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 39
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The one that settled in New Jersey, the grand-uncle of R. S. Blair, senior, lost his life at the battle of Trenton, he being a member of the staff of General Washington. But from the Pennsylvania family the Ritchie county Blairs are descended.
Since this was written, Dr. Watson has changed his place of resi- dence to California.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
David Blair, a product of the Keystone state, came to Parkersburg, in 1816, in his early manhood, where he held the position of Cashier of the Northwestern Bank of Virginia, and where he met and married Miss Elizabeth Beeson, daughter ct Jacob Beeson, junior, who was a native of Beesontown, Penn- sylvania, but with her parents came to Wood county in her childhood. Four children were born of this union :
Isaialì, Jacob Beeson, Robert S., and Elizabeth, who died in 1843, at the age of eighteen years.
The parents both left this world in 1835, the mother, on February 28, and the father, in March : he having contracted cholera while on. a steamer on the Ohio river, died at Ports- mouth at an inn, and in the old churchyard at that place his ashes lie. His wife rests at Parkersburg.
Jacob Beeson Blair .- After the death of the parents, the second son, Jacob Beeson Blair, who was born at Parkersburg, on April 11, 1821, was bound as an apprentice to Josiah Shank- lin of that city, and learned the carpenter's trade ; but in 1842 he entered the office of his uncle, General John J. Jackson, as a law student; and in 1844, was admitted to the bar, being li- censed to practice law both in the inferior and the superior Courts of West Virginia ; and during this same year, he came to Harrisville and opened a law office, and thus the history of the family begins in this county.
In 1851 he was happily married to Miss Josephine Jack- son, sister of William L. Jackson, who passed on in 1856, leaving two daughters, and shortly after this sad event, he removed to Parkersburg and formed a law partnership with his brother-in-law, Wm. L. Jackson. Here he continued to practice his profession until 1862 when he was sent to Con- gress to fill the vacancy that had been occasioned by the resig- nation of the Hon. John S. Carlisle, of Virginia, who had been elected to the United States Senate.
In 1863 he was re-elected to Congress, and took an active interest in the formation of the State of West Virginia. He served as a member of the new State's Legislature in 1863, and was minister to Costa Rica, Central America from 1868 to 1873 ; and in February 1876, he was appointed by the govern-
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ment as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Terri- tory of Wyoming.
He was one of the early Prosecuting Attorneys of Ritchie county, he having been twice elected to this office.
He died at Parkersburg, where he sleeps, and here his eldest daughter, Mrs. H. H. Moss, lives. The other daughter, Mrs. Lizzie Bell, lives at Dayton, Ohio.
Isaiah Blair, eldest brother of J. B., lived and died at Franklin, Ohio.
Robert S. Blair, the younger brother of J. B. Blair, being deprived of his mother four days after his birth, on February 24, 1835. was tenderly cared for by his maternal grandmother until her death, when he was added to the family of his aunt, Mrs. Anne Gardiner of Parkersburg. He was first christened "David" in honor of his father, who also died when he was but an infant; but his aunt re-christened him "Robert Skyler" in honor of a prominent Pennsylvanian who was in some way connected to the Blair and the Beeson families.
In 1848, Robert S., came to Harrisville to live with his brother, and a little later he was apprenticed to Thomas Reitz to learn the saddler's trade, a trade in which he became pro- ficient. But this work being out of harmony with his tastes. he improved his spare moments, and finally passed the re- quired examination and entered the Virginia Military Insti- tute at Lexington, from which he was graduated, after four years of hard study. John J. Jackson aided him in securing the appointment, and "Stonewall" Jackson was his instructor while there, he being the occupant of the chair of Mathematics and the Commandant of the Cadet Corps.
Having spent all of his inheritance in defraying his edu cational expenses at this institution, he returned to Harris- ville, and took up the study of law in the office of the hate Cyrus Hall : and made his living by clerking in stores, and in doing such other tasks as came in his way, until he was ad- mitted to the bar; and in his chosen profession he continued until his death, making quite a record as a barrister.
On July 1. 1861, he was married to Miss Rachel Core, daughter of the late A. S. Core, of Ellenboro, who was at that
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time a student of a college at Little Washington, Pennsyl- vania ; and four children were the result of this union :
A. Core Blair, the first born, is a physician of Randolph county ; Robert S., junior, upon whom the father's mantle has fallen, is a prominent young lawyer and orator of Harrisville ; Harry C., is fitting himself for the medical profession in a Louisville college : and Miss Lizzie Blair, of Harrisville, is tlie only daughter.
Mr. and Mrs. Blair died at Harrisville during the winter of 1891, of lagrippe, an epidemic having visited the town and carried away a number of its citizens. They died within a few hours of each other and one low mound in the Harrisville cemetery covers the ashes of both.
The McDouglas hail from Scotland, where they, a power- ful clan, owned and ruled all the islands off the western coast of the Highlands, at the dawn of the history of the "Heelands of Scotia."
The ancient coat-of-arms of the Clan is suggestive of a sea-faring people, two crude galleons of early times being rep- resented upon its face ; and the motto, which is inscribed there- on, is Vincere vel mori, which means in its complete trans- lation, "We Conquer or Die."
The name was first spelled "Dhu Gal," which meant "Black Stranger." a name which was probably given them by neighboring clans, to distinguish them (a dark-skinned, black- haired people) from the (blue eyed, light-haired) Fiongals, or "White Strangers."
. Time and education finally changed the spelling of the name to "Dugal" and later to McDougal, the prefix "Mc" meaning "son of."
"In early times they were a fierce, stubborn, courageous and war-like race. As early as the thirteenth century, they are found opposing the Crown, and in 1306. led by McDougal of Lorn, they fought the battle of Methven against Robert Bruce, and came ont victorious, having routed the King and his army.
In this battle, Bruce lost to the McDougals the famous, historic "Brooch of Lorn." which was later stolen from them
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at the siege of Castle Dunolly, the then official headquarters of the Clan; and for centuries it remained in other hands. In fact, it was only restored to the McDougals of Lorn seventy- five years ago.
After their triumph at Methven, they seized the reigns of government, and ruled over Scotland for a few brief months, until the mighty Bruce re-organized his scattered forces, added to their strength and prowess, and dealt them a crush- ing blow at the battle of Argyleshire. Here he defeated them, and stripped them of their power, titles and vast estates, save the District of Lorn. So fierce and so. destructive was this battle that, at its close, but three hundred of the name (Mc- Dougal) were able to bear arms, and the Clan never recovered from this blow.
William McDougal, a lineal descendant of the "Dhu Gals" or the "Kings of the Isles" as they were called in ancient times, came direct from the "District of Lorn" in the Highlands of Scotland to the Virgania colony in 1762. He was a young Presbyterian clergyman of marked ability, and shortly after his arrival he became the pastor of a small band of Scotch Presbyterians, who resided on the Monongahela river where Morgantown now stands. Here, in 1774, he was married to a Miss Brand, a member of his congregation, and three children were born of this union, John, Sarah, and Margaret; and shortly after the birth of the second daughter, the mother died, and in 1781, the Rev. Mr. McDougal, leaving his little ones in the care of some of his parishioners, returned to his native Highlands and there claimed another bride, before coming . back to America. Upon his return he went to Kentucky, where he played an important part in the founding of the old Presby- terian clitirch school at Danville, which is now known as "Centre College."
In 1804, he rode on horseback from Danville, Kentucky, to Marion county to see his children whom he had not seen since he ieft them in childhood, and to induce them to go to Kentucky and live near hin, but they had, in the meantime, grown to manhood and womanhood and married (Sarah had become Mrs. Deviess and gone to Ohio, Margaret had mar-
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
ried Samuel Dudley, a Revolutionary soldier, and lived at Dunkard Mill run, in Marion county, near her brother. John), and all his persuasions, and his offers to give them large pos- sessions in "the Blue Grass state" could not induce them to re- turn with him.
The son said, "Father, when sister and I were infants you left us here in Virginia in the care of strangers, and returned to Scotland. Both are now married, have children of our own and are doing well. We have paddled our own canoes thus far, and so far as I am concerned, I expect to do so in future. My answer is no! I would not go for all the money you are worth." Speechless from rage or astonishment, without an- swering a word, the old gentleman turned upon his heel, went to the barn and got his horse and rode away, alone, through the "dense mountain forest" to his Kentucky home. And from that hour the silence between father and son was never broken. Scotch pride and stubbornness keeping them apart.
John McDougal, this son, was an ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and an extensive land-owner and stock-raiser.
He married Miss Margaret Hilery, in 1798, and removed to Dunkard Mill run in Marion county, where he reared a large family, and where he and his wife both fell asleep in 1861.
Their children, which were nine in number, were as fol- lows:
William, Elizabeth, (Mrs. John Amos) Mary (Mrs. Wm. . Toothman), Jonathan, who died in infancy, and Sarah, in youth, Osbourne. John Fletcher, Nancy (Mrs. Charles Sturm). and Enos Hilery, all of whom have passed on except John Fletcher, who resides in Missouri. The rest all sleep near the old home in Marion county. except Enos Hilery, and Os- bourne, whose ashes lie in Ritchie county, they being the progenitors of the different families of this name in this county.
Enos Hilery McDougal was born on June 4, 1824, and on August 11. 1848, he was married to Miss Miranda Price, of Marion county, who was born on January 6. 1831, and shortly
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after the close of the Civil war, they came to Harrisville, where his life closed on March 29, 1875, and where his family still reside. Mrs. McDougal was laid by his side in the Har- risville cemetery in 1907.
They were the parents of six children; viz., A. S. Mc- Dougal, Mrs. Florence (J. J.) Sigler, E. L. McDougal, the late Mrs. Neitie Myrtal (Chas.) Musgrave, ail of Harrisville: L. Mcade McDougal, Parkersburg; and Thomas Theodore, the well-known editor of the Ceredo Advance, and the "Kenova Reporter," who began his journalistic career in a local office at Harrisville in his youth.
Osbourne McDougal married Miss Sarah Brumage, and came to Ritchie county in 1845, and settled on the farm that is now the home of Leman Wilson, at the mouth of Beeson, where he remained until he was borne to his final resting- place, on his own homestead. His wife who survived him sleeps at Riddel's chapel.
They were the parents of six sons and two daughters : viz., Thomas, and the late Cole, of near Pennsboro: Charles, of Kansas ; Simon, of Roane county; the late Joseph, who died in the West several years ago; Enos, died while serving as a Union soldier in the Civil war, and Sarah, in youth, and Alcinda was the late Mrs. Wigner.
Daniel Snyder Bush is one of the very few of the oider citizens of this town that yet remains.
He was born in Gilmer county, on December 16, 1832; is the son of the late Jacob H. and Mrs. Sarah Snyder Bush. He came to this county in 1865, and two years later, (in 1867) married Miss Louisa Peirpoint, who passed on, on February 10, 1874 ; and on December twenty-first, of the following year. he was again married to Mrs. Eveline Kirkpatrick Mitchell, sister of Levi Kirkpatrick, who is the companion of his de- clining years.
Three children were born of the first union ; but all have joined the throng on the other side: Emerson and Anna M.,
( This interesting ancestral history of the MeDongals is taken from a "Sketch of the Clan," which was written by Henry Clay McDougal, son of John Fletcher McDougal. of Kansas City, Missouri, wno got his in- formation from "Keltie's History of the Highlands." and by tradition .- Author.)
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died in childhood; and Agnes H., was the late wife of John Cannon.
Mr. Bush is a veteran of the Civil war, he having been commissioned as First Lieutenant.
Henry Clay Showalter was a leading figure in the affairs of this town for almost thirty years -- from the time of his ar- rival from Elizabeth, Wirt county in 1880 until his removal to Kansas city, Missouri, during the summer of 1909.
He was born and reared in Pennsylvania and there re- ceived an academic education ; but he formed the acquaintance of the "Little Mountain state," which was destined to be his future home, in 1861, when a false report concerning the com- ing of the Confederates had alarmed the little City of Morgan- town, and he came here as a drummer-boy.
He served for two years in the Quarter-Master's depart- ment of the Union army, and later studied law with Berkshire and Sturgiss at Morgantown and was admitted to the bar in 1869.
He was at one time first assistant clerk of the State Sen- ate, and after coming to this county, he taught school, prac- ticed law, filled the office of County Superintendent, was mayor and post-master at Harrisville, and was an official-mem- ber of the Baptist church and a prominent Sunday-school worker.
In 1869 he was married to Miss Hattie Brock, of Morgan- town, and six sons and one daughter were the result of this union :
Emmett M. Showalter, who recently completed a term of twelve years as assistant District Attorney, is of Fairmont : Pearle H., of Colorado; the late Lawrence, of the South : Ar- thur. of Mannington; Hervey, of Chester; and Howard, of Fairmont, who all hold responsible positions in the commercial world. are the sons, and Miss Annie, who is still at home, is the daughter.
J. M. Barbe has been a useful and prominent citizen of this town for a number of years, and in this quiet little corner he merits a place.
ITe is the brother of the Hon. Waitman T. Barbe, of Mor-
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gantown, and is a native of Marion county, though he was reared in Monongalia where he was educated in the common schools. His father, John Barbe, was of German lineage, and of Virginia birth. And his mother, Mrs. Margaret E. Robin- son Barbe, was born in Monongalia county of Scotch-Irish parentage.
In January 1881, in his early manhood, he came to Harris- ville, and the following winter, entered the profession of teach- ing, and later attended the State University at Morgantown for a term or so.
At the age of twenty-four years he was married to Miss Lillie Heaton, daughter of the late John Heaton, and the first years of his married life were spent in clerical work. He has three times been commissioned as post-master of Harrisville, and, since 1902, has been the assistant cashier of the Peoples' Bank. He has been a communicant of the Methodist Epis- copal church since he was a boy of thirteen years, and has filled the office of Sunday-school superintendent of the Harris- ville school for sixteen years; was President of the County Sunday-school work for four years, and was twice elected as delegate to the annual Conference.
He is the father of two children, Mabel and Raymond Barbe.
Egbert M. Carver, the founder of Ritchie county's first bank, is a character of more than ordinary interest. since he is the one citizen of the county that traces his ancestry to May- flower stock ; he being a lineal descendant of John Carver, che first Colonial Governor of Massachusetts.
Mr. Carver is a native of Vermont. His father, Chester L. Carver, and his mother, Lucy M. Harlow, were both of Eng- lish descent. He was born near West Powlet, on April 25. 1841, and there spent the first nineteen years of his life on a farm. He taught school for two years; then went to White Hall, New York, where he filled the position of assistant post- master for one year, before entering the Commercial college at Albany, where he was graduated. He then started in the banking business, as teller, in the Commercial Bank, at White- hall, New York, and spent several years in this business in the
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"Empire State," before going to California where he was iden- tified in the banking and real estate business.
He first formed the acquaintance of the "Little Mountain state in 1894, and his connection with this county began in January, 1895, when he came to Harrisville; and on June }, 1895, the "Ritchie County Bank"-the first one in the county- was opened with the following named officers in charge: L. F." Wilson, Pres. ; Sanford B. Flemming, Vice Pres. ; and E. M Carver, Cashier. The directors were, L. P. Wilson, W. 1 !. Westfall, W. W. Lawrence, W. S. Hamilton, and E. M. Carver.
The First National Bank of Harrisville was later organ- ized by Mr. Carver, who was its first cashier, and Anthony Smith was the president.
The Cairo bank, too, was organized by Mr. Carver with Ilon. R. H. Freer, president, and Edgar Carver, cashier, and still later he organized the First National Bank at Pennsboro and was its first cashier. So he can well be styled the Father . of the banking business in this county.
On July 9, 1878, he was married to Miss Emma Ashby, of St. Louis Missouri, and three sons, who have all inherited their father's profession, are the result of this union: Edgar Ashby is cashier of the First National Bank at Rowlsburg, West Virginia ; Will Percey, of the First National at Racine, Ohio : and Arthur Egbert, of the Bank of Montross, Virginia.
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union is now one of the County's potent and influential factors for good, it hav- ing figured largely in bringing about the present strong tein- perance sentiment of its people.
The exact date of its organization is missing, but Harris- ville had a local union as far back as 1888, or even before that time, with the late Mrs. M. S. Hall as leader, but there has been no break in the work for the past ten years.
The County organization dates back as far as 1898, when Mrs. Monforte, wife of the Rev. Mr. Monforte of the Presby- terian church, was the first president. She was probably ap- pointed by the State President, and Mrs. Laura Amos, of Har- risville, was her successor. Then came Miss A. Grace Hall,
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in 1901, and Mrs. Eva C. Robinson took her place on October 2, 1903, and has served in this capacity continuously since that time, with the exception of one year (1906) when Mrs. Maude Norris, of Pennsboro, was in the chair.
Mrs. Robinson is at this time Local as well as County president.
There are now three active unions in the county with a total membership of near one hundred, and Cairo is the largest and most active.
Mrs. Eva Chenoweth Robinson,1 the leader of this (W. C. T. U.) organization, is at the present time one of the most conspicuous feminine figures of the county, and a little more than a passing notice is due her.
She was born in Calhoun county on November 3, 1872, and there on May 29, 1892, she was married to Mr. Sherman Robinson, who was, also, born in Calhoun county, on Septem- ber 4, 18:0; and as a bride she came to Harrisville, where her husband had opened a law office.
She has been closely identified with the Woman's Chris- tian Temperance movement for ten years, being State organ- izer for four years, and Local and County president for the re- mainder of the time; and she is now organizing a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, she having been recently admitted to membership in this society and appointed as Regent: the first citizen of the county to obtain entrance into this historic organization.
Mr. Robinson, likewise, is a conspicuous figure in the af- fairs of the county to-day. He began his public life as a rural pedagognie in his native county, at an early age, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1891 ; and, with the exception of one year. has ever since been identified with the Harrisville attorneys, he having been a partner with Hon. R. H. Freer for fifteen years. Hlis practice in the courts of the State has been ex- tensive, and he has had important cases before the courts at Richmond, Pittsburg, and New York city. He served as a member of the House of Delegates in 1909-'10 and was a cin- didate for re-election in the November election of 1910.
1See last chapter for Mrs. Robinson's ancestry, which she traces to Lord Baltimore.
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He is a Mason, a Methodist and a Republican. He served as School Law Commissioner of the county for eight years, and has been mayor and recorder of the town of Harrisville.
Two daughters, Geraldine and Nell. make up this house- hold.
1
CHAPTER XL
Cairo
AIRO claims the distinction of being one of the oldest towns in this part of the state, since it was plotted and laid out long before the coming of the railroad. But its real his- tory begins, perhaps, with the year 1856, when it became a railroad station.
It was laid out on the homestead of Wil- liam Lowther, who gave the grant for the railroad depot, which is still used for this purpose.
Mr. Lowther like all the other pioneers of his name was a native of West Milford, Harrison county, and was the grand- son of Col. William Lowther. He was born on Thursday, Oc- tober 31, 1793, and was the second son of William and Mar- garet Morrison Lowther. He married Miss Melicent Max- well, of Harrison county, and came to this county at an early day and settled near the mouth of the Middle fork of Hughes river for a time before coming to Cairo, where he remained until he was laid in the Egypt cemetery. His wife sleeps by his side.
His old home still stands, it being one of the very few that has withstood the ravages of time, but so changed is its ap- pearance, that scarcely a suggestion of pioneer days lingers about. It is still owned by his heirs, his daughter Mrs. Re- becca Young being the owner and occupant.
He was the father of the following named children be- sides Mrs. Younge: the late A. M. Lowther, of Goose creek : the late Alexander of Macfarlan ; Granville, of Sistersville ; L. D. of Texas ; W'm. Maxwell, and Armstrong died many years ago, and Jane and Sudna, in youth.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY .
First Merchant .- William Skelton was the first merchant of the town in 1855. He was the son of Edward Skelton, the pioneer Englishman who settled the Peirpoint homestead at Harrisvilie ; and his wife was Miss Ellen Douglass, sister of Christopher Douglass, of Cornwallis. At the breaking out of the Civil war, Mr. Skelton raised a company and entered the Union service as captain, and at the close of the conflict, he removed with his family to Litchfield, Illinois, but he died at the home of H. B. McCollum, while on a visit to friends here, some years later, and in the Egypt cemetery he sleeps. His wife rests in the Litchfield burying-ground in Illinois. They were the parents of five children. The only daughter met a tragic death from a pitchfork in the hands of a boy at play ; and Willis H., Andrew D., and Frank H. married, lived and died in Illinois. William A., who is still single, alone sur- vives, and at Litchfield, he claims his residence.
Captain Skelton's successor in the mercantile business here was B. F. Rogers in 1858. The site of this pioneer store is now covered by the Twyman and Silcott establishment. James and Jerome Vandiver, J. R. Sigler, David McGregor, Jonathan Haddox, and son Harrison B., and C. E. Haddox are among the many others who have been identified in this business here.
James Merchant is regarded as the pioneer hotel keeper here. He came in 1856, and built the "Alpha House," which remained in the hands of his family, his widow and son, Bona- part Merchant, until a few months since when it was sold.
Mr. Merchant came to Cairo as contractor on the Balti- more and Ohio railroad, and he was subsequently a contractor on the "Calico railroad."
He was of French descent, and was born at what is now Charlestown in Jefferson county in 1813; and there he was first married to Miss Jeannette Harley, and five children were the fruits of this union : Edwin died in youth ; John, at Atlanta. Georgia, where he left a family; Jacob, at St. Joseph, Mis- souri : Charley, at Cairo ; and James is a druggist at Murphy- town, Tennessee. After the wife of his youth was laid to rest at Charlestown, he married Miss Sarah Jane Foster, of Penn-
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