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 6
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dles were called "dips," being made without molds, by sim- ply dipping the wicks of twisted rags or flax into the melted tallow. Several wicks would be attached to a stick and thus simultaneously immersed, then lifted and placed where the adhering tallow would quickly cool. While these cooled others were dipped, and this process had to be repeated many times before the candles were large enough for use. The melted tallow was usually poured into a kettle of boil- ing water, on top of which it floated, and this gave the depth necessary for forming the candles. The Germans from Pennsylvania brought with them a curious iron lamp in which lard was used. A very common substitute for a lamp in those early days was a saucer filled with lard, in which a twisted rag wick was placed. Sometimes a broken tea cup was used, or a large turnip scraped out and filled with lard. In some localities pine knots were used.
A single room generally served the purposes of kitchen, dining-room, sitting-room, bed-room and parlor. In most families there were from six to ten children, who, with their parents, were crowded into this one room. In one corner was the father and mother's bed, and under it the trundle- bed for the smaller children. The larger children lodged in the loft, which they reached by a ladder in another corner; and sometimes they made tracks to and from their beds in the snow driven through the crevices by the wind. Often in the winter would they awake to find their beds covered with snow. Sometimes, as the family increased, an addition was built to the cabin, and another room added.
The settler cleared out a patch for corn, planted it, built his bear pens, and spent every spare moment in the forest hunting, as meat was to be his principal food until he could clear out his patch into a field large enough to provide him
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
with a crop sufficient to supply his needs. A harrow with wooden teeth, and a rude plow roughly fashioned, were used for the cultivation of this field, and no thought given to any means for the preservation of its fertility. It was counted for so many crops; and, by the time exhausted, another would be cleared out to take its place. When the corn was raised (for wheat was not thought of), it was nec- essary to prepare it for the table. There were no mills, and it was placed in the hominy block and pounded with a pestle. When too soft for this, the ears were rubbed over a tin grater of a concave form, nailed to a block or board, on which the meal fell. This was improved by the introduc- tion of the hand mill, which consisted of two stones placed in a hoop provided with a spout for the discharge of the meal. A beam was attached to an upright piece fastened into the upper stone, and two persons could labor at the same time, in turning the mill. Persons came from a dis- tance to grind on them. They tanned the hides of animals with the brains of the animals; and had a trough sunk in the ground for tanning their leather, which was effected by the use of bark, ashes and tallow. This made a very course though very substantial article. Every man had to be his own blacksmith, carpenter and shoemaker.
These settlers were a hardy, fearless folk. Their manners, though not polished, were open and frank. Jealous of their honor and proud of their word, he who impugned the one, or doubted the other, had to answer for his temerity at the point of blows. A fight was the arbitrament of any trouble that could not easily be settled. No unfair advan- tage was suffered to be taken by either party, and the fight continued till one of the contestants being satisfied with the hammering he was receiving from his adversary, would cry
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CLOSE OF THE INDIAN WARS.
out "Enough," when his assailant would desist, and the matter ended. There was no after-talk of knives, pistols and slungshots, or planning of a cowardly attack by the beaten party upon his opponent. To "receive the lie," without giving a blow in exchange, was to be looked upon as a coward by every one. They used no flattery, practiced no deceit, and were kind, generous and hospitable. Cross- ing his threshold, the settler gave you a cordial welcome, standing before you with his tastefully fringed hunting shirt, deer-skin breeches, substantial moccasins, and coon- skin cap, tall and well proportioned in form, with a sun- tanned but honest and intelligent face, and a fearless eye. During this early period, the settlers had nothing but furs with which to procure iron and salt. Leaving home with a pack horse heavily laden, they crossed the mountains by bridle-paths to the South Branch and Winchester, to dispose of their furs. It took several days to perform the journey there and back. They encamped at night in the mountains with their pack-saddles for pillows, and sank to sleep amid the howling of the wolves around and the scream of the panther In the distance. On their return, when approaching their homes, they dreaded to look towards them, lest a pile of ashes might greet their gaze, showing that the Indians had been there, and murdered their families and burned their cabins.
Capt. John Evans, generally called Capt. Jack Evans, about the year 1783, was in command of a company at the Old Station Spring. A coward in the company was tried by a pretended Indian attack, made by four or five of the company. He broke and ran back into the settlements and gave an alarm, that a large force of Indians were coming,
1
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
and had killed every one at the Station. The settlers on the west side of the Monongahela River crossed over at different places. Margaret, wife of Capt. John Dent, being alone, left home on the alarm and rode to the river. Find- ing no one there, she swam her horse across in the night to give the alarm at her father's, Col. John Evans's.
Gen. George Washington, in 1784, when on the Monon- gahela River examining the country to ascertain the feasi- bility of cutting a canal from the Potomac across to any of the tributary waters of the Monongahela, passed up the river to Col. John Evans's, and thence rode out into the vicinity of the Pierpont Church, to where Col. Samuel Hanway kept the land office of the county. After examin- ing the land-books he rode back to Col. Evans's and stayed all night in a house still standing, and which is preserved by the Evans family on account of Washington's staying over night in it. Probably, if some of the choicest tracts . of land had not been patented at that time, Washington might have taken them up and became a landholder in Monongalia.
About 1785 or 1786, one mile north of the site of Cass- ville, a boy by the name of William Dawson was captured by Indians while harrowing in a field. He wore a long linen gown. An old Indian and two Indian boys about Dawson's age, came along. The Indian sent the boys over to take Dawson, and laughed at the hard fight they had in doing it. They took the mare Dawson was harrowing with, and above where Brown's mill is, shot her because she neighed so loudly for her colt. Dawson was a prisoner till Wayne's treaty, when he was given up, and came back. This is the
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account given by Elizabeth, the wife of Nathan Johnson, to ex-Sheriff John T. Fleming. Mrs. Johnson, who was an intelligent woman, was well acquainted with Dawson. There is a traditional account which differs somewhat from the above, in some of the particulars, claimed to have been derived from Dawson.
There is also a traditional account of George Tucker and James O'Neil pursuing and killing a party of Indians who had murdered a family by the name of Hutchinson. All the family were killed except a young woman, whom they were carrying off into captivity. The last of this Indian party was killed on the headwaters of Dunkard Creek, and the young woman rescued. The white men were aided by a dog which was trained to seize an Indian by the throat and kill him.
The final struggle between the Indian and the white man for the territory of Monongalia County as now bounded, occurred towards the close of the month of June in 1791. The "Chronicles of Border Warfare " says :
"Early in the morning, as Mr. Clegg, Mr. Handsucker, and two of Handsucker's sons were engaged at work in a corn field near the house, they were shot at by some concealed savages, and Handsucker was wounded and soon overtaken. Clegg and Hand- sucker's sons ran toward the house, and the former entering it, defended it for a while; but confident that he would soon be driven out by fire, he surrendered on condition that they would spare his life and that of his little daughter with him. The boys passed the house, but were taken by some of the savages who were also concealed in the direction in which they ran, and who had just made captive Mrs. Handsucker and her infant. They then plundered and set fire to the house, caught the horses and made off with the prisoners, leaving one of their company, as usual, to watch after their retreat.
"When the firing was first heard, Mrs. Clegg being some distance
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
from the house, concealed herself in the creek, under some project- ing bushes, until everything became quiet. She then crept out, but perceiving the Indian who had remained near the burning house, she took to flight ; and he having at the same time discov- ered her, ran in pursuit. She was so far in advance, and ran so well, that the savage despairing of overtaking her, raised his gun and fired as she ran. The ball just grazed the top of her shoulder, but not impeding her flight, she got safely off. Mr. Handsucker, his wife and child, were murdered on the dividing ridge between Dunkard and Fish creeks. Mr. Clegg, after some time, got back, and upon the close of the Indian war, ransomed his two daughters."
William Minor, a man eighty-five years old in 1882, stated to the writer that his maternal grandfather, Alexander Clegg, after surrendering to the Indians, told them there were sixty dollars in silver in the burning house, and they sent one of their number back to get it; that this Indian perceived Mar- garet Clegg and gave chase, firing and wounding her slightly in the shoulder; that she escaped to Baldwin's Block-house, which stood near the site of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Blacksville; that Alexander Clegg, through the intercession of Simon Girty, was allowed to come home and bring his oldest daughter, Peggy, but had to leave Susan (afterwards wife of Samuel Minor and mother of Wm. Minor); that Clegg sent back to Girty for the Indians, as he had promised, a rifled gun and a sum of money, and Susan was sent home. The Handsuckers, it is said, were taken by the Indians some distance into what is now Wetzel County, and there killed.
Thus, in the Dunkard Valley, was shed the last blood of the white man in winning the soil of Monongalia County from the dominion of the Indian, after a bloody struggle of many long and perilous years .*
* As late as 1801 we find that munitions of war, for use against the Indians, were in Monongalia. On the 11th of July the following letter was written to Col. William
WAITMAN W. HOUSTON. SEE PAGE 347.
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There is an account handed down on Stewart's Run, that about 1790, or later, William, a son of John Stewart, and another boy, both about fourteen years of age, were pur- sued by Indians while they were returning from mill on Scott's Mill Run. The militia turned out, among whom were Joseph Barker, and Peter Hess, and went in pursuit of the Indians, finding their camp fires on the head of Scott's Mill Run, but failing to overtake them. The Indians made good their retreat, with two prisoners captured on Scott's Mill Run .*
Campaigns were projected by the whites against the In- dians, to protect the frontier from their ravages; and in 1781, Gen. George Rodgers Clark, who had his headquar- ters at Wheeling, visited the Monongahela Valley to raise troops for an Indian campaign, a part of which was the ill- fated Col. Lochrey command. In 1781-2, Col. David Will- iamson led two campaigns ; and later in 1782, Col. Craw- ford's disastrous expedition occurred. Gen. Harmar, in 1790, led another expedition, and was defeated. In all these campaigns we have no account of any Monongalia militia or soldiers, but undoubtedly there were some of her adventurous spirits in them, as her spies and scouts were doing duty across the Ohio River.
McCleary from the War Department : "I thank you for your favor of the 1st inst., and request that you will have the lead, the property of the United States in your possession, sent to Isaac Craig, Esq., Store-keeper at Pittsburgh, by the first safe opportunity, and transmit his receipt therefor to this Department.
"Your obedient servant, H. DEARBORN."
* Capt. ("Jack ") John Evans used to relate an adventure with Indians when he was a boy eight or ten years old. His father's cabin was stockaded, and a family by the name of Johnson, living near the Monongahela River, during an alarm of Indians, came to Evans's for safety. Capt. John was sent down to Johnson's to get a horse left behind. He found some eggs there, which he placed in a smouldering log-heap, and went around a high cleared knoll to look for the horse. Coming back to the log-heap he saw Indian tracks in the ashes, and knew that they were on his trail coming round the knob. He ran and succeeded in getting away. The Indians took the horse, and tying a prisoner by the name of Walls on its back, made it swim the river at Granville. The Indians crossed on a raft. Walls escaped afterwards, and told how the Indians found the eggs and followed the boy's track.
6
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
In 1791, Gen. St. Clair organized the expedition which met with such signal defeat on the 4th of November, 1791. In this expedition as scouts were Levi Morgan and James Pindall, while in the ranks as regular soldiers were James and "Mod" Morgan, with others of Monongalia whose names are lost. Levi Morgan shot an Indian while in the act of shooting "Mod; " and in the retreat, when his brother James gave out, "Mod" declared that no Indian should ever kill a brother of his, and drew his tomahawk over James as though he would kill him, which had the desired effect of rousing James to another effort to flee. The next day after the retreat, when all the men were stiff and sore, Levi engaged in various feats of dexterity to show how little effect the terrible retreat had had on him. In Wayne's campaign Levi Morgan was again with the army as a scout and spy, and others from Monongalia were in that army.
Levi Morgan was a leading spirit among the many bold and adventurous scouts and Indian fighters of Monongalia. Small in stature for that day, he was possessed of wonder- ful muscular strength, and though cool and cautious in wood-craft and war-craft, yet he was fearless of all danger in time of battle. From his reticence and utter disregard of fame, he has never occupied the place in frontier history to which his feats of daring entitle him.
The following list of persons having taxable property in Monongalia County in 1786, consisting of tithables, horses and cattle, as attested by John Evans, Clerk, and J. Pendle- ton, Auditor, was found among the papers of Col. William McCleary, and furnished us by Mr. John J. Brown :
James Dunn, James Snodgrass, Benj. Whitson,
Zacquill Morgan, Jr., Jacob Pritchet, Jr.,
Calder Haymond,
Thomas Haymond, Edward Haymond,
Nath. Springer,
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Elias Prince,
Josiah Pritchet,
Robison Lucas,
Francis Burrell,
David Morgan,
Stephen Morgan,
Uz Barnes, ' Henry Barnes, Stokely Little,
Jacob Pritchet, Sr.,
Abram Lowe,
James West,
Isaac Pritchet, Abner Harper, John Beesley,
William Snodgrass,
William Graham.
JOHN DENT'S RETURN.
Joseph Barker,
Edward Evans,
Garrard Evans,
Aaron Hiney,
James Barker,
Isaac Lamasters,
Jacob Harrow,
David Watkins,
Michael Core,
John Stuart,
Isaac Camp,
Isaiah Haskins,
William Lamasters, John Little,
John Golding,
Thomas Brown,
John Lowe, Henry Batton, John Cochran, Philip Pindall, Peter Kess,
John Callihan, Thomas Pindall, Sr., Elijah Piles,
Gordon Hallon, Gilbert Butler,
Joseph Dawson,
John Barker,
Thomas Lamasters,
Azariah Haskins,
John Hamilton.
FRANCIS WARMAN'S RETURN.
Anthony Abell,
James Anderson, Clifford Butler,
Ignatus Butler, Josiah Ball, Joseph Downing, Charles Griggsbey, Michael Henry, Adam Helmick, William Hamilton, John Scott,
Patrick Johnson,
Martha Jenkins,
Samuel Lewellin,
Thomas Malott,
Joshua Lowe, Jacob Lewellin, Joseph Martin,
Robert Brown,
William Beall,
Charles Donaldson, Isaac Hall, Frederick Ice, Enoch Jenkins, Doctor Lewellin, John Leath, William Neighbors,
James Barnes, Elisha Bratton, Thomas Griggs, Nath. Reeves, John Miller, Jonathan Lams, Morgan Morgan,
William Bryan, Jaines Morgan, David Fancher,
John Holt,
Reuben Bunner,
William Barnes, Thomas Barnes, Win. Pettyjohn, Sr., John Pettyjohn,
William Dawson, George Snider, John Carberry, Jacob Scott, Thomas Harrison, James Denny,
William Martin, Thomas Dawson, Roger Parks,
84 HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
William Norris, John Ramsey, Sr.,
John Ramsey, Jr.,
Samuel Ruble,
James Ross, Jeremiah Tannehill,
William Tannehill,
Stephen Warman,
Andrew Park,
Arthur Trader, Sr.,
Moses Trader,
Francis Warman.
JAMES COCHRAN'S RETURN.
Henry Banks,
John Evans,
Marg't Cunningham,
John Tibbs,
James Spurgin,
David Gray,
John Downer,
Jarvis Brumegin,
Pritchard Merrefield,
George Keller,
John Burk,
Henry Smith,
John Wade,
Simon Troy,
Boaz Burris,
Benjamin Jennings, Joseph Jacobs,
Daniel Sayre,
Nehemiah Harper,
Robert Bennett,
David Sayre,
John Pierpont,
Josiah Wilson,
Evan Morgan,
John Ferguson,
Charles Hanyman,
William Robe, Sr.,
William Robe, Jr.,
Samuel Hanway,
William Joseph,
Elijah Burris,
Joseph Wilson,
Jacob Jacobs,
Joshua Jenkins,
Hugh McNeely,
Philemon Askins,
John Finch,
Jacob Nuse,
Thomas Pindall.
Samuel Gribb,
David Patterson,
JOSEPH JENKINS'S RETURN.
Jacob Langston,
Michael Kerns,
James Cobun,
Jacob Pindall,
William Jolliffe,
John Plum,
David Croll,
Ann Miller,
Henry Tucker,
Thomas Ryan,
James Cochran,
Aug't Friend,
James Read,
Joseph Trickett,
Jacob Youngman,
Henry Croll,
Michael Lawrence,
Sarah Frakes,
Andrew Jones,
James S. Wilson,
James Tibbs, red head,
Philip Shuttlesworth, John Hall,
Robert Ferrell,
Peter Switcher, John Smith,
David Calmire,
James Daugherty,
Benjamin Wilson, Robert Severe,
Hiram Mitchell,
Francis Bennett, Sr., William Chapman,
Martin Zornes,
George Hollenback,
Benjamin Sutton,
James Johnson,
Thomas Laidley,
Zebulon Hoge.
Joseph Cox,
DAVID SCOTT'S RETURN.
Daniel Burchill,
Charles Martin, Charles Ramsey,
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Peter Bruner,
Simeon Everly,
Casper Everly,
Richard Harrison,
Elisha Scott,
Amos Smith,
Thomas Azel,
Philip Crose,
James Johnson,
John Ramsey,
Jesse Martin,
James Ruggles,
Lafe Hardin,
John McNeal,
Thomas Ruggles,
James Benefield,
William Holson,
James Kelley,
William Moore,
William Owens,
George Martin,
Chris. Garlow,
Thomas Wade,
George Wade,
George Weaver,
George Hiley,
David Piles,
John Troy,
John Snider,
David Scott.
Daniel McCollum made a return, but the persons named in his list, fifty-five in number, all lived in what is now Preston County, except Elihu Horton, Joseph Stuart, John Jenkins and Arthur Trader. In searching old records we find the names of a few persons-the Willeys, some of the Davises and others-omitted or overlooked, who were living in the county and owning property at that time. Charles Bennett, the ancestor of the Bennett families of Ohio and West Virginia, came to Monongalia between 1780 and 1783.
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John Madison, the first County Surveyor of Monongalia, was killed while surveying, it is stated. Col. Samuel Han- way, his successor, was in the surveying party, which divided, and Hanway and his part of the company took one road, and Madison the other. Madison was ambushed and killed, and thus Col. Hanway escaped.
1
CHAPTER® IX. MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.
History and Importance of the Great Boundary Line-the Virginia Charter-Grant to Lord Baltimore-William Penn's Charter- Boundary Controversies of Penn and Baltimore-Mason and Dixon's Work-Boundary Controversy between Virginia and Pennsylvania-Futile Attempts at Settlement-Final Settle- ment.
WE come now to make record of a geographical line whose establishment, as made in 1779, lost to Monongalia some of the finest territory ever possessed by a county. This line, the southern boundary of Pennsylvania against Maryland and Virginia (now West Virginia), attained political signifi- cance in a State war over its establishment, and came to be known, from the names of its surveyors, as the Mason* and Dixont Line. Later, this line came into national prom- inence in the slavery agitation, as the dividing line between the free and the slave states ; and the names of Mason and Dixon were thereby inseparably connected with the history of the American Republic.
To trace the history of this line of National fame and world-wide repute, we must go back to the year 1609, when
* Charles Mason, a " London astronomer and surveyor," was an assistant of Dr. Bradley at the Greenwich Royal Observatory. He corrected Meyer's lunar tables, and after returning from America (where he was elected, March 27, 1767, a member of the American Philosophical Society), he was sent, together with Dixon, by the Royal Society to observe the transit of Venus in 1769 at the Cape of Good Hope. He died in Pennsylvania, February, 1787.
t Jeremiah Dixon, a " London astronomer and surveyor," was Mason's co-laborer. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, April 1, 1768, and was again Mason's co-laberer at the Cape of Good Hope in 1769. He died in 1777, at Durham, England.
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MASON AND DIXON'S LINE.
King James I. of England, by right of discovery, granted to the Virginia Company 400 miles of coast line reaching "West and North-west" from sea to sea. Old Point Com- fort was designated as the central point of this grant. At sixty-nine and a half miles to the degree, this carried the grant by the coast line to about the fortieth degree of north latitude. In 1624, the Company's charter was revoked, and never was restored.
Charles I., June 20, 1632, granted to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, all that scope of territory between the fortieth degree of north latitude and the Potomac River .* Charles II., in 1681, granted a charter to William Penn for Pennsylvania,t extending northward from the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude.
The half-century from 1682 to 1732 was distinguished by a continuous struggle to establish the line between Penn and Baltimore. Capt. John Smith's map erroneously fixed the parallel of forty degrees north latitude a little below New Castle, and Penn claimed this as the line. Baltimore appealed to the King against this and also Penn's occu- pancy of the present territory between Delaware and Chesapeake bays. It was referred to the committee fo trade and plantations, which decided against Baltimore, and divided the contested territory between the bays between
* " That region bounded by a line from Watkins Point on the Chesapeake Bay on the east, thence to that part of the estuary of the Delaware on the north which lieth under the 40th degree where New England is terminated."
t The boundaries of this charter, an old parchment document now hanging in the Executive Chamber at Harrisburg, are as follows: "Bounded on the east by the Delaware River from 12 miles distant northward of New Castle town, unto the three and fortieth degree of northern latitude ; the said land to extend westward five degrees in longitude, to be computed from the said eastern bounds, and the said land to be bounded on the north by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of north latitude, and on the south by a circle drawn at 12 miles distance from New Castle, northward and westward, unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of north latitude, and then by a straight line westward to the limits of longitude above mentioned."
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HISTORY OF MONONGALIA COUNTY.
the disputants, giving Penn the territory of the present State of Delaware. Under this decision a deed was made to Penn's heirs in 1732; but the Baltimore who made the deed afterward attempted to have it set aside, and appealed to the King, asking for the charter line of 1632. This was refused. In 1760, Lord Baltimore executed another deed, favorable to Penn, in which he renounced all claim to the true line of forty degrees north latitude, and thereby sur- rendered a strip of territory 194 miles in width (the length of his province on the north), west of the present west boundary line of Delaware. The commissioners chosen to establish the line employed as surveyors John Lukens and Archibald McClean for Pennsylvania, and John F. A. Priggs and John Hall for Maryland. Their work, because of imperfect instruments, was slow. In 1763, the proprietaries then living in London, became impatient, and in August employed Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as surveyors to complete the work. They landed in Philadelphia, No- vember 15, 1763, and consumed two years in establishing the starting point* of the "great due west line" now bearing their names. June 17, 1765, they were at the Susquehanna ; and the 4th of June, 1766, at the summit of the Little Alle- gheny Mountain, where they turned back from fear of Indians. In June, 1767, they commenced work again, and on the 14th were joined by an escort of fourteen Indians sent by the Six Nations to hold the Delawares and Shaw- nese in check. They arrived on the 24th of August at the Braddock Road, and on the next day John Greene, the
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