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 4
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Usually, in the case of the erection or creation of any civil or political division of territory by law, the creating act declares its boundaries; but in the case of the District of West Augusta its boundaries were not defined until the passage of an act dissolving it into three new counties. This act was passed in October, 1776, by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is as follows :
AN ACT for ascertaining the boundary between the county of Augusta, and the District of West Augusta, and for dividing the said district into three distinct counties,
WHEREAS, it is expedient to ascertain the boundary between the the county of Augusta and the District of West Augusta, Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the boundary between the said district and county shall be as follows, to wit : Beginning on the Allegheny mountain between the heads of Potowmack, Cheat, and Greenbrier rivers," (said to be Haystack knob, now at the north-east corner of Pocahontas County), "thence along the ridge of mountains which divides the waters of Cheat River from those of Greenbrier, and that branch of the Monongahela River called the Tyger's (Tygart's) Valley River to Monongahela River, thence up the said river and the West Fork thereof, to Bingerman's (Bingamon) creek, on the north-west side
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
of said fork, thence up the said creek to the head thereof, thence in a direct line to the head of Middle Island Creek, a branch of the Ohio, and thence to the Ohio, including all the said waters of said creek, in the aforesaid district of West Augusta, all that territory lying to the northward of said boundary, and to the westward of the States of Pennsylvania and Maryland, shall be deemed, and is hereby declared, to be within the District of West Augusta."
On the waters of the Youghiogheny and territory which afterward belonged to West Augusta, Washington opened the war that led to the establishment of the American Republic. In the Ohio River, on territory which had once been a part of West Augusta, Aaron Burr planned the first great attempt at rebellion against that Republic, and mapped out his ambitious dream of a mighty western empire.
JOHN MARSHALL HAGANS. See Page 277.
CHAPTER VI. MONONGALIA COUNTY FORMATION.
1776.
Virginia in the Revolution-Creation of Monongalia, Ohio and Yohogania-Their Boundaries-The Name Monongalia-Se- lection of County-Seat-First Court-House Situated in Penn- sylvania-First Sheriff and Clerk.
THE part played by Virginia in the Revolutionary struggle is one of which her sons may justly feel proud to the end of time. It was the magnificent eloquence of the fiery Patrick Henry, and the cry of the milder and more self- possessed Lee, which inspired the Continental Congress to action-action that "shook the cliffs of England with the thunders of the free," and added to the map of the world Freedom's grandest Republic, whose immortal Charter was traced by the pen of Jefferson, and whose liberty was won by the sword of Washington.
When the glory of Autumn crowned the brightness of Summer, and the thunders of battle were rolling down along the mountains and over the valleys of Virginia, freighted with disasters to the Continental armies, Virginia's spartan band of legislators, presided over by Patrick Henry, were gathered together in the old State House at Williams- burg as the first General Assembly of the newly-declared Commonwealth of Virginia. In October they passed the act quoted in the preceding chapter, defining the boundaries of the District of West Augusta and dividing it into the
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
three distinct counties of Monongalia,* Ohio, and Yoho- gania. The territory of Monongalia was defined in the following language (9th Hening, pp. 262-3): "All that part of the said district [of West Augusta] lying to the north- ward of the county of Augusta, to the westward of the meridian of the head fountain of the Potowmack, to the southward of the county of Yohogania,t and to the eastward of the county of Ohio shall be one other distinct county, and shall be called and known by the name of the county of MONONGALIA."
Thus was ushered into existence, amid the storm of war, one of the two oldest counties of north-western Virginia ; and Monongalia has the proud distinction of being one
* All attempts have failed to ascertain from the public records which escaped destruction at Richmond in 1865, who introduced the bill for the creation of the county, and why it was named Monongalia. Monongalia, Ohio and Yohogania must undoubtedly have been named for the Ohio, Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. In the earlier court records of the county which are preserved, even after 1800, the name Monongahela applied to the river, is written "Monongalia." The orthoepy and orthography of that day were not perfect; and so it would seem that the incorrect spelling and pronunciation of the name of the river would but naturally, at that time, be given to the new county created and named after it. Monongahela shared a worse fate than its associate in orthographical misfortune-Youghiogheny ; for Yohogania is a misspelling but a proper pronunciation of Youghiogheny, while Monon- galia is both a misspelling and miss-pronunciation of Monongahela. Various other misspellings and miss-pronunciations of Monongahela were current in early days ; such as, "Monergehail," "Monongahalia," "Monegehail," etc., etc.
The meaning of the word Monongahela is somewhat obscured by different statements. The Navigator, published in 1821, at Pittsburgh, says that it is an Indian word, mean- ing " the river of the falling banks." Another account makes it mean "the river of the sliding banks." Between these two, however, there is little difference, and either comes from the peculiarity of the river in cutting under its banks and thus precipi- tating them into the water.
t The boundaries of Ohio and Yohogania counties are given in 9th Hening, pp. 262-3, as follows: "And to render the benefits of government, and the administration of justice, more easy and convenient to the people within the said district [West Augusta] : Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the 8th day of November [1776] next ensuing all that part of said district lying witliin the following lines, to wit : Beginning at the mouth of Cross Creek, thence up the same to the head thereof, thence eastwardly to the nearest part of the ridge which divides the waters of the Ohio from those of the Monongahela, thence along the said ridge to the line which divides the county of Augusta from the said district, thence with the said boundary to the Ohio, thence up the same to the beginning, shall be one distinct county, and be called and known by the name of Ohio; and all that part of the said district lying to the northward of the following lines, viz. : beginning at the mouth of Cross Creek, and
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MONONGALIA COUNTY FORMATION.
among the first counties created under a republican form of government in the New World, and one whose age is equal to that of the Republic.
The act creating the county further provided "that it shall and may be lawful for the landholders of said county, qualified to vote for representatives in the General Assem- bly,* to meet at the house of Jonathan Coburn [Cobun] in the said county, on the 8th of December following, then and there to choose the most convenient place for holding courts for the county in the future." Notice of the time and place of election was to be given to the landholders by the sheriff, minister and readers. The sheriff was to conduct the elec- tion. The places to be voted for were to be written down, every one in a separate column, and the name of every landholder voting written under the place for which he voted. The place receiving the most votes was to be thence- forth the place for holding courts. The poll attested by the sheriff, was to be recorded in the clerk's office of the county; but as the clerk's office was destroyed by fire in 1796, it is impossible to say whether such deposit was made or not. Most probably it was. The act contained a proviso, that if the freeholders of the county should be prevented on the 8th of December from assembling, by rain, snow or acciden-
running up its several courses to the head thereof, thence south-eastwardly to the nearest part of the aforesaid dividing ridge between the waters of the Monogahela and the Ohio, thence along the said ridge to the head of Ten-mile Creek, thence east to the road leading from Cat Fish Camp to Redstone Old Fort, thence along the said road to the Monongahela River, thence crossing the said river to the said fort, thence along Dunlap's old road to Braddock's road, and with the same to the meridian of the head fountain of Potowmack, shall be one other distinct county, and be called and known by the name of Yohogania County."
* July, 1775, by act of convention it was declared that every free white man in the District of West Augusta, "who shall have been for one year preceding in possession of twenty-five acres of land with a house and plantation thereon, or one hundred acres without a house or plantation, claiming an estate for life at least in the said land, in his own right, or in right of his wife, shall have a vote."
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
tal rise of water-courses, the sheriff was to put off the election to that day week following, " and so from week to week so often as the case may happen." This act, as has been said " was both mandatory and optional." As all the county records were burned in 1796, we can not state positively that any such meeting at Jonathan Cobun's (which was about two miles east of the site of Morgantown) ever took place; but in all probability it did, as some action must have been taken to establish the courts held soon afterward on the plantation of Theophilus Phillips, near the site of New Geneva, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Action must have been taken by the freeholders of the county in some manner, as no further action in the matter was had by the General Assembly. And if the election was held at Cobun's, we can easily account for the establishment of courts at Phillips's, from the fact that the northern portion of the county then (which is now in Fayette County, Pennsylvania) was the most populous, and hence would cast the largest vote, and thereby control the selection of the place, which would naturally be in that part of the county. Theophilus Phillips lived in Springhill Township, Fayette County, about two miles from where New Geneva now stands. His farm was about two hundred yards to the left of the present road run- ning from Morris's Cross Roads to New Geneva. The site of his quite extensive buildings for that day still remain visible on a beautiful long knoll. There were the mansion, many outbuildings, including the negro quarters, a still- house, stables, and a large shop near the mansion which de- scendants of his family say was used for the court-house of Monongalia County. Swearingen and Cox's forts were situated but three or four miles away. Here courts were held as late as 1779, if not later; and tradition says that the
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MONONGALIA COUNTY FORMATION.
present village of Woodbridgetown was laid out by its founder with the view of securing for it the county-seat of Monongalia County.
James Ross, in his account of Springhill Township in Ellis's History of Fayette' County, Pa., says that Col. The- ophilus Phillips came with his brother-in-law, the Rev. James Dunlap, from New Jersey in 1767, and patented the tract of land (453} acres) on which the court-house stood, December 12, 1786, called "Phillips's Choice," and that he died in 1789, while en route from New Orleans to Philadelphia.
Owing to the destruction of the records in 1796, it is impossible to state who were the first sheriff and the first clerk of the county. Tradition in Monongalia and an ac- count handed down in the Evans and Dent families state that Capt. John Dent was the first sheriff, and Col. John Evans the first clerk. In Fayette County a local traditional account says that a man by the name of Joseph Coombs was the first clerk. It is a fair presumption, however, that prominent men like /Capt. Dent and Col. Evans, would have been selected at that day for these offices. Yet im- partiality demands the submitting of both accounts.
CHAPTER VII. MONONGALIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
1776-1783.
Patriotism of the Inhabitants-Virginia and Pennsylvania Recruit Troops in Monongalia-Tory Revolt-Indian Invasions-Attack on Dunkard Creek-Killing of Miller and Woodfin-Slaughter near Ft. Statler-Adventure of the Morgans-Attack on Mar- tin's Fort-Murder of the Scott Girls-Adventure of James Scott-Correspondence of Col. Broadhead and Col. Evans- Slaughter on Doll's Run-Killing of Statler, Myers and Thomas -Thrilling Escape of Smith and Mrs. Thomas-Murder of Craw- ford, Wright and Elizabeth Pindall-Unprotected State of the Frontier-Capt. John Wetzel's Company-Reminiscences of Win. Haymond.
A BRIGHT page in the history of the Monongahela Valley is the patriotic course of its inhabitants in the Revolutionary War. Its territory in dispute between Virginia and Penn- sylvania, the one claiming it as part of her West Augusta District, the other asserting ownership over it as a portion of her county of Westmoreland; its inhabitants divided in their allegiance, a part yielding obedience to the authority of Virginia, and another portion supporting the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, and each arresting and re-arresting the other before rival courts of justice established over this same territory by Virginia and Pennsylvania-in the midst of this strange struggle, threatening to culminate in blood-' shed, came the news of Concord and Lexington. The breaking thunders of the Revolutionary struggle, rolling over the Chestnut Ridge and reverberating along the Monongahela Valley ,awakened in every heart a sentiment
1
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MONONGALIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
of patriotism. The partizans of Virginia and Pennsylvania met the same day-May 16, 1775-at Fort Pitt and Han- na's-Town, and pledged their support to the Continental Congress, in men and arms, against the tyranny of the mother country. We can appreciate the high and lofty spirit of patriotism that actuated them when we consider the circumstances by which they were surrounded. In the midst of a bitter struggle for the civil supremacy of the terri- tory on which they lived; surrounded by an Indian foe ever threatening them and their families with death by torture whose horrors would make the boldest heart to quail, to support the cause of the Colonies was to leave their homes, exposed to all the savage fury of the Indians, and dare cold, hunger, thirst and death in fighting the overwhelming num- bers of the greatest nation in the world. They decided, and without hesitation, to cast in their lot with their country- men, and that decision was an act of patriotism as lofty and noble as that of Massachusetts' minute men, as glorious and self-sacrificing as that of the Whigs of Carolina-an act of patriotism that was well worthy of its distinguished recog- nition by Washington, who, in a dark and trying hour, declared that if the cause of American Independence went down upon the eastern sea-shore, he would retreat to the mountains of West Augusta, and there rally his shattered columns in defense of the liberties of his beloved country. It was an act of patriotism which has never been fitly chronicled upon the page of history, nor received the full measure of public admiration to which it is justly entitled.
At the meeting held at Fort Pitt or Pittsburgh for " that part of Augusta County that lies on the west side of Laurel Hill," a committee was appointed to carry out the recom- mendation of the Richmond Convention of March 20th,
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
which was to collect "so much money as shall be sufficient to purchase half a pound of gunpowder and one pound of lead, flints, and cartridge paper for every tithable person." The amount was set at two shillings and sixpence for each tithable. It was also resolved that friendship with the In- dians be cultivated, and that fifteen pounds be raised for the use of John Harvie and George Rootes, deputies to the Continental Congress to represent the people on the west side of the Laurel Hill.
In June, 1775, about twenty men were recruited at Red- stone. Old Fort for Capt. Michael Cresap's Maryland Com- pany, which numbered about 130 men, and joined Washing- ton's forces near Boston. No roll of this company can be now obtained. Of the twenty men recruited at Redstone Old Fort, so near the present territory of Monongalia, it would not be unlikely that one or more may have been from what is now Monongalia.
Tradition says that Col. Zackwell Morgan and Jerry Archer served under Gates at Saratoga in Gen. Daniel Mor- gan's Rifle Corps, and that they enlisted in a Berkeley County Company.
Col. William Crawford,* in the fall of 1775, raised the Seventh Virginia in the West Augusta District, which fought in the battle of Long Island, was at Trenton, and was finally transferred to the Western Department, and did
* Col. William Crawford lived on the site of New Haven, opposite Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on the Youghiogheny River. He was born in 1732 in what is now Berkeley County, and came west of the mountains in 1765. He was ap- pointed a justice of the peace by Pennsylvania, but in the boundary line dispute be- tween Virginia and Pennsylvania he went with Virginia. After raising the Seventh he was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel of the Fifth, and then Colonel of the Seventh. In 1778, he held a command at Ft. Pitt. In 1782, the Sandusky expedition was projected against the Indians and the volunteers composing it elected Crawford commander of the expedition. He was captured by the Indians, and burned at the stake on the 11th of June, 1782.
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MONONGALIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
garrison duty at Fort Pitt. No roll of this regiment can be obtained, but most likely some out of all the men in it were from the present territory of Monongalia.
After the erection of Monongalia, Col. Crawford raised a second regiment, the Thirteenth Virginia, which he com- manded. It was generally known as the "West Augusta Regiment." It was over 500 strong, and was raised to serve on the western border in the event Indian troubles continued; if they ceased, to go wherever needed. Its service was en- tirely in the West, doing. duty in detachments at Forts Pitt and McIntosh and along the Ohio and Allegheny rivers. Neither can a roll of this regiment be found, nor anthing authentic to show how many men were in it from Mononga- lia County. Tradition says several.
While these two regiments were being raised by Virginia, Pennsylvania raised in the Monongahela Valley the Eight Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line, 684 strong. On the muster-rolls of the Regiment appear the names of Robert and Godfrey Kern, George Martin and Anthony Evans, but whether of Monongalia or somewhere in Pennsylvania, there is nothing to show.
Monongalia had but few settlers in 1776, and they were required to man their feeble stockade forts against attacks from Indians, and thus her militia was employed in resisting Great Britain in contending with her hired Indian allies, and as effectually as if in the Continental armies on the seaboard.
The General Assembly ordered, in June, 1776, that Monongalia furnish three captains, three first lieutenants, three second lieutenants and three ensigns, each captain recruiting twenty-eight men, each first lieutenant twenty, each second lieutenant sixteen and each ensign ten; and in
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
October, 1777, it ordered a draft of forty single men from Monongalia. As bounties were offered for enlistments, and as previous enlistments from the county, in the militia on the Ohio, were to be credited to the county, and as we find that the West Augusta regiments were recruited in the Monongahela Valley, it is probable that no such draft in either case was ever made.
Though frequent alarms of Indian incursions caused the settlers to seek safety in the forts during the years 1775 and 1776, yet there is no account of any Indian force attempting to enter the county during those years.
It seems that in the year 1777 a Tory* revolt was planned in the Monongahela Valley, and tradition has it that several persons engaged in it were arrested and taken to Richmond. The General Assembly, in October, 1777, empowered the commissionerst sent by Congress to Fort Pitt to investigate the plot, to apprehend any inhabitant of Monongalia, Ohio or Yohogania engaged in it, and it is said that a Tory was arrested and ordered to Richmond under guard of a trio of the Morgans, and that he was drowned in Cheat River, near the Dunkard Bottom, by the upsetting of the boat in which the party was crossing this stream. The settlers, according to the tradition, neither supposed the upsetting to have been accidental nor considered this disposition of the traitor wrong, as they were loath to spare able-bodied and brave men from home, with the Indians swarming on the border.
"A Tory was one who, during the Revolutionary struggle, favored the claims of Great Britain against the Colonies, and hence was considered a traitor by the Colonists. t Samuel Washington, Gabriel Jones and Joseph Reed.
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MONONGALIA IN THE REVOLUTION.
In July, 1777, Indians appeared in force on Dunkard Creek in the north-western part of the county. Capt. John Minor, on the 14th of that month at 8 o'clock, writes as follows from Fort Statler to Col. Zackwell Morgan :
"This minute Alexander Clegg came in great haste, who escaped the shot of a number of Indians. While we were getting ready to go after them John March and Jacob Jones came in, and say that they think they saw at least twenty, and followed thein, but they escaped. The Indians fired at Jacob Farmer's house. Two men and a boy were killed, a young woman and two children missing. It is supposed that he [she ?] is killed, and Nathan Wirley [Worley] and two of Jacob Jones's children, * and a daughter of Farmer's. We shall march after them in less than an hour. The truth may be relied on."
The pursuit was fruitless.
On the 19th of July, 1777, Richard Ashcraft and Thomas Carr, two of a company of spies, made oath before James Chew, a magistrate, that they discovered, on the evening of the 17th, the tracks of seven or eight Indians on the head waters of Buffalo Creek, apparently going toward the "Monongahalia" River. There is no account of these Indians having done any mischief.
On the 20th of the same month, William Cross and the Rev. John Corbly wrote from Corbly's Fort (Greene County, Pa.) to Col. Morgan, for amunition and an order for flour to Wilson's or Hardin's mill.
During the summer of 1778, a large body of Indians pen- etrated to Cobun's Creek, "and were," says the "Border Warfare," "making their way, as was generally supposed, to
* The names of the Jones children, it is asserted upon good authority, were William and Nancy. They were kept by the Indians five years. William came back and died, at the age of nearly 100 years, near Grafton. Nancy married in Canada. William Jones said two of the stoutest Indians in the tribe, on learning of David Morgan's fight with and killing of the two Indians, near Prickett's Fort, swore an oath to kill Morgan or never return. They went on a trip to find Morgan, but as they never came back, the Indians supposed they were killed by the Morgans.
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
a fort not far from Morgantown, when they fell in with a 1 party of whites, returning from the labors of the corn-field, and then about a mile from Coburn's Fort. The Indians had placed themselves upon each side of the road leading to the fort, and from their covert fired on the whites, before they were aware of danger. John Woodfin being on horse- back, had his thigh broken by a ball, which killed his horse and enabled them to catch him easily. Jacob Miller was shot through the abdomen, and soon overtaken, toma- hawked and scalped. The others escaped to the fort. Woodfin was afterwards found on a considerable eminence overlooking the fort, tomahawked and scalped."
William Haymond, Jr., in a letter written in 1843, says : "While living there [Kern's Fort] Cobun's Fort was burnt by the Indians. I was at it while on fire. How it happened that I was suffered to go, I can not tell. Miller and Wood- fin were killed on Miller's place, three miles from Kern's Fort. While we were there they were brought into the fort on poles, having their feet and hands tied, the poles running between them. I remember this perfectly."
There are other accounts of this sad affair, differing in the details. Mrs. Matilda Hall, a grand-daughter of Thomas Miller and a daughter of Thomas Miller, Jr., who is now an aged woman, says that Thomas Miller was plowing, and had set his gun down. An Indian crept up and shot Miller with it, who ran into the woods, but was overtaken and killed. Miller was accompanied from Cobun's Fort by his brother- in-law, John Woodfield, and his son, Thomas Miller, Jr., who escaped to the woods and hid in a pile of brush. The Indians pursuing them turned back when the others raised a yell upon overtaking Miller. They thus escaped. Wood- . field was killed some years afterward by the Indians. Capt.
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