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 32
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H. S. Wilson.
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RITCHIE MINES
Presbyterian church in New York city. H. S. junior, married Miss Maude Jarrett, daughter of Dr. A. M. Jarrett, of Grafton, and resides at Parkersburg. And Edwin Ennis and his wife (Miss Mae Lyle) are also of Parkersburg.
CHAPTER XXIX
Pioneer Life and Character
What sought they thus afar? Bright jewels of the mine?
The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? They sought a faith's pure shrine.
Ay, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod! They have left unstained what here they found! Freedom to worship God! -Mrs. Hemans.
These early pioneers resided upon the outer-borders of three counties-Wood, Lewis, and Harrison, and near forty or fifty miles from their respective county-seats.
The "State road." was the only thoroughfare, the settle- ments being accessible to this road and to one another by bridle-paths.
Their cabins were built of logs cut from small trees, and were covered with clap-boards, made with a tool called a "irow." The boards, which were laid upon rib-poles, were held in-tact by weight-poles, and the floor was made of puncheons, which were split and partly smoothed by an adz. The open spaces between the logs were filled by chunks and by mortar made of clay. A large fire-place with a "cat and clay" chimney (of clay and sticks) occupied one end of the house, which was usually one story in height.
Their furniture, which was home-made, consisted of tables, chairs, bedsteads, etc., just such things as necessity de- manded, and the fire-place was their cook-stove. A wooden paddle called a "battler," was their washing-machine: tallow candles, their lights ; their lanterns were made of tin punched full of holes, in which a candle burned ; and a wooden-clock ticked off the hours. Their plows were made of wood (ironed by a blacksmith), and a paddle was pressed into service while
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PIONEER LIFE AND CHARACTER
plowing in order to keep the mold-board free from dirt. Their wool, which was shorn from the backs of the sheep within their fold, was carded on hand-cards; and their corn was ground by hand, and on horse-mills, which were constructed with very large tread-wheels, the main shaft of which occu- pied an inclined position, so as to elevate one side of the wheel, which turned under the horses' feet. Their clothing was made of dressed deer-skins, linen and linsey. And the "good house-wife" toiled early and late at her loom and spinning- wheel. Their sugar and syrup were principally manufactured at home from the sap of the sugar-tree.
The forests abounded in deer, bears, wolves, panthers, wild turkeys, and many other varieties of game, and hunting was a regular pursuit during the autumn and the winter sea- sons, and thus their meat was obtained. And corn-bread, milk and butter with a few other products of the soil, made up their bill of fare.
The nearest store (for a number of years) was at Marietta, and there they went once a year for their salt and iron, which were procured in exchange for the skins of wild animals, veni- son, ham, and, occasionally, snake-root and ginseng were added to these exchange products.
They would assemble from a radius of fifteen or twenty miles. in order to assist one another in log-rollinge house-rais- ings, corn-huskings, etc. Quilting bees usually accompanied these gatherings, and the night was turned into one of social merriment.
And though their mode of living was rude and simple, it was characterized by a generosity of spirit, and a hospitality of manner that belonged only to their day. No stranger was turned from their gates until his wants had been supplied. No cot was too humble, no meal, too frugal, to be shared with the weary, way-worn traveler, and many a blessing did their kindnesses call down upon their heads.
No bells called them to the house of God, for there were no churches, but some suitable home in the settlement was the shrine for their devotion.
They placed little stress upon education, for they were prone to believe that it made men dishonest, vain, effeminate,
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
and nufitted them for the sterner duties of life. But they loved to excel in feats of physical strength, and this was looked upon as an enviabie distinction.
As a rule they were honest. industrious, courageous, and strong. With great fortitude, they braved the dangers, en- dured the toils and the privations of this forest-life, and thus paved the way for the many privileges and blessings that we to-day so much enjoy. And yet how very few of us realize what we owe to them! How our smiling valleys and vine- clad hills, our fruitful fields and gardens, our comfortable homes, school-houses, churches. our convenient post-offices and telephone lines, and a thousand other comforts and ad- vantages, whisper of the benediction of their lives, and of the gratitude that we owe to the memory of these grand and noble sires !
"Who shook the depth of the desert's gloom,
With their hymns of lofty cheer."
In Grateful Remembrance
nf John Agers The First School Trarher attn
James Honda
The First County Superintendent
James Woods.
Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army .- Everett.
CHAPTER XXX
Schools and Teachers
OHN AYRES .- The first school in the coun- ty was taught by John Ayres, in 1810, in au old log cabin, a vacated dwelling, that stood near the mouth of Cedar iun, in the Webb's mill vicinity.
Mr. Ayres, as before stated, came from Rockbridge county, Virginia, and settled on the S. C. Phillips' farm. He was then thirty years of age, hav- ing been born near Lexington, in 1780. He belonged to the Ayres family whose history appears with the South fork set- tlers, being the son of Daniel and Ellen McGee Ayres ; and the brother of Daniel, who settled on the McNeill homestead.
He married Miss Elizabeth Watkins of Virginia, and they were the parents of: Daniel, Barcas, Thomas, Jeremiah, Eli, Mrs. Ellen (John) Stanley, Mrs. Elizabeth Williams, Mrs. Mary (George) Stebbs, and Nancy, who, perhaps, died in youth.
Mr. Ayres, having spent fifty years of his life in teaching. died in 1873 at the advanced age of ninety-three years ; and in the Haught graveyard, on Indian creek, but a short distance from the scene of his settlement, he lies in his last sleep.
His children have all passed on, but quite a number of his grand-children yet remain. Among them are "Dick" Ayres, of Island run; and Mrs. Mary Rinehart Wiant, Ken- nedy, of Smithville. John and Flavius Stanley are his great- grandsons, and Misses June and Cocoa Stanley, who are iden- tified among the young pedagogues of the county, are his great-great-granddaughters, they having perhaps, inherited
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their love for the profession from their distinguished grand -. sire.
Samuel Rittenhouse, who came from Harrison county in 1821, was the second teacher in this section. He married Miss Grissey Murphy, daughter of Samuel Murphy, and went from here to Illinois.
Barcas Ayres .- In the meantime, John Ayres had sent his son, Barcas, to his old home in Virginia to be educated, and he returned in 1826, and became the third teacher in what is now Murphy district. He married Miss Anne Riprogal, sis- ter of Mrs. Daniel Ayres, of the McNeill homestead, and of Mrs. John Hostetter. She sleeps beneath a myrtle mound, only a few paces from the Philipps' school-house, and he, in Indiana, where he spent his last hours with his daughters, Mrs. Ophelia (W'm.) Drake, and Mrs. Elizabeth A. (Wmn.) Stuart.
The First School House was erected in 1814, near the mouth of Cedar run, on land owned by William Murphy, now the property of Sheridan Hardman. The date of the erection of this pioneer building is marked by the closing of our second war with Great Britain.
John McCauley was the first teacher within the present bounds of Clay district, he having given his instructions in an old log cabin on Lynn Camp. He was the son of Dr. James McCauley of Clarksburg, and was the uncle of the late Mirs. John S. Peirpoint, of Harrisville. He afterwards became a physician, and practiced his profession at Glenville, Weston, (etc.) and in Wood county where he died.
Mrs. Hermione Helmick, and Mrs. Helen Saterfield. of Fairmont ; and Earle Peirpoint, of Harrisville, are his grand- nieces and grand-nephew, he being a brother of Dr. William McCanley, their grand-father.
The First School in what is now Union district is said to have been taught by one P. F. Randolph in a cabin on the Lawrence Maley farm near Harrisville, during the winter of 1818 ; but all our efforts to learn something farther concerning the history of this pedagogue have been fruitless.
John Piatt was the first to "wield the scepter" over the youth within the present boundary of Grant district. The
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
ยท scene of this school was on Rush run, near one mile from Cairo, on the Marshall farm.
What a curiosity this "pioneer temple of learning" with its massive stone chimney and huge fireplace; its window made by chopping out a log, and pasting greased paper over the opening : its seats of split logs, with wooden pins for legs ; and its roof held in-tact by weight poles, would be to the boys and girls of to-day, who enjoy the many comforts and con- veniences of modern school life !
Mr. Piatt was a native of Pennsylvania, a cousin of Mrs. William McKinney, senior, and during the winter of 1826. while on a visit with the Mckinneys, he taught this school.
He went from here to Kentucky, and later to Indiana. He was the father of the distinguished John James Piatt, the poet and journalist, who was born at Milton, Indiana, on March 1, 1835 (eleven years after this school was taught), and who entered the journalistic field early in life, and later served as clerk of the House of Representatives. and of the United States Treasury Department, and who, also, filled the position of consul at Cork, Ireland from 188? to 1894.
John James Piatt's best known poems are "Poems by Two Friends" with W. D. Howells; "Poems in Sunshine and Firelight." and "Idylls and Lyrics of the Ohio Valley." etc.
He (John James Piatt) married Miss Sarah Morgan Bryan, who was born at Lexington, Kentucky, on August 11, 1836, and who was, also, a poet of note. "A Woman's Poems," "A Voyage to the Unfortunate Isles," "Dramatic Persons and Moods," and "An Enchanted Castle," being among her best known works. She was, also, the author of the beautiful little poems, "The Gift of Empty Hands," which will be found in. "Famous Poems Explained" by Waitman T. Barbe, in the "Teachers' Reading Circle Library" of this county.
That the son inherited poetic talent from his father, can hardly be doubted, when we here reproduce a little poem that the elder Piatt wrote during his term of school at Cairo (in 1826) in the form of an acrostic on the name of Mary Skelton, who afterwards became Mrs. Jacob Mckinney :
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SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS
"May health and peace, inestimable gifts, adorn- And ave, attend you through life's fickle dream; Religion, likewise, though too oft held in scorn,
Your path direct across the sluggish stream.
"Say, dost thou wish true happiness to find? Know happiness is rare in human kind, Envy or pride, if either find a place,
Leaves little room for virtue to embrace; 'Tis virtue, then, which happiness bestows,
Oh! claim the prize, and safe you are from foes;
Nor pride nor envy, shall ever dare oppose."
The Piatts have a most distinguished and interesting an- cestral history-one that dates back to the time of the Revo- cation of the Edict of Nantes in France (in 1685).
Among the Huguenot fugitives of the Province of Dan- plume that sought refuge in Holland from the religious per- secution, that immediately followed the Revocation, was a family by the name of Piatt.
John Piatt, the first of whom we have any definite ac- count, was doubtless, a very young child at the time of the flight from France. His parents, however, established their home at Amsterdam, and there John grew to manhood's es- tate, and married Mrs. Frances Van Flirt Wycoff, a widow of English-Dutch ancestry. And soon after his marriage, with his bride, and his brother, he set sail for the Danish West Indies, where he engaged in business on the Island of St. Thomas, and where he continued to sojourn until after the birth of his elder children, when he migrated to North Amer- ica, and settled in the New Jersey colony, at Six Mill run, near the town of New Brunswick, in Middlesex county.
Some years after his settlement in New Jersey, he de- cided to return to France, for the purpose of making an effort to recover his inheritance which had been confiscated by the Crown, but he was deterred from carrying his plans into ef- fect by the seven years war (1756-'63), and went to St. Thomas, instead, with his son Abraham, to take charge of the sugar plantation of his brother, and there his life ebbed away in 1760 ; and there the Southern breezes play about his ancient tomb. His wife died at her home in New Jersey, on Decem- ber 26, 1776, and not far from New Brunswick, she rests.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
Their sons were, John. Abraham, William, Daniel, and Jacob Piatt.
These sons were all officers and soldiers of the Conti mental army during the American Revolution ; and William, Daniel, and Jacob were among the original members of the "Society of the Cincinnati"-an organization which was founded by the officers of the Revolution for the purpose of perpetuating friendships, and for the raising of a fund for the benefit of the widows and the orphans of the soldiers of this war.
John Piatt, the eldest son, whom we shall designate as John the II, was evidently born on the Island of St. Thomas, the date of his birth being 1739. In 1763, three years after the death of his father, he was married to Miss Jane William- son, daughter of William and Jane Van Nest Williamson, who was born in 1745 ; and at Trenton, New Jersey he founded his home. He served as High Sheriff of Middlesex county, which, in 1838, was sub-divided into four counties : and at the close of the Revolution, in which he played his part as "min- ute man" in the New Jersey militia, he removed with his family to Milton, on the Susquehannah river. in Northumber- land county, Pennsylvania : and later, to White Deer Valley. where he died in 1820, at the age of eighty-one years.
He fell heir to the old Dutch Bible which the family brought from Holland to America, and which bears the date 1710; and when his daughter, Frances, the wife of William McKinney, senior, was leaving Pennsylvania for her new home in Ritchie county, he came out with this old Bible, and said. "Here, Frances, take this with you, as you are the only one that can read it." Mrs. McKinney accepted the proffered treasure, and it is now in the possession of the family of her late grand-daughter, Mrs. Drusilla Wanless.
Besides Frances McKinney, the other children of John Piatt. the II, were, Mrs. Jane Allen, Mrs. Cathrine Fenbrook, William and John Piatt.
Abraham Piatt, the second son of John Piatt, of France, was a Colonel in the Revolution. He was born in 1741. and married Annabella Andrew and settled in Penn's Valley where he died in 1791.
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SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS
His children were, Jacob, John, Cathrine, Eleanor, Anna, Abraham, James, Frances, Jane and Margaret.
William Piatt, the third son of John of France. was a Lieutenant at the beginning of the Revolution, but rose to the rank of Captain, and in this capacity served throughout the war. He was born in 1743, and died in 1791, perhaps, in Pennsylvania. He was first married to Miss Quick, and one son, John Piatt, the III, was born of this union. And after her death, he married Miss Sarah Smith. and they were the parents of James, Frances, who died in youth, Jemima G., who was adopted by a family by the name of Cummings, and Dr. William F., of New York city.
James Piatt, the eldest son of William and Sarah Smith "iatt, married Miss Rachel Bear, and they were the parents of John Piatt,1 the pioneer school-teacher of Grant district.
Daniel Piatt, the fourth son of John of France, was Cap- tain of the first Regiment of the New Jersey Brigade, and rose to the rank of Major. He was born in 1745, and married Cathrine Herrad; and their children were, John, Mary, Rob- ert, Frances, William, Daniel, and Margaret.
Jacob Piatt, the fifth and last son of John of France, was born in 1747, and died in 1834. He was, also, a captain in the Continental army, and served in many of the more important engagements during the Revolution. He married Miss Han- nah Mccullough, and was the father of Benjamin, John HI., Frances, Hannah C., William, and Abram S. Piatt
NOTE: To Miss Fannie Mckinney of Williamstown, we owe our gratitude for this invaluable little poem, and the other information concerning the identity of this pioneer educator, with the exception of the career of his son and his (the son's) wife which we gleaned from the pages of an encyclopedia.
And to Mrs. Lulu Hallam Parker of Kansas City, Mis- souri, we owe our thanks for the Piatt ancestral history .-- Author.
1Some of the Piatt descendants seems to think that John Piatt, the Ritchie county pedagogue, was the son of William, but dates and other circumstances point to the fact that he must have belonged to a younger generation. However, he was descended from William, and was the father of John James Piatt, the poet-consul.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
The School System at this early day was in a crude state. As a rule, the teacher possessed but little education. Some- tinies the one person in the community having the most knowledge was employed as instructor. He was regarded fully competent if he had reached the Rule of Three (Propor- tion) in Arithmetic, and could read and write, little stress being placed upon the necessity of farther education.
These schools were made up by subscription. and the teacher "boarded round the district" if he were not established in the community. Provisions were made by the over-seer of the poor for the children whose parents were unable to pay tuition, and the term only covered a period of three months.
The schools were very few in number down to the year 1830. It will be remembered that our state was still a part of the "Old Dominion," at this time, and that some of her Gov- ernors had strongly opposed the advancement of education.
Sir William Berkeley, in one of his Colonial reports to the King, while he occupied the Gubernatorial chair (in 16:1) had said: "Thank God! there are no free schools or printing presses, and I hope there will be none for a hundred years to come, for learning has brought disobedience and heresy into the world, and printing has divulged these and other libels."
The wish herein expressed was fully realized: for one hundred twenty-five years had passed, after this utterance be- fore Virginia enacted a law "having the semblance of a pub- lic school system;" and then its provisions rendered it in- operative for half a century longer. "It was not until 1846. that another statute was enacted, which with the amendment of 1848, was practically a free school law for the counties that chose to adopt it."
Jefferson, Ohio, Kanawha, and Brooke were the only counties in (West) Virginia that established schools under the law of 1846. Jefferson county being the first to inaugu- rate the Free School System in West Virginia.
When the Constitution of our State was formulated, it contained provisions for free schools, and Arthur I. Boreman, the first governor, in delivering his message to the Legisla- ture, which convened on June 20. 1863, called special attention to this (educational) provision, and said, "I trust that you will
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take such action as will result in the organization of a thor- ough and efficient system."
At this session committees on education were appointed, and from their reports, this Legislature formulated "the first Free School Law of the State." Under the provision of the Constitution, the educational work of the State was placed in the hands of a General Superintendent, who was chosen by the Legislature ; and in 1864, the Reverend Ryland White was named as the first Superintendent, and entered upon his of- ficial duties at once.
This was the beginning of our school system, and in 1873, under the new Constitution of our State, the present systeni was inaugurated. The grading system came in 1891.
Since the birth of the Free School System in our State, the following named gentlemen have served this county in the capacity of County Superintendent :
James Woods, J. M. Mckinney, F. H. Martin, T. W. Ire- land, P. WV. Morris, J. N. Kendall, George W. Lowther, II. C. Showalter, M. K. Duty, C. E. Haddox, J. H. Nichol, H. B. Woods, D. B. Strickling, S. M. Hoff, and L. H. Hayhurst, (and Ross L. Cokeley will soon claim the place of Mr. Hay- hurst, he having been chosen at the November election, 1910.)
James Woods (who was the grand-father of H. B. Woods) filled this office by appointment for a short time, but J. M. Mckinney was the first to be elected by the popular vote: and during his (Mckinney's) administration the first school-houses under the Free School System, were erected.
With two exceptions, these gentlemen are all living, and it will, doubtless, add interest here to notice what their dif- ferent stations in life are to-day :
James Woods, who was one of the early ministers of the Baptist church, sleeps in Missouri. J. M. Mckinney, who has been prominent in political circles, and who has several times represented this county in the House of Delegates. resides near Hebron. F. H. Martin is a citizen of Pennsboro, and is in the employ of the South Penn Oil Company. T. W. Ire- iand is a well-known minister of the Methodist Protestant church, and his home is at Morgantown. P. W. Morris, so long identified with the "Ritchie Gazette" is now editor of the
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
"State Journal," at Parkersburg. J. N. Kendall is a member of the Methodist Episcopal conference of Idaho, and is a resi- dent of Boise city. George W. Lowther, for years in the em- ploy of the B. & O. Railroad Company, recently completed a term as Mayor of Grafton, where he now resides. H. C. Showalter, until quite recently a Harrisville lawyer, is a resi- dent of Kansas City. M. K. Duty is adding new laurels to his fame by extending the Lorama railroad to Pullman. C. E. Haddox, late Warden of the State Prison, has laid down the cross. J. H. Nichol is in business at Grafton. H. B. Woods stepped from this office into that of Prosecuting At- torney, and from that into the Judgeship. D. B. Strickiing is engaged in business in Pennsylvania.
S. M. Hoff, also, stepped from this office into the Prose- cutor's chair, a position that he is now filling for the second term.
Last, but not least, comes L. H. Hayhurst, the present incumbent, who is serving his second terni, and who recently completed a course in a medical college at Louisville, Ken- tucky.
The schools of this county now number one hundred fifty-three, forty-three of which are in Grant, thirty-three in Clay, thirty-seven in Union, excluding the Harrisville Inde- pendent district, and thirty-nine in Murphy.
There are fifty-four sub-district libraries, which include three thousand eight hundred forty-five volumes.
Five of the towns have two-roomed buildings and three. Harrisville, Pennsboro, and Cairo have more. Harrisville
Harrisville School Building.
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1
now has a spacious brick building of six rooms and an audi- torium.
The school property is valued at one hundred four thou- sand sixty-eight dollars. The number of pupils enrolled is four thousand eight hundred ninety-four, with an enumeration of six thousand one hundred nine, and an average daily attend- ance of three thousand six hundred seventy-two. Eleven and one-half years is the average age of attendance.
The teachers number one hundred seventy-three, fifty of which hold first grade certificates, one hundred six, second grade, and seventeen, third grade.
The total amount paid for teachers' services in nineteen hundred nine, was forty-four thousand three hundred thirteen dollars, and the entire cost of the schools during this year was sixty-five thousand seven hundred twenty dollars.
Total amount of Teachers' fund (1909) is forty-seven thousand one hundred seventy-five dollars, forty-eight cents, and the amount of building-fund is eighteen thousand five hundred forty-five dollars thirty-six cents.
The present valuation of the taxable property is sixteen million five hundred seventy thousand thirty-seven dollars ; four million three hundred fifty-nine thousand eight hundred twenty-four dollars of which belongs to Clay ; six million six-
A Modern School Building.
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IIISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
teen thousand one hundred, to Grant; two million five hun- dred eighty-four thousand six hundred sixty-seven, to Mur- phy ; two million two hundred twenty-eight thousand three hundred ninety-one, to Union district ; and the remaining one million three hundred eighty-six thousand fifty-five dollars, to Harrisville.
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