USA > West Virginia > Preston County > History of Preston County (West Virginia) > Part 5
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John Fairfax and James McGrew, in 1811, were Colonels in the militia.
The General Assembly, on the 27th of January, 1812, passed an act providing for the opening of a wagon road from the Monongalia Glades to the mouth of Buffalo, and thence to the confluence of Fishing Creek with the Ohio, where the town of New Martinsville now stands. This road was inten- ded to meet a road opening from Zanesville to the Ohio River opposite the site of New Martinsville. A portion of the revenues of Monongalia, for the year 1812, was appropri- ated to the opening of this road. And it was further en- acted, that John Fairfax, of the County of Monongalia, should be appointed one of three Commissioners, authorized and empowered to make such repairs and alterations as they might deem proper, of the State road leading from the Monongalia State road to the mouth of the Little Kanawha River. That part of this road in the territory of Preston County, was called the Winchester and Clarksburg road. One of the sections designated to receive these repairs, ex- tended from Gandy's, near the site of Gladesville, to the
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PRESTON UNDER MONONGALIA.
stream then called Tyger Valley River, but now known as Tygart's Valley River.
In 1812, war was declared by the United States against England. In that war many of the inhabitants of the terri- tory of Preston were soldiers in the armies of the Republic -doing duty upon the shores of the Great Lakes, and serv- ing on the sea-board at Norfolk. Colonels Fairfax and McGrew were in charge of the militia of the county; but be- fore their turn came to take the field in person, the war closed.
On the 29th of January, 1813, the General Assembly made an additional appropriation for opening the road from the Monongalia Glades to the mouth of Buffalo Creek, and thence to the Ohio River, as being the nearest and best route from the northern part of the State to the State of Ohio and ad- joining territories. This road was projected with the idea of contributing to an increase of population in the country through which it passed, to connect the interests of the east- ern and western parts of Virginia, and to secure commercial intercourse between the State of Ohio, with her adjoining territories, and the eastern markets of Virginia. The citizens of Monongalia were highly interested in the road, as, after its completion, they would be enabled to obtain their salt by a land carriage of only fifty miles from the Ohio River; while, as it was, they were compelled to go clear to Winchester, on a rough road, over the mountain, or bring it from the point where the projected wagon road would strike the river, up to Pittsburgh, and then up the Monongahela to Morgantown- a distance of two hundred and sixty miles from the point where the contemplated road would strike the river. John S. Barnes and William Willey, citizens of Monongalia, were appointed as two of the six commissioners for superintending and opening this wagon road. Monongalia Glades, from which the above road was to start, embraced nearly all of the present District of Valley.
In 1815, the Rev. George Hagans, a native of the State of Vermont, came, on account of his health, from Indiana, to
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
the east side of Cheat, on the territory of Preston; and, in 1818, with his three sons, (Zer, Elisha M., and Harrison,) he removed to the site of the present town of Brandonville, where then only the house of Colonel Brandon stood. Com- mencing with this year, under their influence, the town built up to its present size.
Greenville Furnace .- As well as we can ascertain, about this year, Walter Carlile, commonly called Wat Carlile, com . menced to build a furnace called Greenville, on Laurel Run, east of Cheat River and about five miles from the Mason and Dixon line. A man of no education, but of good business qualifications, without capital, but endowed with powers of wonderful perseverance, he carried his enterprise to comple- tion under the most trying vicissitudes of fortune.
From 1813 to 1818, slow but perceptible progress was made in all parts of the territory of Preston County. A. new county was the theme of discussion, and efforts were made looking toward the accomplishment of that desirable result. The long journeys to be performed in reaching Morgantown for the purpose of attending courts, elections and militia musters, and other attendant inconveniences, were considered a great burden by the inhabitants. These were the reasons presented and urged in favor of a division of Monongalia, and the erection of its north-eastern portion into a new county. The rest of the citizens of the county did not object, and the representatives of Monongalia in the General Assembly, deeming that such a separation would be for the best inter- ests of their constituents, consented to the measure, and gave their support to the bill introduced for the division of the County of Monongalia.
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
CHAPTER VIII. COUNTY OF PRESTON-VIRGINIA.
INCHOATIVE ENTERPRISES-TURNPIKES : NORTHWESTERN-HANGING OF THE NEGRO-RAILROADS : BALTIMORE & OHIO-JUNE FROST- SECESSION : RICHMOND CONVENTION; UNWRITTEN HISTORY; IDEA OF A NEW STATE; ESCAPE OF DELEGATES WM. G. BROWN AND JAMES C. M'GREW ; UNION MEETINGS-THE REBELLION : BAILEY . BROWN, THE FIRST MAN KILLED IN THE WAR-WHEELING CON- VENTIONS .- 1818 to 1863.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia met at the Capitol, in the city of Richmond, on Monday, the first day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen, and of the Commonwealth the forty-second. Its sessions were to possess a more than or- dinary interest for the inhabitants of the territory of Pres- ton. For, before it would come up their petition for sepa- ration from Monongalia-their plea for admission into the sisterhood of counties.
Day after day passed, December and the old year were gone, January and the new year had come, and yet had not come up for their consideration the placing of another name on the roll-call of the counties.
On the 19th day of January, 1818, the General Assembly, after having given the subject due consideration, gratified the anxious wishes of its petitioners, and declared the divis- ion of Monongalia County, and the erection of a new county out of the northwestern part of it, in the following language :
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
"BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That all that part of the county of Monongalia contained within the following bounds, to wit: begining at the Pennsylvania line, near Fickle's, including the same, thence a straight line to where Cheat River breaks through the Laurel Hill, so as to include all the inhabitants of the Monongalia Glades set- tlement, including Samuel Price's and Henry Carother's, from thence, including Gandy's to the Clarksburg road on the Laurel Hill where it descends ; from thence a direct line to the junction of the Big and the Little Sandy Creek, where the Randolph County line is; from thence, with Randolph County, to the Maryland line; from thence to the Pennsylvania line, and with the Pennsylvania line to the beginning, shall form a distinct and new county, and be called and known by the name of Preston County." Acts of Assembly, 1817-18, Chapter xxxii, page 32.
And thus was created Preston, the thirty-fifth county of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Continuing on in the good practice of honoring and preserving the memories of her noble and deserving sons, Virginia turned to one of her hon- ored Revolutionary heroes, General James C. Preston, then occupying her Gubernatorial chair, and called the new county PRESTON.
The first court of quarterly sessions was appointed to meet on the first Monday in March, 1818; but did not convene until some time later. John Fairfax, as the oldest Justice by Commission, acted as president of the court. The jus- tices composing the court, so far as can be ascertained, were Frederick Hersh, Hugh Evans, Nathaniel Metheny, Joseph Matthews, Nathan Ashby, William Sigler, Benjamin Shaw, and John Scott.
These magistrates received no compensation for their ser- vices. They were commissioned by the Governor, upon recommendation of the court of quarterly sessions, com- monly called the county court, and transacted all business for the public free of charge, receiving no salary or compensation ; but every two years the county court, by a
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
time-honored custom, would recommend the oldest member of their body by commission to the Governor, as a person fit to be Sheriff, and he would be appointed by the Governor as sheriff of the county, and at the end of his term the county court would recommend that member of its body whose commission dated farthest back, and so on, giving each magistrate a chance of obtaining a term of the sheriffalty, if he lived long enough, as the magistrates were appointed by the Governor for life, or during good behavior.
This court met at the house of William Price in the town of Kingwood, by requirement of act of Assembly, and pro- vided for the purchase of the store-room of John Roberts, to be used as a Court-house until further provisions could be made for building.
Colonel John Fairfax, by seniority of commission, received the appointment of Sheriff. Not having time from his own business affairs to discharge the duties of the office, he sold the appointment to Joseph D. Suit, who, as deputy, served as Sheriff during Fairfax's term.
The second county court was held in Roberts's store-room, on the first Monday in April, 1818.
Nathan Ashby, one of the justices, was authorized, by act of Assembly, to erect a toll-bridge across Snowy Glade Creek, on the State road, 12 feet wide and 350 feet long, and to be 4 feet above the swamp.
A little east of the centre of the town of Kingwood, and more than a square and a half from the present Court-house, stood the first Court-house in the county of Preston. It had been used as a store room by a man named John Roberts ; and, in later years, was erected on its site the house now occupied by Oliver Dunn, as a dwelling. It was a one story frame, perhaps twenty-six feet long, and about twenty-five feet wide, painted with mineral clay, from the well known "paint- bank," in Valley District. From its color, it was called the "Old Red Court-house." A partition was removed, and a back room made for a jury-box, just large enough to hold twelve men ; and for an office the clerk had a space for all
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
his books and documents in the court-room. The bench and bar, improvised in the same primitive manner as the jury room and the clerk's office, were found on the right hand side of the building, entering from the street.
Back of it was raised a structure of hewed logs for the jail, a rather insecure home for the sons of crime. In front of it stood that intimidating landmark of primitive law, the whip- ping post. The post has decayed in its place, is seen no more, and no longer serves as an index to point the erring wretch to things above and higher than his low and groveling plane of life; but, in its stead, the spire and dome of church and school appear, indexing the upward tendencies and on- ward progress of the age.
On the first Monday after the fourth Monday in April the circuit court of the Eleventh Circuit held its first session for the new county, in the old red Court-house. The Hon. Daniel Smith, of Harrisonburg, was judge, and appointed James McGee prosecutor, and Eugene M. Wilson clerk of the court. The attorneys before the court were the Hon. Thomas Wilson, James McGee and William G. Payne, all of Morgantown.
The population of the county was now about 3000.
The taxes laid this year, and which the citizens of the State were required to pay, were as follows: on lands, for every hundred dollars' value, 75 cents; for all houses and lots in towns, three dollars for every hundred dollars' yearly rent or value thereof; for every slave above the age of twelve years, 70 cents; for horses, 18 cents each; for every ordinary license, or license to keep a house of private entertainment, seven dollars on every hundred dollars' yearly rent or value thereof: Provided, That for no such license less than eighteen dollars shall be paid. And provided also, That no tax shall be levied on a house of private entertainment, unless the same be situated within a town, borough or city, or within 800 yards, actual distance, from some public road or high- way; for every two-wheeled riding carriage, not exceeding
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
one hundred dollars' value, 50 cents; for every stage-wagon, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value, two dollars and fifty cents. Every license to sell merchandise of foreign growth or manufacture, by wholesale and retail, was taxed sixty dollars; for retail only, twenty dollars; but every farmer or planter was allowed to sell salt, tea, molasses, sugar, coffee, spices, iron or steel, to his neighbors, when he had purchased such articles as a return load for his produce or other property taken to market. A license to hawk or peddle dry goods cost forty dollars; to trade in tin or pew- ter, twenty dollars; and the exhibitor of any show paid fif- teen dollars license for showing in any city, borough or cor- poration. The common "carry-alls" or "Jersey wagons" were taxed two dollars and fifty cents, being classed with the stage-wagons. Lists of all the above taxable persons and property were made out by the commissioners of the rev- enue.
The citizens of Preston now felt themselves relieved of the necessity of long journeys from home to reach the county seat.
As yet game was abundant in all parts of the county. The panther, however, was retreating before the advance of civili- zation, while the wolf and the bear still remained in consider- able numbers upon the outskirts of the settlements. The buffalo, present in small numbers in the summer seasons when the first settlers came, entirely disappeared in a few years afterwards. Deer were still present in great numbers and easily killed. And, entering almost any house a little distance from the few villages springing up in the county, deer-horns could be seen, and upon some walls hung "the branching honors of the monarch of the waste."
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Pack-horses were still used to carry large quantities of linen to market, and the primitive pack-saddle was yet no rarity in the county. Described by one now living, who well recollects seeing it in his boyhood days, it was often made as follows: A large forked limb was obtained, and was cut off just below the fork, and then each fork was cut off about six
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
inches from the crotch and trimmed down to the required dimensions to accommodate the loads to be carried upon it ; then a flat, smooth board was nailed on the bottom, and it. was placed on the horse's back, with a sheep-skin pad under it, and the load laid across it; or, divided into two bundles, swung on each side by a rope or band.
Habits of thrift, frugality and economy, learned from a generation past, marked the inhabitants of the new county. Now were the beginnings of mercantile enterprise seen in a- small store or two in each little village, contemporary with the introduction of frame and stone buildings.
The raising of cattle began to be a considerable business. and drovers from the South Branch visited the county for the purpose of buying up droves for the eastern market. The cattle business brought money from a distance into the county, and stimulated the people to renewed efforts in building up and improving their county.
The census of 1820 showed that there were 3422 people living within the boundaries of the new county.
The tub-mill was now superseded by the water mill, equip- ped with a set of country stones, but doing fair work, and grinding some wheat along with the corn and buckwheat. The few villages were increasing in size, and in the amount of business transacted in them, and while farms were being opened in all parts of the county, yet considerable stretches of its territory were in unbroken forest, full of game, and every stream was filled with fish from the delicious trout down to the unsightly cat-fish.
And while the material interests of the new county were brightening and improving, the mental and moral were also advancing. Log school-houses and churches existed at every village, and steps were being taken, at some- points, to sup- ply their places with frame buildings.
A stone Court-house and jail were erected, to take the place of the wooden and log structures first used. Some time, however, before the stone jail was fit for the reception of prisoners, three persons were confined in the old log jail ;
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
a negro runaway slave, and two white men, one for stealing. and the other for debt. One night these prisoners escaped: and, upon their departure, fired the jail. The flames from the building, although at the midnight hour, were almost instantly discovered, and a large crowd immediately gathered. The first impulse of the people was to relieve the prisoners confined in the building; when, to their surprise, they found that they had relieved themselves in advance of the fire they had kindled. Pursuit was made, and the escaped prisoners were overtaken, arrested and brought back; and, for want of a jail to confine them in, they made use of the old red Court-house for that purpose. James Carroll and Charles Hoeton were placed as guards over them, to prevent their burning the old Court-house.
In a few days, the white man confined for debt was dis- charged; while his comrade was tied up to the whipping-post, and given the benefit of so many lashes, well laid on, for stealing the leather. The runaway negro now alone remain- ed as a prisoner. To make him secure, a chain was fastened from one leg to the other. A few days after this chain had been put on him, he complained of its hurting him, and wrapped rags round the chain in presence of the guard. One night after this, he went into the old jury-room; and staying in for some time, the guards went to see what his dong continued absence meant. Upon entering the jury- room, they picked up a piece of a broken grate bar with which he had broken the chain some time that day, and concealing his' work with rags, had waited until night to effect his escape. Entering the jury-room, he had unloosed the rags holding the chain together, and climbing up to a high window, sprang out and left. Pursuit was made, but nothing was seen or heard of him-
Immigrant teams daily passed through the county, on their way to Ohio, which, in those days, was called the "West." Greenville furnace was in blast, salt-making was beginning to attract attention, and the county in its slow and
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
gradual improvement, was offering increased advantages ev- ery day to the better class of immigrants.
The General Assembly, on the 11th of January, 1826, ex- tended the limits of the town of Kingwood to embrace what is known as the Sigler addition.
The citizens of Preston, after having organized their county. felt their next great need to be better roads, to facilitate travel from point to point in the county, and to give them a better outlet to market for the products of the soil, and those things. "which would walk away," meaning cattle, horses and swine. Their first great need, the shortening of distance to the county seat, had been attained in the erection of their county. Their next and present great need was turnpike roads to connect them with the markets of the East. And until these roads were made, they felt that their county would never enter upon that career of prosperity it was des- tined to enjoy on account of its location, soil and mineral wealth. These turnpike roads derived their name from toll gates, or turnpikes, placed upon them for the collection of toll from passengers and travelers, which was used to make and repair them.
The town of Brandonville, in the northern part of the. county, on lands of Jonathan Brandon, was established by act of the General Assembly on the 17th day of January, 1827. Jonathan Brandon, Harrison Hagans, Samuel Rodaheaver, James McGrew, and William Conner were appointed trus- tees. A separate poll for elections was established to be hereafter kept at the house of Harrison Hagans, in the said town of Brandonville. Preston now had two voting places, Kingwood' and Brandonville; and two post-offices, King wood and German Settlement-the latter kept near the pres- ent site of Aurora. Kingwood, according to the Post-office Guide of 1822, was 185 miles from Washington City, and 295 from Richmond; and German Settlement, 170 miles from Washington City, and 275 from Richmond.
A third election poll was established by the General As- sembly, on January 17th, 1827, at the house of David Stem-
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FROM 1818 TO 1863.
ple. in the Germany Settlement, on the east side of Cheat River.
The subject of turnpikes was agitated in Preston and ad- joining counties, and as a result of this agitation, the Gen- eral Assembly, on the 27th of February, 1827, passed an act to incorporate the Northwestern Road Company, to build a road from Winchester to some proper place on the Ohio River, between the mouths of Muskingum and Little Kan- awha Rivers. Books for receiving subscriptions were to be opened at Winchester, Romney, Moorfield, Beverly, King- wood, Pruntytown, Clarksburg and Parkersburg. At King- wood the books were to be opened for subscriptions under the direction of William Price, Charles Byrne and Thomas Brown, or any two of them. The amount of capital stock for the whole road was to be 75,000 dollars, in shares of twenty dollars each. When 15,000 dollars of said stock was taken, the subscribers were to meet at Kingwood and organize the Company. The citizens of Preston anxiously desired this great road to be opened through their county. The increase of population and wealth which it would bring, and the building up of enterprises just began which it would insure; the out-let for products of the soil which it would afford, and the general and rapid improvement of the whole county which must ensue from its early establishment, made it an improvement greatly to be desired indeed.
On the 8th of March, the General Assembly passed an act confirming an act of the General Assembly of Maryland, in- corporating the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company. Commissioners were appointed to open books for receiving subscriptions for this railroad, then a rival, and afterwards to become the successor, of the Northwestern Turnpike, as a great connecting highway between the East and the West.
The Northwestern Turnpike was the topic of general in- terest in Preston, while the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, receiving some attention, was yet considered as of lesser im- portance.
The act for the construction of the Northwestern road. and
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HISTORY OF PRESTON COUNTY.
its location through the southern part of Preston County, drew attention to that portion of the county then but little improved, and through which passed a rough and broken road only, from Maryland, by way of Mount Carmel, across Cheat, over the mountain, and south of where Evansville now stands, and leaving the county near the site of Ice's Mill on Little Sandy. A few settlers lived along this road, and in its immediate vicinity, while the surrounding country was but little else than an unbroken forest-an occasional cabin here and there appearing.
The northern part of the county had an outlet for its pro- ductions, and a market for the sale of horses, sheep, cattle and hogs, at Somerfield and various other points on the Na- tional Road, passing within three miles of the northeastern part of the county. Before this their market was at Win- chester, by way of Selbysport and Westernport .. The cen- tral part of the county used the Monongalia State road to Winchester, for market purposes, while a portion of the wes- tern, central and northern parts of the county still continued to use the Monongahela, as a way to Pittsburgh, which was the head of western navigation, to inter-change their products -especially those in the shape of whiskey and iron, for many needed articles brought by steamboats from New Orleans ..
The few copper stills in the county, added the small amount of their production to the large quantities of the Old Monongahela rye whiskey, conveyed by boat from Brownsville and Pittsburgh to New Orleans, and thence sent all over the world. This pure old Monongahela copper dis- tilled rye whiskey was of world wide renown, and often graced the board of prince and potentate of the Old World. It took its name from being principally distilled in the Mo- nongahela Valley.
Drovers: came in now from Pennsylvania and Maryland, and competed with the drovers from the South Branch in the purchase of cattle, which they drove to market over the National Road, striking it at Somerfield.
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