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 29
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Job Meredith .- Near the year 1839, Job Meredith canie from his native county-Marion-and settled at the mouth of the Middle fork, near the site that is now marked by the pump station : and a little later, removed to the mouth of White Oak. just across the creek from Peter Pritchard ; and from there in 1852. he went to Berea, where he remained until a few weeks before his death, in 1881, when he went to Salem, where he sleeps.
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Ile married Miss Mary Ann Amos,1 daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth Miller Amos. of Marion county-cousin of George Amos-in 1837, and they were the first Marion county people to come to Ritchie, though quite a number found homes here, a little later.
After the death of her husband, Mrs. Meredith returned to her old home at Berea, where she bade adieu to earth in 1899 ; and there, in the Pine Grove cemetery, she rests.
Mr. Meredith was a member of the Seventh-Day Bap- tist church. He was a man of strong character, and of pro- nounced religious views, and his influence for good had a tel- ling effect.
His children were twelve in number: Mrs. Elmina Law- son, Texas; the late Mrs. Hattie Randolph, and Mrs. Lillie Jett, the Rev. D. N. Meredith, and Miss Millie Meredith (who is a deaf mute) Salem ; the late Alpheus, and the late Mrs. Joel Bee. The rest died in childhood.
William Meredith brother of Job, though not a pioneer was long identified with the White Oak community. In 1835, he married Miss Tamar Deacon, daughter of John and Bar- bara Hardinger Deacon, and from Marion county, they went to Monroe county, Ohio: and in 1857, they came to Ritchie county, where the remainder of their lives were spent. Mrs. Meredith came to her death by a fall from a wagon, in 1819. He died on September 1, 1896, at the home of his youngest daughter, Mrs. W. G. Lowther, at Fonsoville. He was a life- long Methodist-a zealous worker in the Master's vineyard.
Side by side he and his wife sleep in the White Oak churchyard.
He was the father of five children: A. P. Meredith, the only son resides in Washington state; and the late Mrs. Rachel (F. C.) Clayton sleeps there, at Des Moines; Mrs. Eliza (Francis) Day, mother of J. E. Day, of Auburn, sleeps in Illinois ; Mrs. Jane (L. S.) Clayton, is of White Oak ; and Mary Eleanor, the youngest daughter, who first married the late James Leggett, is now Mrs. W. G. Lowther. of Fonso- ville.
1For Amos family ancestry, see Chevauxdefrise chapter.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
The Merediths are of Welsh descent. Davis Meredith was born in Wales, near the middle of the eighteenth century . and being a Sabbatarian, and being persecuted for his re- ligious belief, he came to America in his young manhood, shortly before the Revolution, and settled in Connecticut. He took up arms in defense of his adopted country, being one of the patriots that helped to throw off the British yoke.
He was married three times. His first wife, having lived but a brief time after the marriage, died childless. Nothing else is known of her history, but she probably crossed the sea with him. Shortly after the close of the Revolution, he went to Loudin county, Virginia, where he was again married, and where two children were born of this union: viz., the late Mrs. Rebecca Nipton, of Marion county : and the late Neu Meredith, of Ohio. The mother died when these children were quite small, and Mr. Meredith removed from the "Old Dominion" to Marion county, where he married Miss Nancy Pritchard, sister of Thomas Pritchard, senior, and seven chil- dren were the result of this union: Rachel married James Arnett. Eleanor, William Arnett, and Martha, James Jones. all of Marion county : Thomas sleeps in Kansas: Davis, who was a lay minister of the M. E. church, at Centerville, in Tyler county : and Job and William have already been men- tioned.
William Baker became identified with the White Oak settlement in 1847, when he removed from Marion county with his wife, Mrs. Ruth Deacon Baker, and their seven chil- dren, and took up his residence where his son Tillman H. Baker now lives. Here he remained until March 1888, when he was laid in the cemetery at the mouth of White Oak. His wife was laid by his side in 1897.
Their children were twelve in number: Thomas D. Baker, Hale, Missouri: Nathaniel, of Illinois: Jonathan, who died in the hospital at Cumberland, while serving as a Union soldier. (The first two mentioned were also Union soldiers. ) Mrs. Amy (Peter T.) Wilson, and Mrs. Alazan S. Snyder, of Pullman: Mrs. Lurena (A. A.) Clayton, Lawford: Mrs. Kathrine (E. C.) Snodgrass, Smithville: W. S. Baker, Au- burn; T. H., White Oak; Mrs. Emma J. (Edmond) Taylor,
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died at her home near Pennsboro, in 1907; Newton B. sleeps in Edgar county, Illinois ; and Barbara H. died in infancy.
Mrs. Clayton has also passed on.
The Bakers came from Scotland early in the eighteenth century, and settled among the mountains, near four miles from the mouth of New creek in what is now Mineral county, . West Virginia. There Thomas Baker, the father of William, the Ritchie county pioneer was born, and there, he was married to Miss Ruth Jones, who was a native of Georgetown, in the District of Columbia. From there they went to Marion county, where their ashes lie. They had four daughters, Wil- liam being the only son : Mrs. Mary (George) Saterfield, Mrs. Hannah (Nathaniel) Mitchell, Mrs. Nancy (George) Daw- son, and Mrs. Rachel (Isaac) Hawkins, all of Marion county.
The Deacons .- Since the Deacon family were so largely represented among the wives of the Ritchie county settlers, a few lines is here due them. Mrs. William Baker, nee Ruth Deacon, was one of a family of twelve children-two brothers and ten sisters. Six of these sisters are sleeping, on White Oak-five of them in the White Oak churchyard; viz., Mrs. Matilda (Nathan)) Snodgrass, Mrs. Rache! (Daniel) Mason, Mrs. Sarah (Wm.) Parker, Mrs. Tamar (W'm.) Mere- dith, and Mrs. Julia (Joseph) Hawkins. The other sisters were : Mrs. Mary (Daniel) Saterfield Dog Comfort, this county ; Mrs. Kathrine Hawkins (Aaron), Marion county : Mrs. Tasy (Daniel) Michael, Marion county ; and Rebecca, who died in childhood; Thomas died at the old home in Marion county, and Phillip went West.
The Deacons are of English descent. John Deacon mar- ried Miss Barbara Hardinger, a German maiden of Cumber- land, Maryland, and settled on Paupau creek, near eight miles from Fairmont, and they were the parents of the twelve children above mentioned.
Mr. Deacon, while on a trip across the mountains to Rom- ney with a drove of cattle, contracted the yellow fever, and died at Kingwood, before he reached his home, leaving his wife with eleven children entirely to her care ; but her courage proved equal to the emergency and she managed to clear the debt from the home and rear her family.
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She died at the old homestead at the age of eighty, hav- ing been blind for many years. There, she and her husband rest.
John Lawson was the pioneer merchant of White Oak. He came from Rockingham county, Virginia, between the years of 1845 and '50, and erected his storehouse, at the mouth of the creek, on land now owned by Mrs. L. M. Prit- chard. James Taylor succeeded him ; and William Pritchard, Charles Saterfield, J. M. Gribble, T. D. Baker, Mr. Wilcox, and James Rymer, later held this business intact. Mr. Law- son and his wife, Mrs. Amanda Long Lawson, were natives of Virginia, and to the place of their nativity, they returned. and in 1904, Mr. Lawson passed on. He was the father of five children, four of whom survive.
The Lawsons hail from Scotland. Two brothers crossed the sea, one settled in Virginia, and the other, at Baltimorc. Maryland.
Theopolus Lawson, the Virginian, married a Miss Rus- saw, and from his son, William, who married Miss Eliza Mar- shall, the Lawsons of this county come. William was the father of ten children: John F. Lawson, already mentioned, Bushrod, W. of Fairmont; Salathial, of Texas ; the late Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, the late Mrs. Victoria Amanda Pritch- ard, who resided in this vicinity; and Mrs. Berthine Mc- Dougal, of Pennsboro. James W., Rebecca, Eliza A .. and Nancy E., have all passed on.
Bushrod W. Lawson was long a resident of this part of the county, but removed to Marion, late in the eighties. He first married Miss Anna Pritchard, and they were the parents of Mrs. Lyda (M. R.) Lowther, Parkersburg: Mrs. Flora (Marshall) Prunty, and Mrs. Nancy (David) Clayton, Oxford : and several other children, who passed on in childhood and in youth.
Being deprived of his first companion by death. on No- vember ?1, 1872, he was married to Miss Fannie Prunty. daughter of Jacob Prunty, and five children, four of whom survive, are the fruits of this union.
Salathial married Miss Elmina Meredith, daughter of Job Meredith, and resided here for a number of years before
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going to Texas in the early eighties, where he still survives. He was the father of Mandeville, the late Leni, Mrs. Enoch McGinnis. Mrs. Eva Doak, Morda, and Roxie.
Josiah L. Hawkins, a well known lay minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, was the first citizen of the Scott Baker homestead.
He and his wife, Mrs. Julia Anne Deacon Hawkins, came from their native county, Marion, near 1848, and only a few years later, Mrs. Hawkins was borne to her final resting-place in the White Oak churchyard; and not long afterwards he married Miss Nancy Haddox, of Barbour county, and re- moved to that county.
He returned to this county late in life, but finally went to Mannington where he met his death by a train, during the latter part of the century.
The children of his first marriage were twelve in number; namely, Mrs. Elizabeth (Perry) Clayton, White Oak; Mrs. Mary Duckworth, Barbour county ; Mrs. Lucinda Tichnell, Marion county : Leroy of Upshur county ; and two infants who are all numbered with the dead. Mrs. Thamer (Aaron) Mitchell, Hazelgreen; Mrs. Philena (Nelson) Williamson, Barbour county : Elmore Hawkins, Washburn; Gideon, Up- shur: Andrew J., Monongalia ; and John W., Marion county, are the surviving ones.
The four children of the second union were Belle, and Galiard, who have passed on; Ellsworth, of Marion county ; and Allen, who lives in the West.
Henry Hawkins, though hardly a pioneer came to the White Oak vicinity more than sixty years ago, and spent the remainder of his life here. He was a son of Aaron and Kath- rine Deacon Hawkins, of Marion county, and a brother of the late Mrs. Syelus Hall. He married Miss Martha Yost, and was the father of several children, all of whom have joined liim on the other side except, Woodson, Permetus, and Aaron Hawkins.
Three died in childhood, Walter and Adolphus in youth, and Elmus married Miss Alice Neal and left two children.
After the death of his wife, Kathrine. Mr. Hawkins mar- ried Miss Melvina Snyder. of Marion county, who, by his
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HISTORY OF RITCIIIE COUNTY
side, is sleeping in the White Oak churchyard.
John Hawkins, a brother of Henry, with his wife, Mrs. Mary Parker Hawkins, came along with him from Marion county, but after a brief stay here, removed to the Harrisville vicinity, where some of his family still live.
He passed away in 1863, while serving as a Union soldier in the Civil war.
John Upton and his wife, Harriett Hawkins Upton. and Jeremiah Fluharty and his wife, Mary Ann Hawkins Fiuharty, were also members of the little colony that came here from Marion county at the time the Hawkinses arrived. They be- ing all the sons and daughters, and the sons-in-law of Aaron Hawkins, who gave them their homes here.
Mr. Fluharty and his family went West, but Mr. Upton remained until he passed to his eternal home.
He was the father of a large family :
The late Mrs. Carrie Wagner, Mrs. Minnie (E. D.) Clay- ton, Mrs. Louie (Sam) McKinley, the late Wesley, Ulyses, Seigel and Grant Upton.
Samuel Manear and his wife, Mrs. Olive Zinn Manear, of l'reston county, were other early settlers in this section on the farm that for long years was known as the "Manear farm." Here Mr. Manear passed away, and after his death Mrs. Manear became Mrs. Silas Sigler, and here she died, and at White Oak they both sleep.
Mr. Manear was twice married, the wife of his youth being laid to rest in Preston county not many years after the marriage.
Asa-father of Jacob Manear -- was a son of the first mar- riage.
James, of California ; Marion, David, John, who lost his life in defense of his country, on July 20, 1864, at the battle of Winchester ; Mrs. Hannah Galion, Mrs. Martha Galion, Mrs. Mary Martin, and Mrs. Elizabeth Ephal, were the fruits of the second marriage.
John Cook, father of the late William, was another carly settler on the waters of White Oak, on the farm that is now owned by the Hawkins heirs. Here he died, and here he and his wife sleep.
CHAPTER XXV
Beeson Settled
ONAS BEESON .- This stream took its name J from Jonas Beeson, who is said to have erect- ed a cabin on the late Smith Bee farm very early in the century. But investigation proves, conclusively, that Beeson's residence here could not have been more than a tem- porary and fleeting one, as he was perma- nently located, near Parkersburg in Wood county, on a tract of land given him by his father, as early as the year 1799 ; and he held his residence continuously in Wood county until his death, at a ripe old age. He was a great hunter, however. and circumstances point to the fact that this cabin was built for the sole purpose of serving his needs while on these hunt- ing expeditions ; for beyond a doubt this stream was one of his favorite haunts in those early days.
He was born at Beesontown, Pennsylvania, near the year 1767, and there he was married to Miss Rebecca Tomlinson, daughter of Benjamin Tomlinson ; and in 1799 they removed to Wood county where they rest. Their family consisted of four sons and one daughter, the late Benjamin Beeson, who died at his home at Williamstown during the autumn of 1909, at the age of more than ninety years, being one of the sons.
Mr. Beeson was the grand-uncle of R. S. Blair, junior of Harrisville, and was descended from a prominent and highly respected Virginia family.
Near the close of the French and Indian war (1765), his father, Jacob Beeson, senior, was married to Miss Elizabeth Hedges, daughter of Jonas Hedges, of Berkeley county (W) Virginia, and grand-daughter, of Joseph Hedges who emi- grated from England to America at a very early day, and set- tled in Prince county, Maryland, where he died in 1732. Her great-grandsire, Charles Hedges, who died in 1714, was a
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prominent English statesmen, and held various high offices under the Crown.
Shortly after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Beeson emi- grated to Pennsylvania, and settled at Beesontown, not far from Uniontown, where they reared a family of ten children, and where they spent the remainder of their lives.
Their children were as follows: Jonas, the pioneer of the stream that bears his name, was the eldest son ; Jane, the cli- est daughter, married John Clarke : Mary was twice married : Lydia died single : Jacob Beeson, Mrs. Rebecca (John) Miller, Uniontown : Agnes, who married her cousin, James Beeson, of Berkley county ; Nancy, wife of Jesse Beeson, and Mrs. Rachel (Robert) Skiller.
Jacob Beeson, junior, was born at Beesontown in 1212: and in 1996, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Smalley, who was born at Newark, New Jersey, on April 3, 1723; and at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, they spent the first three years of their married life, removing from there to Wood county in 1799, where Mr. Beeson soon rose to prominence in public af- fairs.
He is said to have been a man of stout-build, and of medium height with a full, open countenance, and a wonderful gift of oratory.
He was one of the justices that formed the County court at Parkersburg, before the year 1810: and on May 4, 1812, he was admitted to the bar, and at once entered upon the prac- tice of law in the courts of the State. He represented Wood county in the Legislature at Richmond for a number of years, and, in the year 1819, when the United States District Court, which embraced the territory of North-western Virginia, was formed, and Hon. John G. Jackson was commissioned as its Judge, Jacob Beeson was appointed as (U. S .. ) Prosecuting Attorney of this district by President Monroe. An office which he filled with distinction to himself, and satisfaction to the Government until his death in 1823. He had scarcely passed his forty-ninth mile-stone when death removed him, and thus a brilliant career came to a sudden, and untimely end.
Mrs. Beeson survived him by many years, dying at the home of her daughter, Mrs. George Neal, junior, at Parkers-
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burg, on August 4, 1856, and, by the side of her husband, she lies at rest in the "Riverview" cemetery, at Parkersburg.
They were the parents of three sons, who all died in in- fancy and childhood, and of the following named daughters : Elizabeth, Jane, Emma G., Mary, Agnes R., and Anne S. Beeson.
Elizabeth married David Blair, and was the mother of the late Jacob Beeson Blair, and the late R. S. Blair, of Harris- ville. and the grand-mother of the well-known young bar- rister, R. S. Blair, junior, who doubtless inherited some of his oratorical gift from his distinguished great-grandsire.
Jane Beeson married David Stephenson, of Wood county.
Emma G. was the first wife of the late Gen. John Jay Jack- son, of Parkersburg.
Mary was the late Mrs. John Vail, of Ohio.
Agnes R. married George Neal, junior, of Parkersburg : and Anne S., was the late Mrs. William S. Gardner of that city.
Part of this sketch is taken from the Parkersburg Senti- nel.
Jacob Prunty was the pioneer at the mouth of Beeson. He was born and reared at Pruntytown in Taylor county, and there he was married to Miss Mary Mckinney: and. from there, they came to this county in the early thirties, and founded a permanent home at the mouth of this stream.
Mr. Prunty was a typical pioneer of the "Rough and Ready" order, and was a man of marked ability. He, several times, represented the people of this section in the Legislature. at Richmond, when the "Little Mountain State" was a part of the "Old Dominion," and many pleasing anecdotes are told of these journeys to the Capitol, made upon the back of a "superannuated" gray horse.
He survived until 1860, when he was laid in the White Oak churchyard. Mrs. Prunty died at the home of her son. Wilson Prunty, above Goff's in 1865, and owing to a flood- tide in the streams, she was buried on the homestead, where she died.
These pioneers were the parents of eight children, all of whom have passed on except the youngest daughter. Fan- nie, who is now Mrs. Bushrod Lawson, of Fairmont. The
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
others were as follows: Felix, Wilson, Jacob, and Elmore Prunty, Mrs. Kathrine (Stephen) Clayton, of White Oak; Mrs. Emily (Alexander) Lowther, of Parkersburg: and Mrs. Rachel Maley, Rock Camp.
The Pruntys are of Irish stock. They came to America in Colonial times and settled in Virginia where John Prunty. the progenitor of the Ritchie county family, was born.
John Prunty was the founder of Pruntytown, in Taylor county, he having broken the primitive wilderness there at a very early day, and left this little "dot" on the map of West Virginia, which serves as fitting memorial to a prominent career.
Mr. Prunty served the people of his section in the Legis- lature at Richmond for twenty consecutive years, and was a candidate for re-election, but was defeated by the small ma- jority of but two or three votes. During his last candidacy, he told his opponent that he purposed to hang has hat on that one peg (which he had already used for twenty) for twenty-one years : and when he was defeated, he went back to Richmond, and served as Sergeant-at-Arms in the Legis- lature, thus occupying the same "hat-peg" for the twenty-one years as he had avowed.
The maiden name of his wife has been lost somewhere in the hazy past, but he was the father of six sons and one daughter, Roanna, who married George Arnold, an old land surveyor of Lewis, Braxton, and Gilmer counties, who pat- ented the large tract of land now owned by Lewis Bennett. and also the tract that Mr. Bennett sold to the "Standard Cil Company."
Jacob Prunty, the Beeson pioneer, was one of the sons, David was another, and Samuel, who married Ellen Taylor. sister of Mrs. Isaiah Wells, was still another. The last one mentioned was the father of Samuel Prunty, of Sumner. Mis- souri.
Roanna Arnold, daughter of George and Roanna Prunty Arnold, married Samuel L. Hays, who was a member of Con- gress (in 1841). as well as a member of the Richmond Legis- lature, and they were the parents of the late John E. and
ยท
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Peregrine Hays, of Glenville, who occupied seats in the Vir- ginia Legislature, before the birth of West Virginia.
Peregrine Hays, also, served in the Legislature of this State, and his sons, Warren, and French N. Hays, both have a record there. The former, in the Senate, and the latter, though still quite a young man, is the oldest member of the House in point of service, he having repeatedly succeeded himself, from Gilmer county.
It will be noted that French Hays is the great-great- grandson of John Prunty, and it is said that he affirms that he is hanging his "hat upon the same old nail" that his ilius- trious grandsire (so many generations removed) pressed into service for the twenty-one years that he was a member of the Richmond Legislature. But since this "old-timer" used a "peg" instead of a nail, doubtless. the young man is a little delucied.
Few families can produce such a record! An unbroken line of statesmen for five generations !
Felix Prunty, son of Jacob, the pioneer of this county, was also a member of the House of Delegates of West Vir- ginia, and his son, the late Alex: Prunty, was a candidate for this office at one time.
Dr. Frank Prunty, of Belpre, Ohio, Dr. Shirley Prunty, M. R. Lowther, of Parkersburg, who has helped to carry out the tradition of the family by being State Senator, and not a few others that we might mention, are descended from this Ritchie county (Prunty) family.
Lynn Camp Settled .- This stream, which is a small trib- utary of the North fork of Hughes river, took its name from a camp of lynn wood that was constructed by a party of hunters, in 1776, not far from the present site of the Wheeler Broadwater residence.
These hunters came in the autumn-time, leaving orders for their pack-horses to follow in six weeks; but, finding game so plentiful, they sent the fruits of their first six weeks' labor home, and remained another six weeks, at the end of which time they had slain eighteen bears. During this entire time they had had no change of clothing.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
The Richardses were the pioneers of this creek. George Richards and his wife, Mrs. Kathrine Bush Richards, with their large family, having come from Harrison county very carly in the century, and settled at the mouth of Lynn Camp, on the land that afterwards became the home of Edmund Taylor. They came as early as 1800, and it is claimed by some that they were here in 1795, but this cannot be verified, however; and John Bunnell still holds the distinction that has always been accorded to him, as being the first settler, within the bounds of the county.
The Richardses are said to have come and to have gone back to their home in Harrison county a number of times, before settling down here permanently. George Richards removed from the mouth of this stream to the late L. P. WVil- son farm, where his life came to a close.
His sons, who were as follows, were nearly all pioneers here : Isaac, George, Benjamin, William, John, Michael, Jacob. Elias, James, Nelson, and one daughter, Mrs. George Six, of Athens, Ohio.
Isaac Richards died (unmarried) of wounds received in the war of 1812.
George Richards, junior, settled on Rock Camp, where he reared a family.
Benjamin Richards married Miss Priscilla Jones, who was of Dutch descent, and was the first settler on Lynn Camp, lie having reared his dwelling near the present site of the school-house. He was the father of Dr. Benjamin Richards. of Pullman.
William Richards settled on the Rev. E. J. Taylor farm. where he passed from earth.
John Richards married Miss Nancy Taylor, sister of James Taylor, and went to Calhoun county, where he died at the age of one hundred four years, and near Big Springs he sleeps. He was the grandfather of Joseph Richards, of Goff's, Joseph being the son of Edward Richards.
Other Brothers .- Michael married Miss Caroline Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, of Calhoun county ; and Benjamin, Miss Ruth Jones, and these brothers were the first settlers on the Syelus Hall farm, on Lynn Camp. But Michael went
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to Calhoun county, where he died, and where his descendants live ; and Jacob removed to Beeson, where he died in 1899, at the age of ninety-four one-half years, and in the Wilson bury- ing ground, near the mouth of the stream, he lies buried.
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