USA > West Virginia > Preston County > History of Preston County (West Virginia) > Part 4
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
pack horses. Their goods consisted of the mere necessaries life.
A little iron and salt, a few pounds of flour or meal, and a rant stock of clothing, with a few tools, comprised in many rases the sum total of their movable possessions. Their. ef fects were made up in bundles, and two of them slung across the horse, one upon either side, and thus they came, follow- ing out the old Braddock road, or crossing the mountains by Indian trails or hunters' paths. scarce wide enough and clear enough of brush to allow them to pass along single file.
Arriving, the first thing to be done was to clear off a spot for a cabin, and then proceed to cut logs to erect it. The selection of the cabin site was always determined by a good spring of water. And, in order to build where they burst torth, the house or cabin was almost sure to be found at. the head of a hollow, or on a low location.
The logs cut, a day was appointed for the "raising," and every one within six or seven, and even ten miles, would be present to "give a lift" at the cabin. The round logs, notched at the ends, were rapidly placed in position, the building raised a single story, the roof of clap-boards placed on and secured by weight poles, iron being too scarce and dear for the settler to think of using nails; the slab, or puncheon door, swung upon wooden hinges, a log left partly out to be filled with a few panes of glass placed lengthwise, or the space to be occupied by paper greased with hog's lard to let in the light. The puncheon floor was next put down, which consisted of slabs placed down, with a dressed side up, and secured by wooden pins driven in holes bored at each end. And likely to complete this building of a day, a few loop holes were left to afford security from Indian attacks.
After the cabin was raised, which was accomplished gen- erally about the middle of the afternoon, all would gather in the open space before the cabin door, to engage in the pastimes and sports of that period-feats of dexterity and trials of physical strength. The remainder of the day, till
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evening, would thus be passed away with foot-races, trials of skill with the rifle, throwing the shoulder stone, lifting a great rock, or engaging in friendly wrestles.
The call to supper would end these varied sports, and they would sit down to a feast of corn bread and an array of wild game that would tempt to-day the appetite of the daintiest epicure.
After supper they bade the new comer good-bye, and gave him an honestly-expressed invitation to visit them. And with the setting of the sun in the western horizon-in the shades of evening, with the twilight's gray falling on stream and hill, the settlers would scatter off toward their homes: but with their trusty rifles, inseparable companions in those days, they fearlessly trod the forest wilds at any hour of the night.
The newcomer would busy himself for several days after his cabin was raised, in building himself a commodious stone chimney extending nearly across one end of his building, and whose hearth was of ample dimensions to accommodate a back-log of such size as would require a horse to draw it into the cabin and deposit it in front of the capacious fire-place. whereon it was rolled by means of handspikes. With the completion of the chimney, the house was ready for occu- pancy by the family.
The settler cleared out a patch for corn, planted it, built his bear pens, and spent every spare moment in the forest hunting, seeing that meat was the main dependence as food for several years, until he could clear out his patch into a field large enough to provide him 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 fer tility. It was counted for so many crops; and, by the time exhausted, another would be cleared out to take its place -- the primitive idea of rotation of crops.
When the corn was raised (for wheat was not thought of,)
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
it was necessary to prepare it for the table. There were no mills, and it was placed in the hominy block and pounded with a pestle, and 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 introduction of the hand mill, which consisted of two stones placed in a hoop provided with a spout for the dis- charge 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 distance to grind on them.
They tanned their hides with the brains of animals, em- ploying the simplest methods possible, and had a trough nunk in the ground for tanning their leather, which was affected by the use of bark, ashes and tallow. This made a very coarse, but very substantial article for use.
Every man had to be his own blacksmith. carpenter and shoemaker.
Their manners, though not polished, were open and frank, even to roughness at times, when they considered themselves insulted or their rights invaded.
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 advantage was suffered to be taken by either party, and the fight continued till one of the contestants being satisfied with the hammering he was re- ceiving from his adversary, would cry out "enough," when his assailant would desist, and the matter ended. No after- talk of knives, pistols and slungshots, or planning of a cow- ardly 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, were hospitable, and feared no danger. They spoke of neighbor Jones, not
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Mr. Jones; of Jones's clearing, not Mr. Jones's form A neighbor was any one within three or four miles.
The settlers, during this period, had nothing but then furs with which to procure iron and salt, and leaving home with a pack horse heavily laden they crossed the mountains by bridle-paths to the South Branch, 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 wolves around and the scream of the panther in the distance. On their return when approaching homes, they dreaded to look towards them lest a pile of ashes might greet their gaze, showing that the Indians had been there, murdered their families and burned their homes.
Entering the house, usually the first object that greeted your gaze, was the loom upon which the women wove the home-made clothing of that day, called linsey, a warm and lasting article made from flax and wool. Beside the loom stood the spinning wheel. The floor, white as sand and water could make it.
When the dinner hour arrived, proud was the housewife who could grace her board with a full set of pewter plates. The horn hanging upon the wall, called the husband in when the ample repast of johnny cake and wild meat of two or three kinds was ready.
Crossing the threshold, the settler gave you a cordial wel- come, and 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, a firm step and fear. less eye. All this was calculated to make a lasting im- pression upon you of the character of the first settlers of West Virginia.
And no wonder when the fortunes of war brought a dark and trying hour to the cause of American Independence, that General Washington, in anticipation of continued re 5
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
verses, declared that, if driven from the sea-coast, he would retreat to the Alleghanies, and there rally his shattered col- umns in defense of the liberties of his country. He well knew the character of the hardy, fearless race whose ac- quaintance he had formed in early life, and was well aware that lands, and even life itself, were not too precious gifts for them to give in the cause of their country's liberties.
We find mention of John and Samuel Robinett in 1783, near where Brandonville was afterwards laid out, and with them mention of Robert Forman, a quaker.
In 1783, surveys were made in Monongalia, and the land office was opened for the issue of patents, and then followed a busy time among the settlers patenting the lands they had been living on for years, and taking up adjoining tracts of Iand.
The years 1784 and 1785, were marked by the repetition of the transactions of 1783. Commencing in 1784 and con- tinuing for several years, Francis and William Deakins took up numerous tracts of land, varying from 100 to 500 acres in extent, selecting what they thought to be "choice spots" all over the eastern part of the county. After taking up a good many of these tracts, they took up according to some of the old county surveyors who ran over these lines, large tracts of from 1000 to 2000 acres by lines of reference, that is, stating lines from a known point to other known points, and thus enclosing these tracts to be afterwards sur- veyed, and these lines by reference also were to be run and established. They took some lands, but not a large quantity, on the west side of Cheat, south of the Great Survey.
Claibourne and Maylon were now engaged in making sur- veys, and obtaining patents for the tracts of land within the Great Survey.
Amos Roberts and others in 1785, settled round Thos. Chips near Willey, and James Spurgin was now at Morris's Fort, having come out the preceding year.
The next year Patrick McGrew came from Cumberland
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County, Pennsylvania, and settled near the then future site of Brandonville
Sometime after the close of the Revolutionary war, and not later than 1786, General Simon Kenton brought his father with him from the east, and traveling westward struck the head waters of Cheat, and dropping down its waters in a canoe they were the guests of the settlers on the Dunkard Bottom. Keeping on down Cheat they entered the Monon- gahela, and stopping at Fort Redstone, at that time the head of western navigation, his father died, and the great western adventurer continued alone his journey back to Kentucky.
Poes, the noted Indian fighters, were on the Dunkard Bot- tom once or twice on a visit and hunting trip of a few days.
About this time was the introduction of the Tub-mill. Its construction was as follows : the upper end of a perpendicu- lar shaft was fitted in the bed-stone, and its lower end car- ried a wheel four or five feet in diameter; as the wheel was sunk in the stream the force of the current turned it and the wheel the shaft, and the shaft the bed-stone against the upper stone, and ground the grain.
The settlers were beginning to raise some wheat, but still corn was the main cereal raised for consumption, as many of the settlers doubted whether wheat ever could be raised as a profitable crop.
John Willits was near the site of Brandonville, in 1786.
In the summer of this year came Rev. John Stough from the East to the present vicinity of Aurora, in quest of a site for a settlement, and found east of Aurora, near the present line between West Virginia and Maryland, a log house occu- pied by William Ashby who had been there several years, while up on Cheat near the Tucker County line he found James Goffe who was occupying a farm settled on a few years back by a man by the name of Jordon.
He looked at different places, and made selection of the country just south of Aurora and including the site of Mount Carmel as a location suitable for the men who sent him out.
In 1787 Rev. John Stough returned to the vicinity of
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
Aurora, accompanied by Jacob Wagoner, Jacob Diedrick, an- other man and his family. These four families settled at Mount Carmel, one half mile south of Aurora, and were the founders of the German Settlement. And the next year came the Ridenours, Stemples, Wotrings, Hecks and Her -. shes. to swell its numbers.
About this time Jacob Wetzel came one day to Jacob Wolfe's near Muddy Creek, on a visit to his sister Christina, Wolfe's wife, and playfully asking his sister if she wanted a present, on her answering affirmatively, he threw into her lap the scalp of an Indian chief, but scarcely dry. The long tuft of hair was interwoven with silk and silver beads.
The Indians on the Ohio in 1788 planned an expedition to kill William Morgan. They started at the mouth of Fishing Creek on the Ohio, following up that creek, and crossing the dividing ridge to the head waters of Indian Creek, and down that creek to its mouth, crossing the Monongalia where Smithtown now stands, then up the valley of White Day Creek, and leaving the valley of that creek, took an eastward direction so as to fall on the head waters of Morgan's Run, and follow it down to the house of William Morgan.
The Indians had sworn vengeance on the name of Morgan, since David Morgan in 1779 had slain two Indians near Morgantown, and with others had skinned them and tanned their hides for shot-pouches and saddle-seats. This expedi- tion was projected to kill William Morgan on account .of their hatred to the Morgans, who were all great Indian fighters.
The Indian war party when it arrived upon the narrow divide between the head waters of Morgan's Run on the one side, and Green's Run on the other, in mistake fell down on the left of Green's Run, and soon came in hearing of Daniel Lewis who was spliting rails. Killing him, they obtained Green's gun which Lewis had brought out with him.
They then pushed forward and soon came to Green's house, on the run near Cheat River, and as they approached, a little daughter of John Green's came out of the house.
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PRESTON UNDER MONONGALIA.
One of the Indians shot at her, the ball passing through her hand. She fell with her wounded hand on her head, and had presence of mind to lie still. The Indians then rushed into the house and killed John Greene, who was unarmed, taking his wife and two grown-up daughters prisoners. On coming out of the house, one of the savages went to the little girl, whose head was now all covered with blood from the wound in her hand. Thinking her dead, they left her undisturbed, and beat a rapid retreat, without burning the. house.
The little girl, after their departure, cautiously rose and made her way down to the river, where her cries for assis- tance brought a man across in a canbe from Thomas Butler's, at Butler's Fort. The alarm was now given, but before a force could be collected, the savages were too far away for a successful pursuit.
According to a tradition, there were seven of these Indians, six Mingo warriors led by a Shawnee, who was partly acquainted with the country.
The killing of John Green was the last murder the In- dians ever committed in Preston County. No war party ever crossed its borders again. One fact is very remarkable in regard to all murders committed on the territory of Pres- ton County ; they all took place on or near the Great War path.
Indian invasions in 1789, were but little apprehended, and the settlements were fast filling up with immigrants from the South Branch, the Valley of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
The hardships and privations of frontier life, though greatly lessened, were yet a great burden upon the settlers.
Colonel John Fairfax, formerly Superintendent of the Mount Vernon estate of General Washington, now came out. He was on his way to the West, upon its recommendation by General Washington, as a country that would one day be very valuable.
Colonel Fairfax intended to visit Kentucky, in prospect of
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
a location ; but upon arriving in Monongalia, reports of in- creasing trouble with the Indians, induced him to change his mind, and purchase from Philip Doddridge, a large tract of land situated in the Monongalia Glades, as the coun- try now surrounding Reedsville and Masontown was then called.
On September 21, 1789, at a session of the Superior Court held at Monongalia Court-house, we find that Thomas Wil- son, who afterward resided in the Monongalia Glades, was an attorney before said court. Thomas Butler and Thomas Chips served on the grand jury.
In the spring of 1790, James Brown (father of the Hon. William G. Brown) came to the neighborhood wherein Kingwood stands. He left Ireland in 1789, where his opin- ions, openly expressed in favor of America during the Revo- lutionary War, rendered him unpopular with the suppor- ters of the crown.
James Cobun now came from Morgantown to the Monon- galia Glades; Colonel Fairfax returned this year from Prince William County, accompanied by the Byrnes ; and we find account of William Watson, Robert McMillen, Daniel Fortney; Jacob Wolfe again, who lived in what is now Pleasant District, and who married Christina, sister of Lewis Wetzel ; and of numbers of old and worthy settlers locating in the county, but too'numerous for farther individual men- tion in this chapter.
The German settlement made in 1787, and called Salem by its founders, had increased rapidly in numbers, and on the Fourth of July, 1793, Leonard Deakins and a man by the name of Hogmire laid out Mount Carmel, A public square was laid off and marked by planting four small upright stones bearing as inscriptions the name of the place, the year and day that it was laid out, and the first year of Washington's second administration. In this public square was marked a site for a court-house. This is the first trace we have of any action of the settlers anywhere in the present limits of Pres-
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ton, looking toward the formation of a new county out of the northeastern part of Monongalia. The northeast stone marking this public square, is still standing.
From this year until 1795, the settlements rapidly in- creased in numbers, and the pioneer clearings of 1785 were slowly widening out into farms of considerable size.
The settlements no longer had any fear of Indians, as Wayne's great victory the preceding year had driven them so far back from the Ohio, that their war parties could never again be able to invade the Virginia frontier. With the close of this year, the Red Warriors left, and left forever, their cherished hunting-grounds along the Monongahela and upon the Cheat River hills.
In 1795, "The Whiskey Insurrection" closed, but none of the settlers of Preston were engaged in it.
Court Records Burned .- About this time the Monongalia court records were destroyed by fire, and all the county records from 1776 to 1796 were burnt-an irreparable loss felt by the whole county. In those records destroyed were many interesting facts, accurately recorded, some of which to-day are totally lost, while others can be but partially se- cured for the pages of this book.,
The court recommended Jonathan Brandon, in 1796, in place of Daniel McCollum, who had resigned, as Captain of one of the militia companies. Brandon lived where Bran- donville now stands, while McCollum lived on Big Sandy, about three miles above Brandon. Alexander Brandon was one of the Commissioners of the Revenue in this year ..
From 1796 to 1799, nothing of any interest took place, be- yond the steady increase of immigration.
In 1799, we find from records that the Superior Court was in session at Monongalia Court-house, and that John Willits was on the grand jury. On the 15th day of the session, the grand jury presented a petition praying that the present monthly courts be abolished, and that the business transacted by them be transferred to the quarterly courts and the mag- istrates. Alexander Brandon was fined eight dollars for not
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
appearing in answer to his summons as a juror. Thomas Butler and John Fairfax, Justices, were in attendance upon all these monthly courts
Colonel John Fairfax was a very prominent man on ac- count of his former position as Superintendent of the Mount Vernon estate, and his acquaintance with many of the leading men of Virginia. Persons from a distance, coming into the country, sought him to obtain information regarding the country and its future prospects.
The close of this year brings us down to the opening of the Nineteenth Century.
From 1781 to 1800 was a period of great improvement upon that of 1776 to 1781. The single-story round-log cabin of the frontier, standing in a deadened clearing, had been succeeded by the respectable two-story hewn-log house, surrounded by cultivated fields and waving grain. The bridle-path and pack horse road had been transformed into the more commodious emigrant road. The hand-mill had given place to the tub-mill; while instead of having to go to Morgantown for the transaction of the simplest legal busi- ness, the people had competent magistrates in every neigh- borhood.
1776 to 1781 was a war period full of increased dangers, succeeding the pioneer period from 1769 to 1776. On the east, along the rocky walls of Laurel Hill Ridge, reverberated the thunders of the Revolutionary struggle; and on the west, along the crest-line of Chestnut Ridge, echoed the war- whoop of the cruel and murderous Indian. Only two feeble stockades-Morris's Fort and Butler's Fort-interposed to stay threatened invasions by the Red Warriors of the forest.
The succeeding period from 1781 to 1800 began with the cessation of hostilities between the Colonies and England, and ended with freedom from all Indian hostilities.
The settlers on the territory of Preston, now began to complain of the distance they were compelled to go in order to attend court, to vote, and to muster; and to discuss the necessity and the probability of a division of the county.
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They argued that its settled territory was already too large for one county, and that the northeastern part was of suffi- cient size, and soon would contain the requisite population, to justify its erection into a new county.
We find nothing of any interest to record between 1800 and 1805, beyond the fact that a few wagons were brought into the county and used instead of sleds and ox-carts, and the widening and bettering of the few roads then existing. The Winchester and Clarksburg road was the main thorough- fare. Over it the furs now obtained in diminished quantities, the venison and bear meat, and the linen fabrics manufac- tured in large quantities, were still carried East on pack- horses, to be bartered for salt and iron.
The Winchester and Clarksburg road, as called, but which was the Monongalia State road, entering Preston near Cran- berry, came by the Dunkard Bottom and through where Kingwood stands, passing in the vicinity of Gladesville, and on to the county line. A branch, called the Morgantown and Winchester road, left about three miles from the site of Kingwood, and ran through the Monongalia Glades by Reedsville to Morgantown. Several taverns were on this road, and a noted camping-place was on the site of King- wood, where the Court-house now stands.
Heavy rough wagons over this road, none too smooth, car ried West the necessaries of life, which found a ready market at high prices, a bushel of salt being worth four dollars, and a pound of iron twelve cents. Luxuries commanded extrava . gant figures : a pound of coffee sold for a dollar, and a yard of calico for half that amount.
During this time we find Colonel John Fairfax represent. ing Monongalia in the House of Delegates. In 1805 he was Sheriff of Monongalia County.
In June, 1806, crowds assembled in Morgantown from all parts of the county, the part now constituting Preston being duly represented, to witness the execution of a man named Clemmens, who had murdered his wife and children.
From 1805 to 1807, nothing of much importance occurred.
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
Jackson's iron-works, on Cheat River, just beyond the pres- ent Preston County line, gave employment to a large number of men from all parts of Monongalia. The iron was carried on flat-boats to New Orleans, where it found market.
Kingwood Founded .- Conrad Sheets, Jacob Funk, and a man by the name of Steele, in 1807, built houses upon the site of Kingwood, and named the place Kingwood, from the grove of large and stately trees which stood round an emi- grant camping-place, where the Court-house now stands. This body of timber was known by the emigrants as the "King-wood," or grove of "King-trees."
On the 23d of January, 1811, the General Assembly estab- lished Kingwood as a town of Monongalia. It was the first town established by the General Assembly on the territory of Preston.
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