USA > West Virginia > Ritchie County > History of Ritchie County, with biographical sketches of its pioneers and their ancestors, and with interesting reminiscences of revolutionary and Indian times > Part 14
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 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
The Silver Run of to-day is a paying oil-center. Its entire population, including oil-field laborers, section hands and residents is not more than two hundred, and the little hamlet-station consists of three dwellings, a store-house, a blacksmith-shop, a telegraph office, a school-house, and a platform. Here our boy-poet-author-editor, to whom we are indebted for this sketch, lives; and here his print-shop is located : and it is not at all unlikely that in the time we call some day, that this little corner of the universe will be dis- tinguished as the birthplace of a modern Longfellow or Bay- ard Taylor.
158
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Rusk .- Isaac Nutter, as stated in an earlier chapter, was the first settler at Rusk, his old cabin having stood on the farm that is now owned by W. J. Moats. And the next notable landmark here was the old Pribble mill, which came upon the stage as early as 1839, with Daniel Pribble as builder and operator, but the wheels of this old mill ceased to turn before its owner crossed to the other side, and the site is now marked by the Moats' mill. which was built by the late William Meredith, father of the Rev. Thomas Meredith, of the West Virginia Methodist Episcopal conference, per- haps, thirty-five years ago. But Mr. Moats has been the owner and proprietor for the past quarter of a century, and during the year 1909, he rebuilt and enlarged this mill, and added his store to the structure.
The Pribbles .- Our information concerning Daniel Prib- ble is very meager, but he was a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania, and removed from there to Wirt county before coming to this community, where he died. He married Miss Amanda Melvina Jackson, sister of Henry Jackson, and was the father of several children, whose names are missing.
His brother, Hugh Pribble, senior, who married Miss Permilia Elizabeth Jackson, another sister of Henry, was also an early settler here. He was the father of Hugh Pribble, of Cisko : the Rev. U. Pribble, of Harrisville : Mrs. Herilda Hall, of Washington state; the late Mrs. Charles Harrison, senior, of Cantwell; the late Mrs. Henrietta Mason, and other chil- dren.
The hamlet of Rusk, which is little more than a thickly settled community, came into existence near the year 1880. when the post-office was established. It was named in honor of the maiden name of the late Mrs. Charles Lewis, her name being spelled "Russ."
Frank Davis, son-in-law of Mr. Meredith, erected the first dwelling, and was the first merchant and post-master. The first school-house stood on the farm of C. A. Kearns. There are now six or seven residences close enough together to resemble a hamlet, two stores, a mill, one church (M. P.). a school-house, blacksmith-shop, and no post-office, as the rural route has swallowed it up. J. W. Heck is the other merchant .. besides Mr. Moats, and he is also the telephone operator.
Sarred to the Memory
nf
William and
Frances Hiatt M'Kinney
Time conquers all, and we must time obey. -Pope.
And, oh! the crowning joy of life, Where'er that life may be, Is the true heart that through all strife Still living, trusts in me.
-Donn Piatt.
CHAPTER X
First Settlers in the Cairo Vicinity
HE first settlers in the Cairo vicinity were, Isaac, Levi, John, and Thomas Nutter- four brothers, and Richard Gillispie, who, early in the century, took up their abode at the mouth of Addis' run;1 but they, having no title for the land, were only temporary settlers, and, at the coming of William Mc- Kinney, in 1818, they found homes elsewhere.
Richard Gillispie, being compelled to flee from the indig- nation of his neighbors, owing to a difficulty which had arisen over the killing of a cow, had sought refuge on the stream that bears his name-"Gillispie's run," before the coming of the Mckinneys : but the Nutter Brothers remained here until that time.
The Nutters .- This family of Nutters. like the ones of Oxford and Holbrook, were descended from the traditional four brothers, that came from England and settled in Harrison county in Colonial times.
Isaac Nutter married Miss Elizabeth Webb, who was, perhaps, the sister of Nutter Webb, of Webb's mill, and after leaving Addis' run, made the first settlement where the vil- iage of Rusk now stands ; and in 1844, having lived at different other points in the meantime, he removed to the farin just below the mouth of Gillispie's run, and from here, in 1856, went to Indiana, where he fell asleep.
He was the father of several children, and not a few of his descendants are still citizens of this county.
Margaret, the eldest daughter, married Jesse Cain, of Rusk, and was the mother of E. A. Cain, and Siotha Cain, of
"This stream took its name from a man by the name of Addis, who owned the land here at the time of the arrival of the Nutters.
161
FIRST SETTLERS IN THE CAIRO VICINITY
Rusk; J. W. Cain, of Harrisville-the County surveyor ; Frank Cain, of Ellenboro ; and Mrs. Simon Tenant, of Petro- leum.
John Nutter, the eldest son, went to Indiana; Matthew, to Missouri; George, to Wisconsin; Jane was the late Mrs. William Enoch, of Indianapolis ; Elizabeth married Alexander Bickerstaff, and resides at Mellin; David rests in California : and Mrs. Nancy Clarke, the youngest daughter, who married again after the death of Mr. Clarke, resides in California. She and Mrs. Bickerstaff being the only survivors of the family (of Isaac Nutter).
Levi Nutter married Miss Margaret Webb, sister of his brother's wife, and, after leaving Addis' run, went to Goose creek, where he became the pioneer settler of the well-known "Nutter farm," he having purchased near one thousand acres of land in this wilderness.
Here he reared a large family, and here, he found a rest- ing place, more than a half century ago. Some of his des- scendants still lay claim to a part of this old homestead, though part of it is now the estate of the late "Diek" Wilson.
His only daughter married Sylvester Webb, and some of her family live on the old homestead.
Three of his sons, Thomas, Math, and Tone, met tragic deaths. John was another son ; and Benjamin, the youngest, and last survivor of the family, died a few years since, in the Hospital for the Insane at Weston.
When Mr. Nutter first settled here, he had a wife and one child, a cow and calf.and one horse ; and when he went to visit his brother, Isaac, seven miles distant, he rode on horse-back and carried the ealf, the cow followed behind, and the wife walked and carried the child; this manner of pro- cedure being necessary to protect the calf and the child from the wolves.
John Nutter married Miss Mary Mounts and, from the Cairo vicinity, they removed to Calhoun county, in 1818, and settled on the West fork of the Kanawha river, just below Richardsonville, where he spent his last hours: His children were as follows :
James and Humphrey, who have both passed on, were
162
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
the sons. Sarah (Mrs. Jonathan Nicholas), Elizabeth (Mrs.
Abraham Starcher), and Basha (Mrs. Jeremiah Hickman) were the daughters. T. J. Nutter, of Rusk, is a son of Humphrey, as is James Nutter, of Wirt county.
Thomas Nutter, the last one of the four pioneer brothers, went from the Cairo vicinity to Athens county, Ohio, and set- tled on the banks of the Little Hocking river, and here his history ends.
William Nutter .-- From "The Recollections of a Life- Time." a little sketch of early days in Calhoun and Gilnier counties, we learn that Mrs. Mary Starr Nutter, the widow of William Nutter, another brother of the four above men- tioned, came from Ritchie county with John Nutter, in 1818, and settled where Richardsonville now stands, but her name escaped the early settlers of this county, as William Nutter is not remembered among the pioneers here. However, her children were David, Isaac, Thomas. Levi, William, and Nancy, who became the wife of Jacob Starcher, senior.
The Mckinneys .- The Nutters, as above stated. were only squatters at the mouth of Addis' run, and, in 1818, they were dispossessed by William Mckinney, who purchased a tract of three thousand nine hundred twenty acres in this section, of Mathias Mattenly, for the small sum of eight thousand forty dollars. He afterwards bought another tract of one thousand eighty acres, and after giving each one of his children a large farm. he sold the remainder to a colony of Scotch settlers, who came later.
Mr. Mckinney came from the."Keystone state," with his wife and large family of children, and founded his home where his late grandson, Jacob Mckinney, resided until his death. He figured prominently in the early history of the county, both in church and state affairs ; and for a number of years after his coming, this was known as the "Mckinney settlement," the former name "Egypt," being gradually dropped.
William McKinney was born of English parentage in Lyconing county, Eastern Pennsylvania, on September 4, 1760. He was the son of William and Hannah Mckinney, and was next to the youngest member of a family of six chil-
163
FIRST SETTLERS IN THE CAIRO VICINITY
dren (viz., Sarah, who married a Mr. Haggerty, Jemima. Jacob, John, and Cathrine). Though so young, he served as an American soldier during the latter part of the Revolution : and on July 14, 1189, he was married to Miss Frances Piatt, and from this time until he came to Ritchie county, his home was at White Deer valley, on the Susquehannah river.
Mrs. McKinney was of French descent. She was the daughter of John and Jane Williamson Piatt, and the grand- daughter of John Piatt, of France ; and at historic old Tren- ton, she was born, on March 7, 1770, when the bugle notes of the Revolution were being sounded, but her parents later removed to White Deer valley, Pennsylvania, where she met and married Mr. Mckinney.
In 1789, when General Washington was enroute from Mt. Vernon to New York city, for his first inauguration to the Presidency, when he reached the old bridge at Trenton over 'which he had retreated before Lord Cornwallis' army, a few years before, a beautiful triumphal arch under which he was to pass, greeted his eye. This arch had been prepared by the ladies of the town in honor of the occasion, and was supported by thirteen pillars, wreathed with flowers and evergreen, and it bore the inscription, "The Defender of the Mothers will be the Preserver of the Daughters."
"Beneath the arch stood a party of thirteen loyal young ladies, laden with baskets of flowers, and as the hero of the Revolution approached, they showered the flowers in his pathway-singing as they did so, the following ode, which had been composed for the occasion :
"Welcome mighty Chief once more, Welcome to this grateful shore; Now no mercenary foe Aims again, the fatal blow, Aims at thee, the fatal blow.
"Virgins fair, and matrons grave, Those thy conquering arm did save, Build for thee, triumphal bowers, Strew ye fair, his way with flowers, Strew your hero's way with flowers."
.
164
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
"Frances Piatt was one of this number, and in the pres- ence of the writer,1 in later years, slie sang this little ode, reviving the feeling of her youth and her loyalty to hier Chieftain."
Mrs. McKinney1 was a woman of strong mind, and of a cheerful, happy disposition, and her husband being ever kind and generous, "the world went well with them." When they first came to this wild country the younger members of the family were very much dissatisfied, and they would say, "Oh, dear, mother, you have brought us to a wilderness!" But with her characteristic cheerfulness, she would reply, "O chil- dren, you will see railroads running through your farms, yet, some day." At the absurdity of such a prediction all would break into a laugh, thus dispersing the shadow occasioned by their undesirable surroundings. And though the dear old mother never lived to see it, the prophesy has long since been fulfilled. The Baltimore and Ohio railroad runs through what was at that time the "Mckinney estates" for miles, and the busy town of Cairo stands on the farm that once belonged to their daughter, Kathrine Mckinney McGregor.
Mr. Mckinney was the first mill-owner in this section. He was a Presbyterian in religious faith, and was a man of a strong influential character. He passed to his reward on June 24, 1848, on the first anniversary of the death of his wife. (She died on June 24, 1847.) Both sleep in the Egypt ceme- tery.
Their children were as follows: William, John Piatt, Jacob, Hannah (Mrs. Joseph Marshall), Jane (Mrs. Edward Skelton), David and Kathrine (Mrs. David McGregor) were twins, Sarah (Mrs. Richard Wanless), and James.
Nearly all these sons and daughters were in turn, the heads of pioneer families of this county.
William McKinney, junior, the eldest son of William and Frances Piatt McKinney, was born in Pennsylvania, on May 11, 1790, and there, on January 22. 1818, hie was married to Mary Wilson Miller; and, a few months later, with his
1For the ancestral history of the Piatt family see chapter on Schools.
(Her grand-daughter, Miss Fannie Mckinney, of Williamstown, con- tributed this sketch, and the above quotation is reproduced in her own language.)
165
FIRST SETTLERS IN THE CAIRO VICINITY
parents, they came to this county and settled on the farm that is now the estate of the late Jacob Hatfield, senior. After a twelve years' residence here, they went to Harrisville. where Mr. Mckinney purchased the Mathias Cline store, and engaged in the mercantile business for eight years before re- moving to Waverly, in Wood county, where he died, in 1879, at the age of eighty-nine years. Here Mrs. Mckinney died at the age of eighty years. Both rest in the Bethel cemetery, near the old home.
They were the corner stones of the Bethel church at Waverly, the first organization being made at their home, in April. 1845, when Mr. Mckinney was ordained as Elder -- an office which he filled until his death.
Their family consisted of ten children, all of whom reached the years of maturity except one that died in infancy ; viz., Robert Simpson, William Piatt, Frances S. (unmarried). Eliza J. (Mrs. Thomas Miller), Abram F., Hannah M. (Mrs. James Sharps), Festus H., Mary S. (unmarried), and Jacob, all of whom have joined the parents on the other side, save Miss Mary S., who resides at Parkersburg.
Robert Simpson and William Piatt, the two eldest sons, were the victims of a most thrilling experience while the family resided on the "Hatfield farm," they being but five and two years of age, respectively, at the time of the incident :
Their father being absent from home, their inother sent them to drive the young cattle to the forest, and, uncon- sciously, they wandered too far to find their way back; and when they failed to return home in a reasonable length of time, she became alarmed, and, taking her babe in her arms, went to the home of her father-in-law and made the sad truth known-that her children were lost.
All the able-bodied men, with her husband, were at Park- ersburg-thirty miles distant, "at muster," but she gathered together what help she could-both men and women-and went in search of the little wanderers. But they being un- familiar with the forest. could not venture far, and all night long they searched to no avail, and on the following day the father was called home, and he, too, joined in the quest, which was continued throughout the next night all to no purpose ;
166
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
but during the third day. however, they were found near three miles from the home almost perislied from hunger and cold-the elder being in a state of unconsciousness. They had been out almost two days and nights without food, with the exception of a few berries that they had found. It was in the month of October, and during the first night. a cold rain had fallen, and the elder brother had taken off his coat and put it on the little one to keep him warm, and their dog helped to keep them from freezing at night. They said that their dog drove a "big black dog" away from them one night, but it was supposed to have been a bear, by the older people.
The mother could never speak of the pathetic incident in after years without tears.
John Piatt McKinney, the second son of William and Frances Piatt McKinney, was born in the Keystone state. on August 19, 1792 ; and on July 4, 1826, he was married to Miss Sarah W. Lacy, and near Cairo, they resided until 1836, when they removed to Parkersburg, and took charge of the "United States" hotel-one of the best in the city at that time. Herc Mrs. McKinney died, in 1844, at the age of forty-seven years, and two years later their only daughter, Frances Selina, passed on. at the age of thirteen years. After this sad even, Mr. Mckinney, principally, made his home with his brother. David : and here, on April 23, 1829, he passed from earth, and in the Odd Fellows cemetery. at Parkersburg. he rests.
His three sons were William Hopkins, David P.,1 and Thomas E. Mckinney. The last two mentioned reside at Springfield, Ohio, and are unmarried.
Jacob Mckinney, the third son of William and Frances Piatt McKinney, was born on November 16, 1799; and on June 9, 1828, he was married to Miss Mary, daughter of Edward Skelton, senior, and settled just across the river from the old Mckinney homestead, where he and his wife saw the last of earth, and in the Egypt cemetery their ashes lic. He died on January 15, 1861.
Their nine children were as follows: Anne Eliza (Mrs. Luke Terry), Cathrine (Mrs. H. B. McCollum), James, Mary
1David P. died in April, 1910.
167
FIRST SETTLERS IN THE CAIRO VICINITY
M., Sarah, William S., and Frances A. (who all remained un- married) ; Jacob B., and John P. Mckinney.
Hannalı Mckinney, the eldest daughter of William and Frances Piatt, was born in the "Keystone state," on March 13, 1795; and there she was married to Joseph Marshall, on September 23, 1816, and from there they went to Ohio, where they remained for a few years, before coming to this county, and settling on the "Marshall homestead." near one mile south of Cairo. This old pioneer residence, with its massive chimney and huge fire-place, is one of the very few that have escaped the plans of the modern architect, and still stands, undisturbed, in its original state. It is now the property of A. M. Douglass, of Cairo.
The old Marshall home as it looks to-day, after almost the lapse of a century.
The first church organization in the community ( Pres- byterian) was perfected at the Marshall home, and here, a little band of worshipers gathered regularly until a church- house was erected.
Mr. Marshall died in 1835, at the home of his brother-in- law, James McKinney, at Williamstown, he having been stricken with the fatal illness while on his way home from a business trip to Cincinnati: and in the "Bukey cemetery" at Williamstown, he rests. His wife died at the old home near Cairo, in 1874, at the age of eighty years, and she lies in the Egypt cemetery.
168
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
They were the parents of eight children-seven sons and one daughter, the late Miss Ellen Marshall, of Cairo. being the daughter. The sons were, William M., Francis J., John P. ( who never married), Robert R., of Gilmer county ; Jacob W., David H. (died in youth), and Hezekiah B. Marshall, of Buckhannon, who was a resident of Mining Flats, this state. for fifty-four years, and who is the only survivor of the family.
John W. Marshall, formerly of Oil Ridge, but now of Wood county, is a grandson of this pioneer, and he has not a few other descendants in this, and adjoining counties.
Jane McKinney, the second daughter of William and Frances Piatt Mckinney, was born on July 4, 1797, and was married to Edward Skelton, junior. on January 1, 1822, and. after a forty-five years' residence in the Cairo vicinity, they removed to Illinois, where all the family are sleeping, except Augustus D., who resides in Kansas City, Missouri.
Their other children, besides the one mentioned, were. John G. (a mute), who married Miss Prudence Chidester, who was, also, a mute ; William M., Frances (unmarried) ; Edward A., and Eliza J., who married George Briggs.
David McKinney, the fourth son of William, and Frances Piatt, and his sister, Kathrine, were twins. They were born. on August 1, 1801 ; and on December 29, 1831, David was mar- ried to Miss Sarah M. Henderson, and settled on the farm, given him by his father, in the Cairo vicinity, where he re- mained until 1848, when he removed to Harrisville, and after a three years' residence there, went to Willow Island, on the Ohio river, in Pleasants county, where he was identified in the mercantile business for the next three years. He then resided on a farm in Pleasants county for twenty years, going from there to Williamstown, where he fell asleep in 1881. in the eighty-first year of his life. His wife preceded him to the grave by three years, she having reached the age of seventy- one ycars. Both sleep near the St. John's Episcopal church in Pleasants county.
They were the parents of five daughters and one son, John, who died in infancy. The daughters were: Nancy, who married Oscar L. Ridgely; Miss Frances Piatt Mckinney, of Williamstown ; Mary J. (unmarried) ; Hannah M., who be-
169
FIRST SETTLERS IN THE CAIRO VICINITY
came Mrs. Giles R. Hammat ; and Sarah C., who married John D. Sharp. Mrs. Sharp and Miss Frances alone survive.
Kathrine Mckinney, the third daughter of William and Frances Piatt McKinney, who, with her brother, David, first saw the light on August 1, 1801, was married to David McGre- gor, on March 17. 1842, and settled at Cairo, where she died, on September 11, 1863, and was laid in the Egypt cemetery.
Three children were the fruits of this union : viz., William A., and John P., the sons, both died in infancy, and Frances S., the only daughter, is now Mrs. I. S. Hallam, of Abeline, Kan- sas.
Sarah Mckinney, the youngest daughter of William and Frances Piatt McKinney, married Richard Wanless, senior, and was the mother of five children: John, William A., Richard, junior, Frances and Mary Wanless. (For farther history of her family see Wanlesses.)
James McKinney, the youngest son of William and Frances Piatt, was born, on November 26, 1807 ; and he was married to Miss Suannah Bukey, on January 1, 1832, and the first years of their married life were spent at Williamstown, from whence they removed to Harrisville, where Mr. McKin- ney was engaged in the mercantile business, and where he filled the County clerk's office for a number of years. Here Mrs. McKinney died ; and on May 18, 1854, he was married a second time to Miss Minerva Stephens, of Harrisville, who stili survives. He died on July 26, 1889, and lies at rest, be- side the wife of his youth, in the Harrisville cemetery.
The children of his first union were three in number: Drusilla B., who married William A. Wanless; Mary Eliza- beth, wife of Joseph Arbour; and Hezekiah Mckinney, who lives in the West.
Alma, the late wife of Dr. W. E. Talbott, of Harrisville, was the one child of the second union.
170
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
"The hand of the king that the scepter hath borne ; The brow of the priest that the mitre hath worn ; The eye of the sage and the heart of the brave, Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave.
So the multitude goes, like the flower or the weed That withers away to let others succeed : So the multitude comes, even those we behold, To repeat every tale that lias often been told.
For we are the same that our fathers have been : We see the same sights our fathers have seen ; We drink the same stream, and view the same sun, And run the same course our fathers have run.
On the Memory
uf
The Scotch Settlers
Richard and Eleanor Rutherford.
Farewell to the Highlands-farewell to the North, The birth-place of valor, the country of worth; Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, The hills of the Highlands, forever I love.
-Burns.
CHAPTER XI
Scotch Settlers
HE year 1819, brought a small colony of per- manent and substantial Scotch settlers to the Cairo vicinity. This colony included Richard Rutherford and his wife, Richard Wanless, senior, who was then a young man in his teens, and his sister, Miss Isabel Wan- less, and John Taylor, senior, and his wife, who were all brothers and sisters-in-law.
The Rutherfords .- Richard Rutherford and Miss Eleanor Wanless were married at Leith, Scotland, in 1819, just on the eve of their departure for America ; and upon their arrival here, they purchased a large tract1 of land near five miles below Cairo, which is still owned by their descendants. Here they spent the remainder of their lives, and in the Egypt ceme- tery, they sleep.
They were the parents of ten children, whose descendants in this county are a host: Mary, Ellen, Ann, Susan, Margaret, Isabella, Kathrine, Jane, George, and Archibald Rutherford.
Mary Rutherford, the eldest daughter, became the wife of William H. Douglass, and died childless.
Ellen Rutherford married Andrew Hall and was the mother of nine children.2
Ann Rutherford, who was the wife of the late James Har- ris, was the mother of Miss Ella Harris, of New Concord, Ohio : and of one son, who died in infancy.
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.