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 2
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Thomas and Jonathan were killed by the Indians. Henry returned to his home in Albermarle county, after lending a hand in the erection of the early forts in Harrison county. Joel probably died in Harrison county, where he settled, and William is the hero of this drama.
Col. William Lowther was born in Albermarle county, Virginia, in 1742, not long after the arrival of the family in the colonies; and in his early twenties, he was married to Miss Sudna Hughes, sister of Jesse and Elias, the marriage taking place at the home of the Hughes, on the South branch of the Potomac, in what is now Hardy county, near the year 1763 ; and here, not far from the beautiful old town of Moore- field, they established their home and remained until they removed to Harrison county, in June, 1773. The date of their removal being marked by the birth of their fourth son, Jesse, who is said to have come upon the stage just six weeks after the family reached their new home (in Harrison county), and his natal day was Julv 21. 1773.
Col. Wm. Lowther's cabin as it looks to-day.
This cabin is located one one-half miles below West Milford, on the Clarksburg road. It was built by Col. Lowther, perhaps early in the year 1773 some object to this date, but we are confident that it is au- thentic), and though one hundred thirty-seven years have winged their flight, it still stands as a sacred remnant of by-gone days. This picture was taken in June, 1908, and was at that time still occupied by the descendants of Col. Lowther.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Col. Lowther had, however, figured in the erection of Simpson's fort, near eight miles below Clarksburg, and West's fort, near Jane Lew, before this time. He played an important part, too, in the construction of the "Old Nutter" fort, near Clarksburg, ruins of which still mark the site.
He soon became distinguished for his fearlessness as a frontiersman, and for his unselfish devotion to the welfare of the colonists; was one of the most capable defenders of the settlement in the war of 1774 (and subsequently) and many a successful expedition did he lead against the enemy. He was the first Justice of the Peace in the district of West Augusta ; the first Sheriff of Harrison and Wood counties, and was at one time a member of the General Assembly at Richmond, Virginia. Having served in all the subordinate ranks of mili- tary life, he rose to that of Colonel. (Was commissioned Major by General George Rogers Clarke in 1781.) "Despis- ing the pomp and pageantry of office," he accepted it only for the good of his country.1
On a balmy day in the latter part of October (28) 1814, he passed from earth at his old home near West Milford. The old cabin that had sheltered him through so many event- ful years was the scene of his closing hours, and not far away on his own homestead he lies in his eternal sleep. He died rich in the love and esteem of the countrymen that he had so faithfully served, and it is said that his name has been handed down to their descendants "hallowed by their blessings."
A pathetic little incident that has been preserved in the family says that when he died his devoted old darkey, "Tobe,"
Cemetery where Colonel Lowther sleeps.
1Part of this is taken from the revised Border Warfare.
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THE DISCOVERY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
was seen standing by the fence near the cabin weeping over his loss; and that when this old servant was done with earth, he was laid at his master's feet and a dog-iron was placed at his grave; and to this day this iron is in-tact and serves as a positive mark for Col. Lowther's grave, whose inscription is no longer legible.
After his death, his wife, Sudna, came to this county and made her home with her son, Elias Lowther, on the Flanna- gan farm, above Berea. Here, near the year 1829, she died, and in one corner of the Flannagan burying-ground she lies at rest. Jonathan C. Lowther, her only surviving grandson, remembers seeing her lowered here. He was born in 1819. and thinks that he must have been a lad of near ten years at the time. He cannot recall her features, but says that she was quite small in stature.
Their family consisted of five sons only ; viz., Robert, Thomas, William, Jesse and Elias Lowther, all of whom have a long line of descendants, which are scattered throughout the Union.
It may be of interest in this connection to note that an old cross-cut saw that was once the property of Col. Lowther is now in the hands of his great-grandson, J. M. Lowther, of Auburn. He purchased this saw at Winchester, Virginia, and carried it on horseback to Clarksburg (West) Virginia, where it was used in sawing timber for the old "Nutter fort," which served as a place of refuge for the inhabitants of the West fork river during Lord Dunmore's war, which antedates the Revolution.
An heirloom in the form of an old land grant which was made to Col. Lowther, on June 8, 1785, and signed by Patrick Henry, on November 14, 1786, while he was Governor of Vir- ginia, is now a cherished possession of the writer. This grant is written upon parchment and conveys two hundred twenty acres to the Colonel on the West fork river, in Harrison coun- ty, "which includes his settlement." (Hence our proof of his early settlement at West Milford.)
What a mantle of historic interest clusters about these silent remnants of the past How sacred they seem to us! As one gazes upon the signature of this renowned orator with
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
a feeling of awe and reverence, through the phonograph of years comes a voice of eloquence proclaiming the immortal words that must ever be the sentiment of the true American heart, "Give me liberty or give me death !"
Col. Lowther's military record is such as to admit his descendants to membership in the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. Mrs. Iva Lowther Peters, of Fish- kill, New York, his grand-daughter, several generations re- moved, and her brother, Earle, having been recently admitted to these societies on his record.
Descendants of Col. Lowther .- Robert Lowther, the eldest son, whose natal day was October 1, 1765, married Miss Kathrine Cain, sister of John Cain, the Slab creek pioneer, and settled on the portion of the old homestead. given him by his father. But at the death of Col. Lowther, he inherited that part of the estate which included the "old cabin," and here, on November 16, 1832, he came to his death by a fall from this cabin while engaged in re-roofing it. His wife, who was born on October 27, 1766, died here on March 25, 1851, and side by side they lie at rest in the old family burying-ground shown in the picture.
They were the parents of five sons and three daughters : William B., Jesse .G. Robert, junior, John, James K., Kath- rine Susan and Mary Lowther.
William B. married Miss Margaret Coburn, and was identified with the South fork settlers in this county.
Jesse G., who settled near West Milford, was first mar- ried to Miss Nancy Swisher, and ten children were the result of this union. His second wife was Miss Wady Knight, and the two children of this marriage were : the late Dr. Jesse G. Lowther, a well known practitioner of Wirt, Wood and this county ; and the late Mrs. Nancy Lowther, of Wirt county. He died at West Milford, on August 25, 1870, at the age of eighty years, and sleeps in the family burying-ground there.
Robert, junior, married Miss Eliza Highland and settled on the old homestead, near West Milford, where he reared three sons and two daughters.
John, who was a prominent medical practitioner, married Miss Elizabeth Pritchard, and lived and died at Clarksburg ;
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THE DISCOVERY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
and the only child of this marriage was the late Evan Low- ther, of that city, who died without issue.
James K. married Miss Lydia Knight, and principally spent his life within the walls of the old ancestral cabin, where "he died at the age of ninety-five years. He had two sons and three daughters, and one of these daughters, Talitha, the last survivor of the family died (unmarried) at the old home, 011 February 25, 1910.
Kathrine married Thomas Ireland, and they were the first settlers at the mouth of the Middle fork of Highes river, in this county.
Susan became Mrs. Abraham Morrison, and principally spent her life on Brown's creek, in Harrison county. Her family consisted of three daughters, who have all crossed the tide.
Mary Lowther was married to her cousin, William J. Lowther (son of Jesse), and came to this county and settled near Oxford.1
Thomas Lowther (the second son of Col. William) was born on March 7, 1767, but his history is rather obscure. However, he married Miss Mary Coburn, and settled on the land given him by his father, near West Milford, and reared a small family. He is said to have died before he had scarcely reached the meridian of life of a malady that the physicians of to-day would term appendicitis ; he having undergone a surgical operation without an anesthetic. Tradition says that he was a snake-charmer, that he could wield such power over a poisonous reptile as to be able to handle it without harm to himself. He, too, rests in the family burying-ground on the old homestead.
He was the father of Jesse Lowther, the Cornwallis pioneer ; of Elias, an early settler at Webb's mill ; of Robert, of Doddridge county ; and of one daughter, Mary or Polly, who is said to have married a man by the name of West, of near Jane Lew. (Another source of information says her mar- ried name was White.)
'The descendants of this branch of the family in this county are a veritable host, but for an account of those who settled here in pioneer days see later chapters.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Thomas' descendants in this county are not nearly so numerous as those of the other sons, but they are not a few, however. Among them ars Mrs. Matilda McGregor, of Cairo, a granddaughter ; Mrs. James Rexroad, Mrs. Emma Lee, the late Mrs. F. S. Moyer and the late Mrs. W. E. Hill, great- granddaughters.
William Lowther, the third son of Col. William, was born on the South branch of the Potomac river, not far from Moorefield, on January 27, 1769 ; and when he was yet in the "frocks of babyhood," his parents removed to Harrison county, and here in the "hot bed" of savage warfare, he grew to man- hood.
Though uneducated, he was a man of marked intelligence, and his memory was a veritable store-house of pioneer lore, and of interesting reminiscences of Indian times; for often, when a lad, he accompanied his father on his expeditions -against the dusky foe, and was an eye witness to the conflict (between the whites and the Indians), at the famous rock at the mouth of Indian run, in 1784, he being then but fifteen years of age. And in after life when listening to a recital of these stirring days from the "Chronicles of Border Warfare," he would often stop the reader in order to correct some inis- statement of the historian, so clear, and so retentive was his memory.1
Near the year 1789, he was married to Miss Margaret Morrison, who was born on the banks of the Yadkin river. in North Carolina, on May 1, 1768, and with her parents emigrated to Harrison county in her early womanhood. After their marriage, they settled near one mile below West Milford, on the farm that is now owned by the Highlands. Here they reared their family, and here they remained until near the year 1837, when they came to this county, where they spent the evening hours of their lives with their son, Archibald Lowther, at Holbrook.
At one time, near the year 1797, Mr. Lowther went to Ohio for the purpose of seeking a home, and, while on the
'As the writer's father was one of the grandsons who frequently read for him, she has been able to correct some of these errors.
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THE DISCOVERY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Muskingum river, he helped to rear the first cabin where the City of Zanesville now stands, but owing to the prevalence of "fever and ague" in this section, he returned to his home satisfied to remain at West Milford.
Mrs. Lowther was a woman of a devout religious char- acter, a Presbyterian in faith, and her old Bible, which was her daily companion, is now in the hands of the writer. It bears the date of "1790," and is still held together by the old leather string that she ever kept about it. Mr. Lowther never made a profession of religion, but his last audible words were a prayer, a most earnest appeal to the Infinite Father of love and mercy. She passed away on May 13, 1850, and he, on November 26, 1857. Both lie at rest in the Lowther burying- ground, near Holbrook, surrounded by the dust of five gen- erations of their descendants.
They were the parents of twelve children, six of whom reached the years of maturity. Five of them married and four of that five were the heads of pioneer families of this county.
Alexander, the eldest son (born on January 14, 1791), married Miss Sarah Ireland, and was the pioneer of Oxford.
Sudna (born on April 10, 1792), became Mrs. George Wil- lard, and came to this county in pioneer days. (See Middle fork chapter.)
William (born on October 31, 1793) married Miss Meli- cent Maxwell and settled at Cairo.
Robert (born on May 24, 1795) settled in Jackson county.
Rebecca (born on December 20, 1802) died in 1885, unmar- ried.
Archibald (born May 17, 1811, the youngest of the family) married Miss Charlotte Willard and lived and died at Hol- brook.
Mary (born December 12, 1797), Margaret (born Septem- ber 27, 1806), Sarah (born September 3, 1800), Elias (born December 27, 1806), Kathrine (born September 21, 1809), all died in childhood; and Jesse (born September 21, 1805), in youtil.
Robert, the one member of the family (of William and Margaret Morrison Lowther) that did not come to this coull-
1
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
ty, married Miss Mary Hattabough, a native of Kent county, Delaware, who was born on November 2, 1792. The marriage took place near the year 1809, and they remained in Harrison county until some time in the thirties, when they removed to Jackson county, where they died, and where many of their descendants still live. He was a lawyer by profession and was the first resident barrister of Jackson county. He helped to survey the pretty town of Ripley, and almost beneath its shadow his ashes lie. Mrs. Lowther died on July 1, 1851, and he followed her to the grave on April 22, 1856.
Their children were as follows: the late Andrew H. Lowther (1810-1863), of Wirt county : Harriet (1817-1845), the late Mrs. John H. Wetzel, of Ripley; William Wirt (1820), who died at the age of eighteen years while attending college in Indiana: Agnes (B. 1822), who died in infancy : Minerva (1823-1901), the late Mrs. Joseph Smith, of Ripley; Margaret (1826-1899) was the late Mrs. Henry Harpold, of Baltimore : Mary (1828-1899) died at Baltimore, unmarried. and Edward Duncan (1828-1899), who died at Ripley, unmar- ried.
The Morrisons .- Margaret Morrison Lowther, as above stated, was a native of North Carolina. Her father, Archibald Morrison, and his brother, who were of Scotch-Irish birth, emigrated from England to America some time before the Revolution, and settled on the Yadkin river, in North Caro- lina. Here he married a Miss Fooks, and at the breaking out of the war in 1275, when he enlisted as a soldier in the Continental army, he became separated from his brother, and never heard of him again. But near the year 1788, Archibald Morrison removed from North Carolina to West Milford, in Harrison county, and here he and his wife sleep.
His sons were Alexander, John and William, who rest in Harrison county, where some of their descendants live : Archibald, junior, lies in Ohio; Marshall Reese, in California . Margaret Lowther, and Susan, whose married name is un- known to us, were two of the daughters.
Alexander married Miss Margaret Brake and settled on Hacker's creek in 1824. He was a soldier of the war of 1812: and a curiosity in the form of a briar-root cane, which he
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THE DISCOVERY OF RITCHIE- COUNTY
brought from North Carolina, and upon which he carved the head and face of a man, is still in the family.
Alexander Morrison's son, James Monroe Morrison, was commissioned Lieutenant-General of the U. S. Militia by President Lincoln. He married Miss Sarah Jane Bennett, and they were the parents of the Rev. U. W. Morrison, of the West Virginia Methodist Protestant conference.
Jesse Lowther (the fourth son of Col. William) was born on July 21, 1743, six weeks after the arrival of the family in Harrison county. He is said to have been the first white male child born on Harrison county soil.
Near the year 1790, when he was but a boy, he was mar- ried to Miss Mary Ragan, a rosy-cheeked Dutch girl, who was born on December 25, 1770, and settled where West Mi !- ford now stands. Mrs. Lowther was the daughter of a Revo- lutionary soldier, and the sister of Mrs. Alexander Ireland, senior. In 1797, they removed from West Milford to the Ohio river, and established a home on Neal's Isiand, four miles below Parkersburg, but they returned to their old home at West Milford, after a few years, where he died in October. 1854. After his death, his wife, Mary, came to this county, and spent the closing years of her life with her daughter, Mrs. William Hall, at Pullman. Here she fell asleep, in April, 1857, and in the Pullman churchyard she lies at rest. Her husband sleeps in the family burying-ground near West Mil- ford.
The writer now has a cane which was once the property of Jesse Lowther, and one which he presented to his brother. William. Upon this piece of antiquity is a silver plate which bears the initials of his name "J. L."
The children of this family were eleven in number : William, the eldest (born in 1791), married his cousin, Mary or Polly Lowther, and settled at Oxford.
Mary Ann was the wife of William Hall, an early settler of the Oxford vicinity.
Sallie married William Norris, and resided on the South fork for a brief time in pioneer days, then removed to Gilmer county.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Margaret married William L. Mitchell, and died at West Milford. She was the mother of Virginia, the late wife of William I. Lowther, of Pullman; of Margaret, wife of Lewis Maxwell, junior, formerly of this county, but now of Gilmer; of Mrs. Mary Hickman of the West ; of William, Cyrus, Madi- son B., Robert, and Lafayette Mitchell, all of whom have passed on, except Robert and William.
Jesse, junior, who was a physician, went West, finally to Little Rock, Arkansas, where he died. Uriah died in youth.
Dr. Robert married Mrs. Ellen Stringer Huffman, and located at Weston, and from there migrated to Mississippi, where he died after a nine days' illness of fever. His wife soon followed him to the grave from a broken heart, and the half-brother brought the two little sons, aged four and six years, back to their grandfather, Jesse, near the year 1839. Daniel was educated at Lexington and West Point, and after finishing his college work, came to Harrisville, where he opened a law office, and where he died a few months later, in 1856. William, who was also a lawyer, went to Texas, where he met his death at the hands of a man that he had decided a case against. Huffman, who was a colonel in the Confederate army, and who lost a leg in the cause, died at Clarksburg, unmarried.
Sudna married Armstrong Maxwell and lived and died at West Milford. The members of this family were: Mari- anne, who married Jesse Lowther (but we can't say what number), Mrs. Millie M. (John) Racey, Mrs. Anna L. (Wm.) Stephens, Mrs. Sudna A. Mitchell, of Gilmer county : Mar- cellus Maxwell, of Nelsonville, Ohio; and Irwin and William, who have passed on ; and Miss Julia Maxwell, of West Mil- ford.
Elizabeth Lowther married Conrad Kester and died in Lewis county, where many of her descendants live.
Drusilla became Mrs. Bradbury Morgan, of Zanesville, Ohio; and Millie was Mrs. Daniel Wyer, of Woodsfield, Ohio.
Elias Lowther, who was born on Neal's Island. in 1801, during the residence of the family there, was married to Miss Selina McWhorter, daughter of Thomas McWhorter, and
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THE DISCOVERY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
spent his last hours at Palestine, in Wirt county, though he resided at various other points in the State.
He was the father of the following named children: Mc- Duffy and Calhoun (twins), Thomas W., Cammillius, Elias H., John M., who was killed at Elizabeth during the Civil war; Columbia V. (Mrs. John Edwards), Mary M. (Mrs. P. WV. Morgan, of Jackson county), all of whom have crossed the tide; and Jesse and Granville S., of Braxton county ; Henry M., of Kentucky: W. H. H., of Parkersburg; Mrs. Celina J. (Amos) Lowther, Wirt county, are the surviving members, and they are all well advanced in years. . Mrs. J. E. Burns, of Auburn, belongs to this family, she being the daughter of Jesse, and granddaughter of Elias.
Elias Lowther (the fifth and youngest son of Col. William) came upon the stage during the din of the American Revolution. He was born in the old cabin, shown in the picture, on September 16, 1776, and married Miss Rebecca Coburn, sister of his brother Thomas' wife, and remained in his native county until 1820, when he came to this county and erected the first cabin on the Zimri Flannagan farm, above Berea. He was at one time a member of the Richmond Leg- islature from Harrison county, and was major in the militia. During the latter part of his life he lost his mind. and his last years were spent in the insane hospital at Staunton, Virginia, where he was laid to rest near the year 1845.
His wife, who was born in Harrison county, on December 11, 1779, died a few years later at the home of her son, J. C. Lowther, at the mouth of Otterslide, and on the Flannagan homestead she lies in her last sleep.
Their children were as follows :
Peggy died in youth; Decatur was drowned in the mill- pond at Berea.
Jesse M. married Miss Lucinda Hall, daughter of William Hall, and spent his last hours near Berea. (See Håll family.)
William went to Ohio. Sarah was Mrs. George Starkey, of Harrison county. Elizabeth married Robert Hammond and went to Ohio. Mary was the wife of Thomas Pritchard, of Slab creek. (See later chapter.) Dorinda was Mrs. Zibba
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Davis, of Otterslide ; and Jonathan C. Lowther, of Berea, the only survivor of the family, is the youngest son.
He is now (1910) ninety-one years of age, and is as active as a boy, being able to jump up and crack his heels together. He enjoys the distinction of being the only surviving grand- son of Col. Lowther. (See Otterslide for his family.)
The Hugheses .- The Hugheses are of Welsh origin. Fam- ily tradition tells us that they crossed the deep with the Low- thers and settled in Albemarle county, Virginia; and that Thomas Hughes removed from there to the South branch of the Potomac river, in what is now Hardy county, and from thence to Harrison county, near the year 1772 or 1773, where he found a home on Hacker's creek. One day during the latter . part of April, 1778, while at work in the field, he and Jonathan Lowther were shot down by the stealthy foe. The others who were with them managed in some way to escape injury.
Thomas Hughes was the father of quite a family of children, among whom were Jesse, Thomas, junior, Elias, Job, James, Charles, Sudna, Martha, and another daughter, who married Joseph Bibbee, of Jackson county.
Job Hughes married Miss Mary Harn, of Harrison coun- ty, in 1791, and later removed to Jackson county, where he rests.
Thomas, junior, who was born in 1754, was lieutenant of a company of Indian spies, at one time. He settled on the West Fork river, in Harrison county, in 1775, but afterwards removed to Jackson county, where he died in October, 1837. He had one son, Thomas, and here our knowledge ends, though there are doubtless many of his descendants in that part of the State to-day.
Of the history of James and Charles we know nothing, other than that they figured in Indian warfare, and James was among the party that encountered the savages at the time that Macfarlan and Dutchman got their names.
Sudna was the wife of Col. William Lowther.
Martha married Samuel Bonnett, and lived and died on Hacker's creek, in what is now Lewis county. Her sons were Lewis, the Rev. Henry Bonnett, of the Methodist Protestant church, and Elias Bonnett ; and one daughter, Susan, married
.
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THE DISCOVERY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
a Wagner ; another, a Hinzman.
Lewis Bonnett was married to Miss Margaret Means, daughter of Robert Means (and aunt of Robert Means, of Cal- houn county), and they were the parents of Henry Bonnett, of Troy, and the grandparents of . U. G. Bonnett, of Burnt House.
Jesse Hughes, the eldest son, whose history is of more moment to us, was born in the "Old Dominion," in 1750, and in early life, he was married to Miss Grace Tanner, sister of one of the pioneer settlers of Roane county, and near the year 1772, he came to Hacker's creek in Harrison county.
Two years after the discovery of the river that bears his name, we find him engaged in the awful struggle at Point Pleasant, but little else of value concerning his life is in our possession other than that he was a confirmed Indian hater, an intrepid leader, and a prominent border scout.
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