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 3
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
He resided near Jane Lew, in Lewis county, at one time on the small stream that still bears his name, "Jesse's run," and in a rural burying-ground in this section, strangers have been pointed to a low mound which is said to cover his silent dust, but this is in error. He died at the home of his son-in- law, George Hanshaw, at Ravenswood, in Jackson county, during the autumn of 1829, and near this town he lies in his last sleep. After his death, Mrs. Hughes made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Uriah Gandee, in Roane county, until her death, and in the Gandeeville cemetery, she reposes.
They were the parents of two sons and seven daughters ; viz., Jesse, junior, William, Rachel (Mrs. William Cottrell), Martha (Mrs. Jacob Bonnett), Sudna (Mrs. Elijah Runner), Elizabeth (Mrs. James Stanley), Lucinda (Mrs. Uriah Sayre), Nancy (Mrs. George Hanshaw), and Massie, who married Uriah Gandee, the founder of Gandeeville, in Roane county, Mrs. Gandee was the last survivor of Jesse Hughes' family. She died in 1883 at the age of one hundred four years, and was laid in the Gandeeville cemetery by the side of her mother. James S. Gandee, of Higby, Roane county, her son, still sur- vives : and the Hon. Frederick Gandee, of that county, is her grandson.
One of these daughters was captured by the Indians, but
20
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
was rescued the following year and lived to a good old age, but we cannot say which one.
Jesse Hughes' name was ever associated with that of courage and daring, and he "lived many years to enjoy the peace and quietude that the hardships of his early life had so dearly bought." And the beautiful river that bears his name is a more fitting memorial than bronze or marble.
Elias Hughes was born on the South Branch of the Poto- mac river, in what is now Hardy county, West Virginia, in 1757, and with his parents and the rest of the family, removed to Harrison county in the early seventies.
He, too, served under the command of General Lewis at the battle of Point Pleasant and was one of the last survivors' of this desperate conflict.
He had been born and reared in the midst of savage war- fare, and his father and a young lady whom he ardently ad- mired having been killed by the ruthless hand of the dusky foe, he vowed vengeance on the race, and the return to peace did not serve to mitigate his intense hatred.
In 1297, two years after General Wayne's treaty with the Indians, leaving his native hills (with one John Radcliffe), he went to Ohio and settled on the Muskingum river. and during the following year, removed to the Licking river and became the first settler in what is now Licking county; the seene of this settlement being in some old Indian cornfields, near five miles below the present site of Newark, Ohio.
"One night in April, 1800, not long after his arrival here, two Indians stole his and Radcliffe's horses from a small in- closure near their cabins and succeeded in getting away with them unobserved." But finding them missing in the morning, they, well-armed, and accompanied by a man by the name of Bland, set out in pursuit, following their trail in a northerly direction all day and camping in the forest at night: but at the dawn of the next day, they came upon them fast asleep and all unconscious of danger. Concealing themselves behind
Though Elias Hughes has been repeatedly recognized as the last sur- vivor of this battle (at Point Pleasant), Samuel' Bonnifield, of Tucker county, is entitled to this distinction, as he died in 1847, at the age of ninety-six years. The house which he occupied from 1824-1847 still stands. He was four times sheriff of Randolph county. To Hon. Hu Maxwell, who recently visited his grave, we are indebted for this information.
21
THE DISCOVERY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
some trees, they waited until the Indians had awakened and were making preparations for their departure, when they drew their rifles to fire upon them ; and just at that moment one of them, instinctively clapping his hands upon his breast, as if to ward off the fatal ball, exclaimed in tones of dismay, "Me bad Indian! me no do so more!" But the appeal was all in vain. "The smoke curled from the glistening barrels, the report rang out upon the morning air, and the poor Ini- dians fell dead!" Recovering their horses and securing what plunder the savages had, they returned to their homes, swear- ing mutual secrecy for this violation of the treaty laws.
But one evening some time afterwards, when Hughes was sitting quietly in his cabin, he was startled by the entrance of two powerful and well-armed savages. Concealing his emotion, he bade them welcome and proffered them seats. His wife, a large muscular woman, stepping aside, privateiy sent for Radcliffe, whose cabin was near by ; and presently Radcliffe, who had made a detour, entered with his rifle from an opposite direction, as if he had been out hunting, and found Hughes talking with his visitors about the murder with his scalping-knife and tomahawk in his belt, and his rifle, which he deemed imprudent to try to obtain, hanging from the cabin wall. There all night long sat the little party, mutually fearing each other, but neither being able to sum- mon sufficient courage to stir ; but when the morning dawned the savages withdrew, shaking hands and bidding adieu to their reluctant hosts, using every precaution in their retreat lest they should be shot by the daring borderers
Flias Ilughes was captain of a band of scouts in Indian times, and was a soldier of the war of 1812. He married Miss Jane Sleeth, who, doubtless, belonged to the same family of Sleeths who have a place in the Smithville chapter, and they were the parents of sixteen children. Mrs. Hughes died in 1827, and he passed away near Utica, Ohio, on December ?. 1844, in the hope of a "glorious immortality." Military honors and other demonstrations of respect were in evidence at his funeral, and near Utica he lies at rest.
1This story is gleaned from Howe's History of Ohio.
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Two of his children died in youth and the rest are as fol- lows: Mrs. Margaret Jones, Mrs. Mary Foster, Mrs. Susana Leach, Mrs. Sudna Martin, Mrs. Jane Hight, Mrs. Sarah Davis and Kathrine, who never married, were the daughters; and Job, Thomas, Henry, Elias, David, John and Jonathan Hughes were the sons.
Note .- While our resources for this chapter have been principally traditional, parts of it are already a matter of his- tory, as the account of the "Explorations of the Streams" is to be found in "Hardesty's Historical and Geographical En- clycopedia of the Virginias," and other parts in the "Border Warfare" and the "History of Ohio," as mentioned in the foot notes.
To Josiah Hughes, of Roane county ; Henry Bonnett, of Troy, and L. V. McWhorter, the historian of North Yakima, Washington, we owe our thanks for valuable Hughes data.
CHAPTER II
First Settlers in Ritchie County
ORE than a quarter of a century had passed away after the discovery of Ritchie county before the coming of the first settlers.
This period had been marked by one of the most important epochs in the history of our country. The "Old Independence Bell had proclaimed liberty throughout the land to the inhabitants thereof;" the tyrannous scepter of George the 11I had been withdrawn ; and the "White Dove of Peace" had spread her downy wings "o'er a land of the free and a honie of the brave."
A new era had dawned. Civilization had taken up a westward line of march, and near the close of the 18th cen- tury, Ritchie county was brought into notice by the con- struction of a State road from Clarksburg to Marietta, which, for near forty years, was a leading thoroughfare between the East and the West ; and along this road the pioneers erected their cabins, which served as "inns or taverns" for the con- venience of travelers.
The first one of these cabins that came within the present boundary of Ritchie county was built by John Bunnell, near the beginning of the year 1800, on the site that is now marked by the thriving town of Pennsboro. Hence the origin of the name of the stream near by, "Bunnell's run," which serves as an enduring memorial, although we have been unable to learn "from whence he came or whither he went."
Mr. Bunnell sold his possessions here to John Webster. of New England, who, early in the nineteenth century, built the "Stone house" at the western end of Pennsboro, which became the property of James Martin, in 1815, and remained in the hands of his heirs until the autumn of 1908, when it was purchased by A. J. Ireland.
24
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Mr. Webster went to Texas and there met his death at the hands of the Indians.
Though the "tenement house" of the builder has long since been silent dust, this historic old mansion has withstood the storms of a century, and still stands, in good preservation, as a monument to his memory.
The Stone House as it appears today.
George Husher, whose settlement closely followed that of Bunnell, was the next settler in Ritchie county, but his his- tory will be found in the Bond's creek chapter:
Lawrence Maley .- During the early springtime of the year 1803, Lawrence Maley, a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian, built the first cabin in what is now Union district, one mile east of Harrisville, on the farm that is designated as the "Cannon," but better known to the older citizens, as the Mrs. Ann Har- ris homestead.
Having a wife and eight children, the eldest, a son. twenty-one years of age, and finding it necessary to clear a cornfield at once, he built a rude shelter, by driving stakes in the ground, and peeling popular bark for a roof, upon the bank of the river nearly opposite the residence of Grandison Wolfe, which served for a dwelling until the corn had been planted, when he erected a better one, near the present site of the Cannon residence.
His nearest neighbor was then at Pennsboro, but others
25
.
FIRST SETTLERS IN RITCHIE COUNTY
soon found their way into this wilderness, and a settlement was formed, which, for forty years, was known as the "Maley settlement."
Mr. Maley was the paternal grandfather of Ritchie coun- ty's most distinguished son, the late General T. M. Harris, and he was a native of Southern Ireland, the son of an Irish nobleman.
He, being one of the younger sons of the family, was committed to the care of his mother's brother, a Catholic priest, to be trained, perhaps, for the priesthood ; and finding life very unpleasant under such circumstances, he ran away and came to America, near the close of the Revolutionary war.
Landing in Philadelphia, he drifted into the country near by, where he became associated with a family of Seceders by the name of Harper (The Seceders were one of a numerous body of Presbyterians who seceded from the communion of the established church in Scotland in 1733), an association which resulted in his marriage to Miss Agnes Harper, a little later.
Mrs. Maley inherited a small dowry from her father's estate, which she exchanged with a man in Philadelphia, for a thousand acres in what is now the Harrisville vicinity, in 1795 ; and she and her husband, with their family and posses- sions, started at onee to take charge of this new acquisition : but when they reached Harper's Ferry, after a long and perilous journey over the mountains, learning of the hostility of the Indians in this section, they changed their course, and went to the Shenandoah valley, where they remained, in Rock- bridge county, until they came to Ritchie, in 1803.
Mr. Maley did not long survive the hardships of this wilderness life, and in 1808, he filled the first grave that was "hollowed out" in the old "Pioneer cemetery," on the Cannon farm, one mile northeast of Harrisville. His wife rests by his side.
Their children were as follows:
William, Thomas and Mrs. Mary McCoy, all of Illinois : Dr. Samuel, James and John, of Iowa; Mrs. Agnes (John) Harris and Miss Margaret Maley, who lie sleeping in the Har- risville cemetery.
26
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Mrs. Harris, widow of the late General Harris, is a grand- daughter of this distinguished settler.
The Stuarts and Wilkinsons .- The next pioneers in this vicinity were George and Joseph Stuart, two brothers, and Joseph Wilkinson, son-in-law of the latter, who, with their families, came from Harrison county, in 1805.
Mr. Wilkinson settled on the late Isaiah Wells homestead. Joseph Stuart, at the mouth of Stuart's run, and George Stuart, on the farm that soon after passed into the hands of Thomas Harris, and on which the beautiful town of Harris- ville now stands.
Mr. Wilkinson only survived a few years after his settle- ment, and his remains filled the second grave that was made in the "Pioneer cemetery." He married Miss Nancy Stuart, daughter of Joseph, and was the father of three children : Elizabeth, the only daughter, died in youth, and the two sons, Calvin and Ezekiel, went to California.
After his death, Mrs. Wilkinson married Nicholas Shrader, and in the Indian creek Baptist churchyard, she sleeps.
Joseph Stuart married Miss Margaret Sparks, of Harrison county, and was the father of ten children. He lost his life by the falling of a lumber kiln, while erecting the first store house at Harrisville, and he, too, rests in the "Pioneer ceme- tery" there. After his death, the family, losing their land in this section, removed to Goose creek.
His children were as follows :
Mrs. Nancy Wilkinson Shrader, Mrs. Elizabeth (Abel) Sinnett, Mrs. Margaret (Thomas) Stout, and Belinda and Rachel, who died unmarried; and Stephen, John, George, Joseph and William Stuart, all of Ritchie county, except Stephen and John, who went West.
Among the grandchilldren of this pioneer who are resi- dents of the county at this time, are Mrs. Lawson Hall, Au- burn ; Mrs. Lewis Hammer and Mrs. Belinda Hill, Washburn, and perhaps numerous others.
George Stuart married Miss Hannah Harris, daughter of Thomas Harris, and in the Harrisville vicinity they both died.
We have been unable to get a list of the names of their
27
FIRST SETTLERS IN RITCHIE COUNTY
children, but Mrs. Hannah Jones and Mrs. Sarah Calhoun, of Oxford, are some of their descendants.
Levi Wells .- Shortly after the coming of the Stuarts, Ashabel Wilkinson made the first settlement on the Dr. William M. Rymer estate; and this same year, 1805, brought Levi Wells with his wife, three sons and two daughters, from Fayette county, Pennsylvania, to the late George Sinnett homestead. Soon after his arrival, the first marriage took place in the settlement, when his daughter, Nancy, became the wife of William Maley.
In 1815, Mr. Wells changed his place of residence to the Pennsboro vicinity, and Patrick Sinnett became the second owner of this farm, which is still in the hands of his heirs, it being the home of his granddaughter, Miss Virginia Sinnett.
Mr. Wells later removed to the Kanawha river, and from him the Elizabeth Wellses are descended.
The Sinnetts .- Patrick Sinnett, with his large family, came from Pendleton county, (West) Virginia. He was a typical son of "Old Erin," having been born there near the middle of the eighteenth century. He had been one of the King's waiters for seven years before coming to America in his young manhood ; and finding such service very distaste- ful, he one day wandered down to the habor just as a vesse! was ready to set sail for the Colonies, and without further deliberation, stepped on board and turned his face toward the Occident. When he landed on these shores, he found himself penniless in a land of strangers, and was sold for his fare, and was compelled to work for three years to cancel the debt, so unjust were the laws, and so unmerciful were the executors, at that age of the world.
He served as a soldier in Lord Dunmore's war, being under the direct command of General Lewis at the battle of Point Pleasant; and he also served as an American soldier in the Revolutionary war, which closely followed.
He married Miss Kathrine Hefner, a German lady, and was the father of eleven children. He died at the great age of one hundred five years, some time in the fifties. at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Adam Cunningham, junior. on
28
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
the farm that is now the estate of the late Charles Moyer, and here, beside his wife, he sleeps.
His descendants in this county are a host, and, like he, many of them are remarkable for their longevity.
His children were all born in Pendleton county, and were as follows: John, William, Seth, Abel, Henry, Jacob, George, Elizabeth, Sarah, Kathrine and Phebe.
William and Seth went to Ohio; Henry remained in Pen- dleton county ; and the rest all came to this county ; but Kath- rine and Phebe both married Chancellors and afterwards went West: Elizabeth became Mrs. James Drake, and Sarah, Mrs. Adam Cunningham, junior, and they with their brothers, John. Abel, Jacob and George, were all the heads of well known pioneer families of this county ; but their histories will be found in other parts of this work, all with the exception of George, who succeeded his father on the old homestead.
George Sinnett was born in Pendleton county, on March 17. 1799, and with his parents came to this county in 1815: and, near five years later, he was married to Miss Mary Rex- road, daughter of Henry Rexroad, and on the old homestead, where he died in 1896, at the great age of ninety-seven years. he spent his entire life.
Having given birth to six children, his wife, Mary, passed away, and in 1843, he was again married to Miss Salome Heaton, daughter of John Heaton, senior, who was born in 1814 : and three daughters were the result of this union; viz., Harriet C., Virginia and Josephine. Harriet is the wife of Sheriff John Hulderman, and Josephine is Mrs. "Vel" Mc- Dougal, and Virginia is single.
The children of the first marriage were :
Catherine (born in 1822), who married Addison Rexroad : Samuel (born in 1824), of King Knob. Hulda (born in 1826). who became the wife of John S. Porter and went to some other State: Abel (born in 1828), who went to Ohio; Eliza- beth (born in 1830) married John A Lowther, of Oxford, and after his death, she became Mrs. Jacob Allender. She still survives. Mary T. (born in 1832) became Mrs. Turner and went to Taylor county.
William Cunningham .- The year 1806 was marked by
29
FIRST SETTLERS IN RITCHIE COUNTY
the coming of William Cunningham, with his wife, Susana Barbara Handyshel Cunningham, and their ten children, from Culpepper county, Virginia, to the homestead of the late Noah Rexroad, now the property of E. C. Fox and S. M. Hoff.
Mr. Cunningham was one of the most noted pioneers of early days. He was born in Ireland on July 23, 1764, and when he was but a small boy, his parents emigrated to Amer- ica and settled in Culpepper county, Virginia. He was a first cousin of Thomas Cunningham of Indian fame, and their fathers are said to have crossed the ocean at the same time. He served as a soldier during the latter part of the American Revolution, being then but a mere youth, and was a member of the victorious army at Yorktown, and a witness of the sur- render of Lord Cornwallis. And in honor of this defeated chieftain he named the town of Cornwallis, where he resided when the stations along the Baltimore & Ohio railroad were located ..
When Harrisville was laid out for a town in 1822, he was suddenly seized with the idea of founding a town of his own, and forthwith proceeded to have one laid out on the ridge where A. O. Wilson and D. B. Patton now reside, which he named "Williamsburg;" but Harrisville has long since swal- lowed up this proposed village.
He changed his place of residence to Cornwallis near the year 1840, and here he bade adieu to earth in 1863, at the ripe old age of ninety-nine years.
He gave the grounds for the Pioneer cemetery at Harris- ville, and within its peaceful bosom his ashes lie. His wife also sleeps here, she having passed on in 1843. (She was of German descent.)
This burying-ground is no longer "a neglected spot," as the historian of a quarter of a century ago termed it, but it is now enclosed by an iron fence, the result of the late General Harris' labor of love.
Many of the pioneers slumber here; and despite the hard- ships they endured, the inscriptions bear silent testimony to the longevity of their lives.
William Cunningham's sons were : Elijah, James, William, junior, John, Isaac and Henry ; and his daughters
30
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Mrs. Phebe (Jesse) Lowther, Cornwallis; Mrs. Leah (Jacob) Wigner, Ellenboro; Mrs. Lydia (Henry) Wigner, Cairo ; Mrs. Susan (Robert) Parks, Ohio; and Mrs. Barbara (Nathaniel) Parks, Ellenboro. Mrs. George B. Johnson, of Ellenboro, is a daughter of the last named Mrs. Parks.
W. H. Cunningham, of Husher's run; the late D. R. Wigner, of Pike, and Mrs. Matilda McGregor, of Cairo, are other grandchildren of this pioneer; and the late Mrs. W. E. Hill, of Harrisville ; J. W. and Frank Elliott, of Indian creek ; Thomas Elliott, of Pullman; Mrs. James Rexroad, of Den run, and many others we might mention, are great-grand- children.
William Wells was the first settler at the mouth of Bun- nell's run. He was a brother of Levi Wells, and he came from Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1808, and took up his residence on the farm that is now the home of Mrs. Bertha McDougal, and to the day of his death, his interests were identified with this community.
The Wellses came from Wales to the Keystone State, near the middle of the eighteenth century, and took up arms in defense of their adopted country in her struggle for inde -- pendence.
William Wells was born in 1766, and married Miss Eliza- beth Trump, who was of Dutch descent, and they were the parents of one son and four daughters : Isaiah Wells,1 Rachel, Hester, Mary and Eleanor.
Rachel married Daniel Smith; Hester, John Heaton ; Mary, James McCown, and Eleanor died single.
Mrs. Wells died in 1850, at the age of eighty-seven years ; and Mr. Wells, in 1851, at the age of eighty-five years. Both rest in the Harrisville cemetery.
Mr. Wells was the owner of the first mill on Bunnell's run, and one of the first in the county, but he sold this mill at an early day to John Whitney, who turned it into a horse-mil:, and, in 1840, tore it down.
The Heatons .- This same year (1808) brought John Heaton, senior, from the Motherland to this vicinity. He
1For the family of Isaiah Wells see chapter on Mills.
31
FIRST SETTLERS IN RITCHIE COUNTY
was born in sunny England, on April 28, 1774, and not long after his arrival here, he was married to Miss Hester Wells, daughter of William Wells, and took up his residence on the late Dr. W. M. Rymer farm, he being the second owner.
He died on September 23, 1854, and Mrs. Heaton, on February 13, 1859, at the age of sixty-nine one-half years.
Their family consisted of three sons and seven daughters ; viz., John, Eli, William, Selvina, Elizabeth, Jane, Sarah, Salina, Mary and Anne. The last two named died in child- hood, and nearly or quite all of the rest have now passed to the other side.
William died in the West; Selvina married Amos Culp ; Elizabeth, William Wells; and Jane became Mrs. Mussetter, and they, too, all went West; Sarah married George Martin and died in Gilmer county, and years after, when her remains were disinterred for removal to Harrisville, they were found to be petrified, coffin and all. Salina married George Sinnett, and lived and died at Harrisville.
John and Eli Heaton, who were prominent figures in public affairs, spent their entire lives al Harrisville.
John Heaton, junior, was twice married, his first wife being Miss Susana Wigner, and his second, Miss Sarah Stevens. All died at Harrisville, and here they repose in the cemetery south of town.
Mr. Heaton was the father of seven children: Alcinda, the one child of the first union, became Mrs. Henry Culp, and went West.
Mrs. Dora (J. H.) Lininger, Mrs. Lillie (J. M.) Barbe, Mrs. Nerdie (Chas.) Musgrave, the late John Heaton (the third), Will R., and one who died in infancy, were the children of the second union.
Will R. is a well known newspaper man, he having long been identified with the Harrisville papers.
Eli Heaton's stay on earth was very brief ; he died sud- denly on January 25, 1868, at the age of forty-two years, while serving as sheriff of the county. His brother, John, succeeded him in this office and finished his unexpired term.
He married Mrs. Sophia A. D. Zinn Davis, mother of the late T. E. Davis, of Harrisville, and was the father of five
32
HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
children, three of whom died in childhood; viz., Adelaide, Grace and Pussy, and Hallie, of the West ; and the late Mrs. Hettie, wife of J. N. Pierpoint, were the two that grew to the years of maturity.
Miss Linnie Peirpoint, of Harrisville, his granddaughter, is the only surviving descendant in this county.
Mrs. Heaton died in 1867. Both sleep at Harrisville.
Heaton has been one of the prominent names in this coun- ty almost throughout its history.
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.