USA > West Virginia > Preston County > History of Preston County (West Virginia) > Part 10
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
FROM 1818 TO 1863.
fork of Pringle's Run by a high embankment, and, in a short distance, reaches the celebrated Kingwood Tunnel.
Lemon, Gorham, Clark and McMahon had the contract for making this tunnel. In its making was employed a small army of Irishmen armed with carts, wheelbarrows, shovels, picks, crowbars and drills. A deep excavation was made at each end and rapidly worked, while three shafts were sunk from the top of the hill. The shafts were 15 by 20 feet at the top, and were sunk 180 feet. Two locomotives were brought upon the ground, and used to carry iron, rails and all kinds of material needed, over the top of the hill. They were run up on a temporary track laid at the remarkable grade of 500 feet to the mile. It required two years and eight months to make the tunnel. It is 4100 feet in length, and was cut through a compact slate, partly over-laid by a limestone roof. It was afterward arched with brick, on ac- count of the roof being unsafe. At the time of its comple- tion, it was the longest tunnel in North America, and one of the greatest engineering triumphs of that day. When com- pleted and measured, it was found that 200,000 cubic yards of earth and rock had been removed, 110,000 yards from the outside, and 90,000 yards from the inside.
The road, leaving the Kingwood Tunnel, descends a long, steep hill, and crossing a narrow valley by an embankment, passes through Murray's Tunnel, 250 feet in length, cut as a semi-circular arch, out of fine solid sandstone, with a floor resting on a bituminous coal vein 6 feet thick. From the tunnel it passes the site of Austen, and comes to Newburg, called in the day when the road was built, Simpson's Water- Station. Leaving here, it winds in several curves to Inde- pendence; and from there, pursuing the valley of Racoon Creek, passes out of the county.
The wonders of this great road have been attractive to. every observing traveler who ever passed over it; and that portion of it extending through Preston for nearly thirty- three miles, has always possessed its full share of fascination for the traveling public. The view along the Snowy Creek
112
HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY. .
valley ; the mountain-hemmed Green Glades; the broken hills extending westward from the Summit ; the wild, impres- sive stretch along Spruce Creek, with its towering mountain hills ; the rugged, but charming scenery of Salt Lick gorge ; the grandeur of the great Cheat River mountains at Rowlesburg; the wild beauties of Cheat ; the dark shadows of deep gorges ; the wonderful depths below the great trestle-works; the charms of mountain scenery around Cassidy's Summit; the changing views along the western descent ; the ride through the great tunnel in midnight darkness; the broken hills fringing the valley of Racoon Creek-all these, and number- less other attractions of the same sort, greet the gaze of the lover of beauty.
While the road was in course of construction the "Irish War," as it was called, occurred. Irish from Connaught. Cork and Fardown, in Ireland, were working on the road. The Connaughts and Corkonians came to the conclusion that the Fardowns should leave the road and go elsewhere to work. It is said that about 500 of the combined factions assembled at Fairmont and took up their line of march eastward along the road, every Fardown fleeing as they came. Arriving at the site of Newburg, a considerable num- ber of Fardowns engaged there took to the woods, and the invading force continued on to Tunnel Hill, where they camped. The acting sheriff, Colonel J. A. F. Martin, col lected a force of about 130 men, and repaired to Tunnel Hill. and quelled the disturbance. The invaders offered no resis- tance, and left. Several of them were arrested, held a couple of days, and discharged, as they had not offered any resis- tance to the sheriff's force nor inflicted any injury on the Fardowns.
During this year (1853), the section of the county through which the railroad passed, built up rapidly. The General Assembly, on the 21st of February, changed the terms of the circuit courts in the twenty-first district for the County of Preston, to the sixteenth day of March and the sixteenth dav of August. An attempt was made to remove the seat of
113
FROM 1818 TO 1863.
justice from Kingwood. The passage of an act by the Gen- eral Assembly, on the 14th of March, was secured, for taking the sense of the voters of Preston County in relation to the removal of the seat of justice from Kingwood to the east side of Cheat River, at the wire suspension bridge. A vote was taken upon the subject in accordance with the provisions of this act, and resulted in a large majority against the proposed change.
The town of Bruceton was incorporated by an act of the Assembly, passed on the 28th of March, and A. J. Pell, N. R. Harding and Charles Kantner were appointed commis- sioners to make a plan of the town, to be recorded in the office of the court of Preston County.
The town of Fellowsville was incorporated by an act of the Assembly, passed on the 30th day of November, 1852 ; and Robert Knotts, Sylvanus Heermans, Isaac Travis, Edward Thorp and Philip W. Payne, or any two of them, were appointed to hold an election on the first Monday in March, 1853, for five trustees of said town, and the said election was held at the time appointed.
For several years prior to the construction of the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad, a turnpike, to run from Brandon- ville to West Union, had been discussed, and measures had been taken to organize a company for its construction, but without avail. In 1853, a move was made to organize a company to build a turnpike from Brandonville to Cranberry Summit, connecting portions of the northern and eastern parts of the county with the railroad, by a good wagon road. The General Assembly, on the 10th of February, passed an act, "That for the purpose of constructing a turnpike road from the Cranberry Summit, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, in Preston County, to intersect the Maryland and Ohio turnpike, at the town of Brandonville, in said county. upon or near the location made by Thomas Scott and others. commissioners appointed by the court of said county to locate said road, it shall be lawful to open books for receiving subscriptions." The joint-stock capital was not to exceed
114
HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
8025 dollars, and was to be divided into shares of 25 dollars each. Subscription books were to be opened at Cranberry Summit, under the superintendence of William B. Crane, James Hays, E. M. Hagans and James C. McGrew, or any one of them; at Jacob Guseman's store, on Muddy Creek, under the superintendence of Jacob Guseman, Joseph Miller and Jacob Crane, or any one of them ; and at Brandonville, under the superintendence of Harrison Hagans, A. C. Leach, Jacob Fike, and Joseph Ritenour, or any one of them. The board of public works was to subscribe for three-fifths of the amount of the stock. When 107 shares had been subscribed, the company was organized according to law. When finished, the road was 18 miles and 58 poles long. It cost 304 dollars per mile. A report of the Kingwood and West Union Turnpike, made this year and signed by D. C. Miles, president, and James Evans, superintendent, shows that this road cost 327 dollars per mile from Morgantown to Kingwood.
From 1853 to 1855, nothing occurred in the county of sufficient importance to be worthy of record.
The summer of 1855 was characterized by a long dry spell of weather, injuring crops and drying up streams, and is known among the older people living as the "Dry Summer."
The coal, iron and lumber interests in the southern part of the county took fresh life in 1856. The Assembly, on the 26th of February, passed an act incorporating the Rowles- burg Lumber and Iron Company, composed of Owen D. Downey, Thomas C. Williams, John A, Lloyd, Charles M. Bishop, and such other persons as might hereafter be as- sociated with them for the purpose of mining coal, and other minerals, for manufacturing iron and other products of their lands, and for the erection and operation of saw-mills in the County of Preston. The capital stock of the company was to consist of twenty- five hundred shares of twenty-five dollars each. On the 21st of February, the Assembly incorporated the Preston Coal and Iron Company, in the counties of Hampshire, Hardy
115
FROM 1818 TO 1863.
and Preston. The capital stock of the company was to con- sist of twenty-five thousand shares of twenty-five dollars each. The company was authorized to purchase, receive and hold lands, not exceeding seventeen thousand acres in the three counties.
Masontown .- During this year (1856), William Mason moved to the site of Masontown, from Albrightsville. He put up a house and store, and founded this town, named after him.
Reedsville .- James Reed, of Monongalia, previously of Berkeley County, Virginia, bought the tract of land on which is the larger part of the site of Reedsville. He moved here in 1827. About 1855 a house was built, and in 1856 a store was erected, and the place was named Reedsville, after James Reed.
The presidential canvass of 1856 was marked in Preston County by the usual amount of interest manifested in these occasions, and the candidates and principles of the Demo- cratic and American parties were discussed all over the county, while the candidate of the Republican party received no attention whatever.
The rivalry for political power between the eastern and western sections of the State, was increasing in magnitude every day; but in this struggle the eastern section was con- tinually the winner. The "mixed basis" gave her a majority in the Assembly, although her voters were less in numbers than those of the western section. The eastern section used this majority to vote large donations from the public treas- ury, to build railroads and canals east of the Blue Ridge. Charters of ample scope and liberal provisions were readily obtained in the east, while the west, in many instances, was denied the privilege of constructing works, or commencing great enterprises, by the aid of individual subscriptions alone, as acts of incorporation could not be secured. The western politician, for the honor of election to the House of Delegates, went before the people denouncing in unmeasured terms the unjust and unequal distribution of the public funds for in-
116
HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
ternal improvements, pledging himself to procure an appro- priation of a few thousand dollars to aid in the construction of a "mud-pike." And often, to secure these paltry appro- priations for his constituency, a western member would com bine-"log roll"-with eastern representatives, and vote large sums to eastern enterprises. To get a hundred for his people, he would vote to appropriate a thousand for the eastern part. During the Turnpike Period, so powerful was the man with the people that could obtain an appropriation for a turnpike, that they never concerned themselves to know whether he obtained it by successfully presenting its merits to the House, or secured it by combining and voting great sums to eastern projects. They would, in many cases, drop their political prejudice of party, and vote for the rep- resentative who had proved successful in procuring a little of the State's money, for his "dear people," and elect him over the candidate of their own political faith. The great wealth of the eastern planter was in slaves, a species of prop- erty that many of the western farmers were averse to pos- sessing ; while others, owning a few slaves, did not increase their numbers, as the character of the country, the changing climate and unfavorable surroundings rendered the employ. ment of slave labor unprofitable. It was the policy of the east to employ slave labor under its favoring conditions of climate; it was the interest of the west to discard slave labor under its unfavorable conditions of climate.
Petitions were sent in to the General Assembly, whose subjects of complaint were unequal representation and un- just taxation; and upon their rejection, men claimed that if this order of things was to continue, there could be no iden- tity of interests between the two sections, and that the best interests of both would be promoted by the formation of a new State west of the Alleghanies, free from the institution of slavery, and whose officers should all be elected upon a basis of suffrage alone.
In 1856 the stone Court-house was found to be too small for the transaction of the increasing business of the county,
117
FROM 1818 TO 1863,
and a new Court-house was ordered to be built. The cor tract was taken by James C. McGrew, for seven thousand dollars, and a fine brick Court house was completed in 1857.
Turning again to the local affairs of the county for the next year, the first act to record is the incorporation of the Town of Brandonville, on the 24th of February, 1858. "The officers of the said town," said the act of incorporation, "shall consist of seven trustees, who shall compose the council, and a sergeant." William McKee, Harrison Hagans and Joseph Ritenour, or any two of them, were authorized to hold an election for said officers on the first Monday in June.
On the 27th of February, Rowlesburg was incorporated, the officers to consist of a mayor, five councilmen and a ser- geant. Russel Finnel, H. H. Wheeler, D. Wonderly, junior, T. F. Hebb and William Hall were authorized to hold an election on the first Saturday in April.
On the 23d of March, an act was passed by the Assembly incorporating the Masontown and Independence Turnpike Company, with a capital of two thousand five hundred dol. lars. Books were to be opened in Independence for receiv- ing subscriptions, by John Howard, Samuel Rodgers, Jacob Weaver, George D. Zinn and Philip Menear, or any three of them.
The Preston Register .- On Friday morning, June 11, 1858, D. B. Overholt issued the first number of the above. named paper, at the county-seat. It was the first newspaper ever published in Kingwood; the second Democratic, and the fourth, paper ever published in the county. Its career was short, not lasting over two years.
The cause of temperance received attention in the county. and on the 24th of March the Assembly passed an act, "That William Hall, Albert L. Hooton, Charles M. Bishop, William Graham, and John H. Borice, and such others as are regu larly associated with them, are hereby incorporated a body politic and corporate, under the name and style of Rowles burg Division No. 280 of the order of the Sons of Temper ance, situated in Rowlesburg, in the County of Preston."
.
118
HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
June Frost of 1859 .- During the spring of 1859, wheat was selling at an advanced price, but in the latter part of May the promising crops of cereal caused the price to decline. On Saturday, the 3rd of June, waving fields of wheat in bloom were to be seen all over the county. Night came, and with it a visitor. When the light of day broke on the Sab. bath morning, the trees and the earth were white as with a heavy snow. A great frost had fallen, and when the sun rose up in the eastern heavens, drooping leaf and wilting blade were cause of alarm to an excited people. A great many supposed there would be a famine in the county, and, not even waiting for the Sabbath to pass, set off in quest of grain, which advanced with a bound to a high price. People turned from the beautiful wheat crop ruined, and, breaking up large fields, planted them in buckwheat, corn and potatoes. The remainder of the season proved favorable, and large crops were gathered from these late plantings. There was no token in the opening of the year 1860, of the heated political canvass that was soon to convulse the Un- ion, and result in the election of Abraham Lincoln.
An act was passed on the 18th of February by the Gen- eral Assembly, incorporating Bruceton ; and Samuel Wiles, Charles Kantner and Jesse Beerbower were appointed com- missioners to superintend an election for a mayor and six trustees.
On the 13th of the succeeding month, Independence and Cranberry Summit came before the Assembly asking for the honors of incorporation, which were granted by acts passed the same day. Independence was incorporated with a town council of seven trustees and a sergeant, and John W. Perry, Samuel G. Rogers and John Howard, or any two of them, were to hold an election for members thereof. Cranberry Summit, beside an act of incorporation, desired a change of its name, and to be known as Portland thereafter. The As- sembly passed an act incorporating the town by the name of Portland. The officers of the town were to be seven trustees and and a sergeant, they composing the council.
119
FROM 1818 TO 1863.
James W. Brown, M. F. Stuck and William Glover, or any two of them, were authorized to hold an election for mem- bers of said council.
Another decade had gone and the Eight Census of the United States, compiled from official returns, showed that the population of Preston County was as follows : Whites- males, 6780; females, 6402; total white population, 13,182 : free colored-males, 28; females, 17; total of free colored, 45; slaves-males, 31; females, 36; total of slaves, 67. Total population, 13,312-an increase of 1604 in the decade from '50 to '60.
Slaves had decreased from 87 to 67, and free negroes from 59 to 45.
The county contained 92,663 acres of improved, and 195,351 of unimproved, lands in farms, whose cash value was estimated at $2,257,314, with 100,929 dollars' worth of farming implements and machinery.
Of horses the county had 3326; 41 mules, 4993 milch cows, 591 working oxen, and 5846 other cattle; 19,084 sheep; 8854 swine, whose value was estimated at $461,133.
The county produced, during the year ended June 1, 1860, 8933 bushels of wheat, 10,778 bushels of rye, 71,063 bushels of Indian corn, and 104,317 bushels of oats ; 185 pounds tobacco, 47,493 pounds of wool, 107 bushels of peas and beans, 44,655 bushels Irish potatoes, 25 bushels sweet potatoes, 4 bushels barley, 95,357 of buckwheat, 340,988 pounds of butter, 9142 pounds of cheese, 5308 tons of hay, 159 bushels of clover seed, 108 bushels of other grass seeds, 73 pounds of hops, 5355 pounds flax, 471 bushels flaxseed, 2 pounds of silk cocoons, 16,723 pounds maple sugar, 1721 gallons of maple molasses, 579 gallons sorghum molasses, 322 pounds beeswax, 15,474 pounds of honey, and 6 gallons of wine. The value of orchard products was $40. The value of home-made manufactures was $20,088.
The political campaign drew on, and a feverish excitement prevailed. Four presidential tickets were in the field, and men felt that a crisis had come in the affairs of the Nation,
120
HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
From the stump every power of the orator was used to highten the excitement prevailing. When the news of the election flashed over the wires, its unexpected result awakened great excitement in the eastern section of the State. The cry of secession was raised. and the people of Virginia found themselves confronted with the most important question that had ever come up in the history of the State since the days of the Revolution. The east was pronounced in the action of secession it would take, and it remained to be seen what course of action the west would pursue.
The first meeting that was held to consider the great question by the people of the western part of the State, took place in Kingwood on the 12th of November. A small meeting, however was held about this time or prior to it, at Fellowsville, where John Heermans and others denounced secession, and the meeting unanimously resolved in favor of Virginia remaining in the Union.
On the afternoon of the 12th of November, the court that was in session at Kingwood adjourned, and the people from all parts of the county assembled in the court house. Men of all parties, impelled by a cause of common danger, came together. The partizans of Breckenridge, the fol- lowers of Douglas, the adherents of Bell, and the few supporters of Lincoln -- forgetful of their political rivalry, met to express their views upon the great questions growing out of the late election. The Hon. Waitman T. Willey, the Hon. William G. Brown and others made speeches, in which they calmly and deliberately discussed these questions, and urged the people to take no action looking towards a separation of Virginia from the Union. There was no dissenting; men of all parties were in favor of the view presented by the speak- ers, and without a single negative vote a series of resolutions were passed, opposing secession and declaring that any ac- tion of Virginia looking toward secession from the Union would meet with the unqualified disapprobation of the peo- ple of Preston County. The people then dispersed, and carried the news of the meeting all over the county. The
121
FROM 1818 TO 1863.
tidings of the resolute attitude of the people of Preston, went abroad throughout the western part of the State, and helped to encourage the citizens of other counties in calling similar meetings.
The closing days of the year drew on, each filled with some conflicting rumor concerning the state of the country. John Letcher, the Governor of the State, issued a proclamation calling the legislature to meet at Richmond, on the 7th of January of the incoming year. The sessions of the legisla- ture were held biennially, and the winter of 1860-61 was a period of vacation.
This was the second time since the adoption of the con- stitution of 1851, that an extra session had been convoked. The proclamation called the legislature together for the purpose of considering the sale of the State's interest in the James River & Kanawha Canal Company to some French cap- italists, and among other things, "to take into consideration the condition of public affairs, and determine calmly and wisely what action is necessary."
The legislature met on the 7th of January, 1861. Robert E. Cowan and John Scott were members of it for Preston. The Governor sent in his message upon the condition of the country, suggesting a course of action for Virginia to pursue. Commencing with the formation of the Federal Union, he reviewed the progress of the American people down to the crisis then existing. He considered the perpetuation of that Union now to be in imminent peril, which might have been averted by a conference of the Southern States. He recom- mended a general convention of all the States. He said that the North was trying to confine slavery to the States wherein it now existed, and to prevent its introduction into the Territories. He declared that the statutes passed in some of the Northern States, with the speeches made there, had incited raids on the border for the purpose of exciting insurrection among the slaves. He advised the Legislature to appoint commissioners to visit the legislatures of the States that had passed laws to prevent the carrying out of
10
122
HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
the Fugitive Slave Law, and demand, in the name of Vir ginia, their repeal. He opposed the proposition for a call of a State convention to determine the position Virginia should take in the present crisis. He said: "The Union is now disrupted; let the North bear the blame. They have brought the sad and deplorable result upon the country, and the candid and honest men of the world will hold them responsible for the destruction of a government that has challenged the admiration and commanded the respect of the earth." He added that the will of Virginia would be the rule of his action, and that her destiny should be his. The remainder of the message was devoted to the discussion of local affairs and the more efficient organization of the militia.
Both houses passed resolutions for the purpose of making Virginia a mediator between the Federal Government and the seceding States, requesting the suspension of all aggres- sive movements until further negotiations for peace could. be considered. These resolutions were afterwards amended by designating this period to be sixty days. The legisla- ture, after seven days of animated discussion, passed a bill to call together a convention of the people of Virginia, to determine whether Virginia should dissolve her connection with the Federal Union or not, and whether any changes should be made in the organic law of the State. A substi- tute for the bill, offered in the House of Delegates, provi- ding that a vote of the people should determine whether any convention should be called or not, was voted down by a large majority. This action was without precedent in the history of the State. No convention had ever assembled before until it had received the sanction of the people.
The election for delegates to this convention was to be held on the 4th day of February (1861), when one hundred and fifty-two members were to be chosen by the several counties and cities of the Commonwealth. The polls were to remain open for one day only; and the members chosen on that day were to meet on Wednesday, the 13th of Feb- ruary, at the Capitol in the City of Richmond, and proceed
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.