 1876, the Dominion (in size 13×20 inches, four pages and twenty columns) was issued daily during commence- ment-week. In 1880, it became the University Daily, 24x36, four pages, twenty-eight columns, and since has been issued under the editorial charge of the students.
The West Virginia Journal of Education was started by the Rev. J. R. Thompson. Size, 24x36, four pages, twenty- four broad columns; price $1.50 per year. (See sketch of Mr. Thompson, ante.)
Wooden presses (Mahogany) were used until 1852, when the first iron press was brought into the county. The first papers were published on the "trust" system-so much if paid in advance, or so much if not paid till the end of the year ; and they generally died by having too many "trust" subscribers. Beginning with Enos D. Morgan, a great im- provement in the papers of the county is apparent. In 1864, the " cash " system was adopted, which gave new life to the papers and the means to make the local news full and complete. The local correspondence was generally of a political character until in 1867, when The Post began, to establish a corps of regular local correspondents in the dif- ferent parts of the county.
The Rev. Simeon Siegfried talked of starting a daily paper in 1851, but the first daily was not issued until 1869, during the county fair, when an edition of the Post was issued for two days. The University Daily is issued during commenc- ment week each year.
The West Virginia Press Association held its annual meeting in 1880 at Morgantown, on the 9th of June. .
CHAPTER XXII.
RELIGIOUS AND TEMPERANCE HISTORY.
The First Church West of the Alleghany Mountain's in Virginia Organized in Monongalia County-The Baptists-Methodist Episcopal, with Extracts from Bishop Asbury's Journal ; and List of Preachers from 1784 to 1833 ; Presiding Elders from 1786 to 1813 ; Statistics-Presbyterian-Evangelical Lutheran-Prot- estant Episcopal-Methodist Protestant-Christian-Catholic -Church Statistics-Missionaries-Sunday Schools-Mononga- lia County Bible Society-Temperance Organizations-Whis- key License-Biographical Sketches.
"Religion holds the sceptre of the centuries. Other forces weaken, other issues die, other actors pass off the stage and are heard of no more; but religion remains forever."-Acting President D. B. Purinton's address to the University Graduating Class, June, 1882.
WITHIN the present limits of Monongalia County was or- ganized the first church west of the Alleghany Mountains in what is now West Virginia. The pioneer settlers of 1766 but preceded by nine years the advent of the pioneer preacher. Treating in the order of precedence the different denominations in the county, we come first to
THE BAPTISTS.
The Rev. John Corbly (whose family was afterwards murdered in Greene County, Penn., by Indians) organized the "Forks of Cheat " Baptist Church on the evening of November 5, 1775. The church consisted of twelve mem- bers, and was organized near Stewarttown. It was the first church in the county, and the first one organized west of the Alleghany Mountains in Virginia. Mr. Corbly and others were dismissed by letter in September, 1775, from
L
441
RELIGIOUS AND TEMPERANCE.
the Great Bethel Church at Uniontown, Penn., to form the Forks of Cheat Church. There are now nine regular Baptist churches in the county, namely, Forks of Cheat, Morgantown, Pleasant Hill, Goshen, Zoar, Blacksville, Miracle Run, West Warren, and Philadelphia. The first five are in the Goshen Baptist Association, (organized in 1871), and in 1882 had a membership of 574. The other four are all in the Judson Association, and contain a mem- bership of about 500. There is an Anti-Mission Baptist Church on Big Indian Creek, now numbering some twenty- five' or thirty members, and which was organized nearly one hundred years ago, by the name of Mount Tabor. It belongs to the Redstone Association.
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
There are traditional accounts of Methodist Episcopal ministers preaching as early as 1778 in the county, but the first authentic account we have of the denomination is in 1784, when John Cooper and Samuel Breeze were appointed ministers on the Redstone Circuit, which embraced all of the present county. It seems that in the following years preaching places had been established at Morgantown and at Col. Martin's (now Fort Martin Church in Cass District), for Bishop Asbury, in his Journal (vol. i, p. 497), says :
Sunday, July 10, 1785 .- "A long, dreary ride brought us to Mor- gantown. I preached, baptized and was much spent."
Thursday, 14th .- "I preached at Col. Martin's ; afterward I went on, in the night, and very unwell, to Seaton's."
Bishop Asbury made a second trip, of which he makes the following entry :
Saturday, June 17, 1786 .- "We had a heavy ride to Morgantown. I was to have been there at 4 o'clock, but, missing my way, I made it six" (page 513).
442
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
The Bishop made a third visit in 1788, of which he makes the following lengthy entry in his Journal :
Friday, July 11, 1788 .- " Arose at 4 o'clock and journeyed on through devious lonely wilds where no food might be found except what grew in the woods, or was carried with us. We met with two women who were going to see their friends, and to attend the quar- terly meeting at Clarksburg. Near midnight we stopped at A-'s, who hissed his dogs at us ; but the women were determined to get to quarterly meeting, so we went in. Our supper was tea. Broth- ers Phebus and Cook took to the woods. I lay along the floor on a few deer-skins with the fleas-that night our poor horses got no corn ; and the next morning they had to swim across the Mononga- hela. After a twenty miles' ride we came to Clarksburg, and man and beast were so outdone that it took us ten hours to accomplish it.' 1
Here after preaching he says,:
"We rode thirty miles to Father Haymond's (near Pricket's Fort in Marion County) after 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon, and made nearly eleven before we came in."
In speaking of some places where he stopped, he wrote:
"O ! how glad should I be of a plain clean plank to lie on, as pref- erable to most of the beds. This country will require much work to make it tolerable. The great landholders who are in- dustrious will soon show the effects of the aristocracy of wealth, by lording it over their poorer neighbors, and by securing to them- selves all the offices of profit or honor. On the one hand savage warfare teaches them to be cruel ; and on the other, the preaching of Antinomians poisons them with error in doctrine ; good moral- ists they are not, good Christians they can not be, unless they are better taught."
Tuesday, 15th .- "I had a lifeless, disorderly people to hear me at Morgantown, to whom I preached on 'I will hear what God the Lord will speak.' It is a matter of grief to behold the excesses, particularly in drinking, which abound here. I preached at a new chapel near Colonel Martin's, and felt much life, love and power."
443
RELIGIOUS AND TEMPERANCE.
Saturday, 24th .- "Attended quarterly meeting at Morgantown. On Sunday preached on Mathew xxv., 31 to end. Brother W. also gave us a sermon ; and a Presbyterian minister two; so we had it in abundance."
Under the Baltimore Conference Redstone Circuit was formed, embracing a large portion of Southwestern Penn- sylvania and Northwestern Virginia. Monongalia County was included in its limits, and, in 1784, John Cooper and Samuel Breeze were appointed ministers to travel this cir- cuit. They were succeeded, in 1785, by Peter Moriarty, John Fidler and Wilson Lee; 1786, John Smith, Robert Ayers and Stephen Deakins. In 1787, Joseph Cromwell was appointed Presiding Elder of a district composed of Clarksburg, Ohio and Redstone circuits. During the continuance of this district, the following ministers were appointed, in the years named, to
REDSTONE CIRCUIT :
1787-William Phoebus, John Wilson and E. Phelps. 1788-Jacob Lurton and Lashley Matthews.
1789-John Simmons and Nickolas Sebrell. 1790-Amos G. Thompson and Thomas Haymond. 1791-Daniel Fidler and James Coleman. 1793-Thomas Bell and Seely Bunn. 1794-5-Daniel Hitt and John Philips. 1796-C. Conaway, T. Haymond and J. Fell. 1897-James Smith and Solomon Harris. 1798-Jacob Colbert and Edward Wayman. 1799-James Paynter and Charles Burgoon. 1800-Rezin Cash and Isaac Robbins.
REDSTONE CIRCUIT, PITTSBURGH DISTRICT.
1801-Jesse Stoneman and Asa Shinn. 1802-Lashley Matthews and 1803-James Quinn and Thomas Budd.
444
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
REDSTONE CIRCUIT, MONONGAHELA DISTRICT.
1804-James Hunter and, Simon Gillespie. 1805-William Page and William Knox. 1806-James Hunter and Saul Henkle. 1807-William Page and Robert Bolton. 1808-John West and William G. Lowman. 1809-Thomas Daughaday and Joseph Lanston. 1810-T. Fleming and Tobias Reiley. 1811-Jacob Young and James Wilson. 1812-John Meek and Joshua Monroe. 1813-Simon Lank and Nathaniel B. Mills.
[It is said that the circuit was now changed in name-by one account, to Monongahela Circuit, and by another, to "Monongahela and Randolph" Circuit; but as neither gives the name of the district, it is likely it was not changed.]
1815-Robert Boyd and Asbury Pool.
1817-John Connally and Thomas Jamison. 1831-Thomas Jamison and William Hank. 1822-Thomas Beeks and Shadrick Cheney. 1823-Thomas Beeks and W. H. Chapman. 1824-John West and John Tolbert.
MONONGALIA CIRCUIT, PITTSBURGH CONFERENCE. 1825-S. R. Brockunier and 1826-William Hank and Richard Armstrong. 1827-S. Cheney and George McKaskey. 1828-S. Cheney and John Spencer. 1829 -Robert Boyd and - Brown. 1830-Robert Boyd and Edmund Sehon. 1831-2-John West and Andrew Coleman.
About this time Morgantown became a station, and the county was embraced in more than one circuit. These circuits will be traced in the District History. The Pittsburgh Conference embraced Monongalia County until 1848, when it was transferred to the West Virginia Con- ference, formed in that year.
445
RELIGIOUS AND TEMPERANCE.
PRESIDING ELDERS AND MEMBERS.
Year. Presiding Elder.
Members .* Year.
Presiding Elder
Members .*
1787 Joseph Cromwell
756 0 1803
Thornton Fleming
371 8
1788-9 Richard Whatcoat
290 0 1804
.....
...
1790 Charles Conway
334 6
1805
James Hunter
555
21
1791 Amos G. Thompson 321 6
1806
Thornton Fleming
531
17
1793
Charles Conway
325 9
1807
.6
66
622
22
1794.5
Daniel Hilt
315 5
1809
66
660
18
1797
Valentine Cook
313
6
1810
Jacob Gruber
527
17
1798 Daniel Hilt
328 6
1811
.6
620
32
1799 66
66
298
8
1812
847
33
1801
Thornton Fleming
355 7
1813
812
33
1802
306
9
1
STATISTICS FOR 1882.
CIRCUITS.
Value.
| Parsonages
Value.
Members.
| S. Schools.
Officers,
Teachers &
Scholars.
Paid Pastor
Morgantown Station.
$10,000
1
$1,500 232
1
194
$938
Morgantown Circuit.
5,000
409
5 330
416
Monongalia Circuit.
3,500|
316
7
444
371
Smithtown Circuit
5,000
300.336
4
328
310
Blacksville Circuit.
5,500
344
4
317
265
Jollytown Circuit
8,180
1
400
464
9
460
500
Arnettsville Circuit.
6
2,800
....
327
5
430
300
...
6 6 5 8 4 81999H | Churches.
.. 1 1: : -
.....
....:
..
...
NOTE .- The four last circuits are but partly in Monongalia County.
Four times has Morgantown been the place of holding the West Virginia Conference. In 1852, the fifth annual session, beginning on June 10th, was held at Morgantown, and presided over by Bishop Simpson, who was ordained a Bishop in that year. This was the first Conference over which this distinguished episcopant presided. Beginning March 14, 1860, the 13th session was held at Morgantown,
* The first column of figures gives the number of white members, and the second column the number of colored members.
278
7 1808
666
19
1796
446
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
by Bishop Scott; and at this place the 19th Conference, be- ginning March 21, 1866, sat, presided over by Bishop Clark. Bishop Simpson presided over the thirty-third session at Morgantown, which began October 1, 1879. It is said that the Pittsburgh Conference held its session at Morgantown, in 1822, beginning April 7th.
In 1821, a camp-meeting of this church was held, from August 31st to September 4th, just beyond the present lim- its of Durbannah. During its continuance a terrible storm arose. This meeting is-said to have effected great good in that early day.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
Col. William McCleery, who came to Monongalia between 1780 and 1783, was, most probably, the first Presbyterian upon the soil of the county. By the year 1788, a small band was gathered at Morgantown, to which the Rev. Joseph Patterson preached as a supply ; and it is supposed that the church was organized about 1790, by the Rev. Rob- ert Finley, while on his way from East Virginia to Kentucky. In 1806, the church had been decreased by death and emi- gration to four members-Col. William McCleery and three women. In 1830, Brown's Church was built at Stewart- town, to accommodate its following there. The present churches are, Morgantown and Sugar Grove. These churches were in the Redstone Presbytery, Pittsburgh Synod, until October 6, 1863, when they became part of the Presbytery of West Virginia, Wheeling Synod. When the Old School and New School united in 1870, the Synod of Wheeling was abolished, and the churches in Monongalia came into the Synod of Pennsylvania. In 1882, the church at Morgantown had eighty-four members, ninety Sunday-
447
RELIGIOUS AND TEMPERANCE.
school scholars, and contributed $1,258 for salary of pastor and other congregational purposes, and $128 for benevolent purposes. The church at Sugar Grove had forty-two mem- bers, paid $92 for salary of pastor, etc., and $17 for benevo- lent purposes.
The Presbytery of Redstone met in Morgantown on the 2d of October, 1838.
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH.
Michael Kern, who settled in 1772, was a member of this church. He built a church across Decker's Creek from Morgantown, for the use of all denominations; and, between , 1788 and 1799, the Rev. John Stough came from Mount Carmel (Preston County) and preached here. His members were Kern, the Swishers, the Nuses, the Clouses and the Smiths. The organization broke up after Stough's ministry, and we find no trace of it after 1804-5.
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH.
Among the earliest members of this denomination was John Rodgers. From 1819 there were services of this church held at Morgantown. We have account of Rev. Mr. Page, who preached here as early as 1822.
The first regular organization of which we have account is the Guy Allen Parish, Diocese of Virginia, which was organized by the Rev. H. S. Kepler, October 16, 1860, at the house of E. B. Swearingen, and included the county within its limits. The war came on and communication with Virginia ceased, until February 12, 1876, when Trinity Parish was organized at the house of Thomas Rodgers, composed of Morgan, Grant and Union districts, and was received into the Diocese of Virginia in May, 1876. The Rev. George A. Gibbons, Rector of Trinity Parish, now preaches at Morgantown and Smithtown.
448
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.
The first sermon preached in the county by a minister of this denomination was by the Rev. George Brown, on February 11, 1830, in Morgantown. During the spring of that year, the Rev. Corlenius Springer, assisted by the Rev. W. N. Marshall, organized the Morgantown Church; and, in the fall, they organized Zion Church. The county was in the Pittsburgh Conference, formed in 1834, until 1854, when it was included in the West Virginia Conference, organized in that year. Statistics for Monongalia County : Members, 912; local preachers, 4; church-houses 11; value $13,000. The present circuits (in the county and partly so) are Mor- gantown, Palatine, Monongalia and Avery.
CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
This denomination is often called the Disciple or Campbellite. The first church in Monongalia was organized by a minister named Garrison, about fifty years ago. Ten years later, the old Doll's Run Church was built. There are now five churches in the county, all on the west side of the Monongahela River, namely, Scott's Run, with 30 mem- bers; Doll's Run, 200 members; Mooresville, 60 members ; Antioch, 100 members, and Liming, with 50 members.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH.
On Sunday, January 13, 1822, a Catholic priest preached at Morgantown. Since that time several have held ser- vices in the county. There is a small organization of the church near Stewarttown.
Nearly half a century ago a Mormon preached once or twice in the court-house. He was so derisively received that he soon quitted the country, and neither he nor any of his brethren ever visited Monongalia afterward.
SAMUEL CALVIN STEWART. See Page 733.
449
RELIGIOUS AND TEMPERANCE.
STATISTICAL. [Compiled from the U. S. Census Reports.]
1850.
1860.
1870.
DENOMINATIONS.
3 wwas | Cb. edifices.
Value.
Sittings.
| Cb. edifices.
Value.
Sittings.
| Organizati'ns
| Ch. edifices.
Value.
Sittings.
Methodist
19 $13,008
7,800
29 $27.350
9,600
36
Not
5,750
Baptist
6
4,100
2,010
10
7,000
3,200
10
given
3,000
Presbyterian
1,700
1,200
4
4,000
1,650
2
in
400
*Christian.
1 000
1,300
3
1,000
900
J
detail.
500
Total.
31|$19,808
12,310
46|$39,350 15,350
49 39
$53,400 9,550
MISSIONARIES.
The first missionary from Monongalia to heathen lands was Mrs. Louisa Ann Lowrie. She was the daughter of the Hon. Thomas Wilson, of Morgantown, and was born November 2, 1809. In 1833, she married the Rev. John C. Lowrie, eldest son of the Hon. Walter Lowrie, Secretary of the Sen- ate of the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Lowrie embarked n May, 1833, at Philadelphia, as missionaries to India. Mrs. Lowrie but reached the chosen land of her labor to find a grave. Threatening symptoms of consumption at the time of her sailing developed rapidly during the voyage into that fatal disease, that ended her life in Calcutta on the evening of the 21st of November, 1833. She was laid to rest in the Scotch burial-ground at Calcutta. Thus ended the short but brilliant life of an eminent Christian and de- voted missionary. Her memory is well preserved in the memoir of her life by the Rev. A. G. Fairchild, D.D.
Miss Sallie H. Moreland (sister of Joseph Moreland, Esq.,) married the Rev. Stephen H. Hunter, M.D., in 1875.
·* The figures in this line for 1850 are the statistics of "Union " churches for that year. 29
...
...
...
1
...
450
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
They sailed for China about 1878, as missionaries under the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. They are at Che- nan Foo, where, some time back, the students of a Chinese institution tore down the Presbyterian station and howled around their house all night, threatening their lives.
The first missionary sermon preached in the county, of which any account can be found, was at Morgantown, by the Rev. Wm. J. Willey, June 20, 1822.
SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
The first schools in the county held on Sunday for the in- struction of children, seem to have been held in the old Men- ongalia Academy for a few years between 1814 and 1820. They were held to teach the slave children (which was con- trary to law). Frederick A. Dering, then a boy, was one of the first teachers; afterward Coleman Evans, Thomas G. Taylor and Mr. Dering taught a school for a short time. Mr. Dering's recollection is that the Rev. Richard Armstrong (who was at Morgantown in 1826) organized the first Sunday- school (union school) in 1826. In 1837, the Methodist Episcopal and the Presbyterian Sunday-schools were organized.
The Goshen Baptist Sunday-school Convention was or- ganized December 25, 1872, at Morgantown. Prof. D. B. Purinton was elected president, and was annually re-elected until 1875, when H. G. West was elected; 1877, J. C. Jor- dan; 1879, D. B. Purinton; 1881, James Pixley ; 1882, D. W. Rogers. The secretary is William I. Protzman.
MONONGALIA COUNTY BIBLE SOCIETY.
This Society, auxiliary to the American Bible Society, was organized about February 20, 1823, by the Rev. Richard D. Hall, a Protestant Episcopal minister. On February 20,
451
RELIGIOUS AND TEMPERANCE.
1823, an election for officers and managers was held, with the following result : President, the Rev. Joseph A. Shack- elford ; vice presidents, Thos. Wilson and Mathew Gay; treasurer, George McNeely ; secretaries, E. M. Wilson and John Rogers; managers, John Wagner, James Robinson, Joseph Allen, Benj. Dorsey, Thos. Hall, Joshua Hickman, Robert Robe, Jacob Pindall, Elias Bruen, Thomas P. Ray, Isaac Guseman, Jacob Boyers, Samuel Brand, Thos. Barnes, Caleb Dorsey, Wm. Fleming, Samuel Patterson, Wm. M. Dering, Zacquell Pairpoint [Pierpont] and Nathan Hall. On the 19th of June, 1830, this society reported that six hundred families in the county were destitute of Bibles. The society still exists and vigorously prosecutes its benefi- cent work.
A branch of the World's Evangelical Alliance was formed at Morgantown, July 15, 1870.
TEMPERANCE ORGANIZATIONS.
The Monongalia Temperance Society was organized by the Rev. A. G. Fairchild and the Rev. Norval Wilson, on April 20, 1830. On the first Monday in May the following officers and directors were elected: Mathew Gay, presi- dent; A. P. Wilson, vice president; Thomas P. Ray, sec- retary; and the Rev. J. A. Shackleford, William Fleming, Nathan Goff, Henry Lazier and Thomas P. Ray, directors. We have no further account of this society, unless it was continued as the Temperance society of which John Rodgers was president and E. C. Wilson secretary, and which met on the 4th of July, 1837, and formed itself into a county central society, to be known as the Morgantown Central Society. The county was divided into four dis- tricts, one central and three auxiliary, namely: First Dis-
452
HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
trict-Morgantown Central Society ; Second District- Pisgah Society, between Booth's and Prickett's creeks; Third District-Middletown Society; Fourth District- Gilboa Society, south of Indian Creek.
After this society, the next temperance organization was Monongalia Division, No. 84, Sons of Temperance, organ- ized in Masonic Hall at Morgantown, on Thursday evening, January 6, 1848, by Joshua Mathiot, G. W. P. of Ohio. The organizing members were L. S. Hough, S. Billings (chaplain), W. T. Willey, E. P. Fitch (treasurer), G. S. Ray (conductor), W. Carr (W. A.), H. E. Smith (R. S.), Guy R. C. Allen (W. P.), H. Dering (F. S.), J. E. Tucker (A. C.), H. Daugherty (I. S.), S. Merrifield (O. S.), and others.
In 1848-50, Granville Division, No. 194, and Willey Sec- tion, No. 37, Cadets of Temperance, were formed.
The Grand Division of Virginia held its third quarterly session, beginning on the 24th of May, 1850, in the court- house hall. On the 26th, there was a parade, with W. T. Willey chief marshal, and Col. James Evans and Capt. Michael Shisler assistant marshals. Four hundred and sixty-one persons marched in regalia. The music was furnished by the Morgantown and Waynesburg brass bands. The order has ceased to exist, at least in this part of the country .*
In 1850, a Total Abstinence Society was formed. The Rev. Simeon Siegfried was president, Daniel Haldeman, vice president, W. T. Willey, secretary, and William Dur- bin, treasurer. It was, in fact, a continuation of the Wash- ingtonians.
* The Sons of Temperance were nicknamed "Sonnies. " The Monongalia Mirror, in 1850, spoke of whiskey barrels as " blue-heads, " and called them " blue ruin" to pro- duce "red noses. " In another issue it spoke of " Prince Alcohol and his legion o f blue-heads. "
453
RELIGIOUS AND TEMPERANCE.
The last temperance organization was the Independent Order of Good Templars, which organized Redemption Lodge, No. 14, in Morgantown, in January, 1867. The lodge had nearly two hundred members during the few years of its existence.
In 1867, the vote of the county upon the question of granting license to sell intoxicating liquor, stood : for license, 847 : against, 285. At the present, the county court grants no license in the county.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
The Rev. ASHBEL GREEN FAIRCHILD, D.D., was born at Hanover, N. J., May 1, 1795; graduated at Princeton Col- lege in 1813 ; was licensed to preach in 1816 ; and, in 1817, commenced his labors in the Presbyterian Church in Mor- gantown, as a stated supply, one-third of his time. The re- mainder of his time was devoted to the church of George's Creek, and the Tent church, in Fayette County, Pennsylva- nia, until the year 1822, when he was installed as pastor of the church at Morgantown, and so continued until the year 1827, when he removed to Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and was installed as pastor of the George's Creek and Tent churches, and was acting as pastor of the last named church at the time of his death. He married, in New Jersey, Miss Eliza McDougall, May 12, 1820, who survived him, having died October 21, 1873. He was the author of the memoirs of "Mrs. Louisa A. Lowrie," "The Great Supper," of a work on Baptism, etc., etc. He was firm and decided in his religious convictions, and presented his views in the pulpit and elsewhere, on all proper occasions, in an eloquent, for- cible, and pursuasive manner ; and has many seals to his ministry, "who rise up and call him blessed." He was emi-
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.