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 52
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the son of the Rev. George Phillips, the emigrant. Ebenezer, Thomas, John, and James Phillips were also progenitors of Massachusetts families.
Walter and Andrew were Maine pioneers and Michael, Richard and Jeremiah settled in Rhode Island. John Phillips. who was born in Boston, in 1770, was the first mayor of that historic city ; and he was the father of the renowned orator, Wendell Phillips.
Sergeant Noah Phillips was one of the "Lexington Alarms," in the Revolution. His name is also spelled "Phelps." Other officers of the name in the Revolution were : Lieut. Thomas and Captain Samuel Phillips, of Rhode Island : Col. Joseph, of New Jersey ; and Ensigns Samuel and James, from Virginia. and doubtless the ones from Virginia are the direct ancestors of the Ritchie county family.
Samuel Phillips, junior, who was born at North Andover. Massachusetts, in 1751, was a member of the Provincial Con- gress and of the Constitutional convention, in 1789. He was President of the State Senate for fifteen years and was Lieu- tenant-Governor of his state. He also organized the first in- corporated academy in Massachusetts, and helped to endow it.
Osbourne .- This name, with its varied spellings-Os- born, Osbourne, Osbern, Osburn, Osbeorne, Osbiorn, Aspern, etc., comes from two words, "us" or "hus," pronounced "Os." and "bearn" meaning child-an adopted child. "Osbeorn" is the original Angle-Saxon spelling, and Asbiorn is the old Norse.
"Os" implies a hero, and it is probable that the first one upon whom the name was conferred had proved himself to be the victor in a bear hunt. But Miss Lexington gives us this doubtful tradition of the origin of the name: At the bat- tle of Hastings, Walter, a Norman Knight; and a great favor- ite with his master, William, was engaged in playing chess with him on the bank of the river "Ouse," and won all. The king threw down the board, saying that he had nothing more to play for. "Sire. there is land," quoth Walter. "There is so," replied the king, "and if thou beat me at this game. also. thine be all the land on this side of the bourne or river which thou canst see as thou sittest."
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Walter had the good fortune to win, and William, clap- ping his hands on his shoulder, said, "Henceforth thou shalt be called "Ousebourne."
The family has been a prominent one in Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, and London. The Lord Mayor of London being an Osbourne in 1583; and Peter Osbourne was keeper of the private purse of Edward VI.
Two ancient seats of the family are Osborne House, in Derbyshire, Tyld Hall, in Essex. The Duke of Leeds in York- shire is an Osbourne.
Richard Osbourne, one of the Pilgrim fathers, who came from London, England, in 1634, and settled at Windsor, Con- necticut, was one among the first of the name to come to the Western world. He was the founder of the New England branch of the family, and was in the Pequot war, and for his service in this war, received a grant of eighty acres of land at Fairfield, Connecticut. His grandson and namesake, Rich- ard, junior, was an early justice of the peace, and he walked to Danbury, a distance of ten miles, after he had passed the century mark.
Josiah Osbourne, son of Daniel and grandson of Richard. senior, was a minute man in the Revolution of 1777.
John Osbourne, who was one of the founders of Long Island, came from Kent, England. Of his line was one Thomas, a captain in the Revolution. Others from Connecti- cut who took up arms in behalf of Liberty were Lieutenants John and Stephen Osbourn and Ensign Samuel.
The Osbournes were large land-owners in Virginia. Balaam Osbourne, born in Loudin county, married into a well-known Maryland family by the name of Chew, his wife being Mary, daughter of John Chew. The family have also been prominent in Pennsylvania. One of Benjamin Frank- lin's intimate friends was John Osbourne, of New Jersey, who at one time lived in Philadelphia.
Eleanor Lexington, in speaking of the characteristics of the family, says, that sterling integrity, superior intelligence and good judgment are traits of character. The family had twenty college graduates by the dawn of the nineteenth cen- tury, and it has men of almost every degree of letters: viz ..
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
poets, authors, journalists, musical composers, statesmen and two of the name are admirals in the English army.
Mitchell .- Two theories in regard to the origin of the name "Mitchell" have their adherents. One is that it came from the Anglo-Saxon word "mycel," or mickle, meaning great, or from Michael, meaning "God's power." Michael has always been a popular name, especially in its French forni "Michel." Mytchell is an old form of spelling, and this with Mitchel, is perhaps the only variation.
Miss Lexington says, "The family are rich in authors and men of science. It also has its statesmen : its solemn repre- sentatives of the law; its dignitaries of the church : and its gallant soldiers."
The Pennsylvania family trace their ancestry to William and Elizabeth Mitchell, who came from Yorkshire, England, and settled in Bermuda, and from there their descendants came to Philadelphia.
George Mitchell, of York county, Pennsylvania, was born in Scotland, in 1234.
The Mitchells. of Roanoke county, Virginia, are con- nected by marriage to the family of Col. Zachary Lewis. whose father was a messmate of Washington's in the war with the French. And it is more than probable that this family are the progenitors of the Ritchie county families, as they came from the "Old Dominion."
The Connecticut family claim relationship with Rebecca Motte, of Revolutionary fame, and with Governor Dudley and other noted Eastern families.
Matthew Mitchell, with his wife and children, was a pas- senger on board the "James," in 1635 : and he served as town clerk of Wethersfield, four years later, and was a representa- tive at court from Saybrook, and a soldier in the Pequot war. In 1643, he removed to Hempstead, Long Island.
Miss Lexington says that if the Mitchells are famed for one thing more than another, it is scholarship. But they have been valiant soldiers and have always been in the front ranks when the country has been involved in war. Several of them were officers in the Revolution.
Note .- To Frances M. Smith, whose pen name is "Eleanor
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Lexington," of New York, we are indebted for the data con- cerning these ancestries. Miss Smith has written a large number of genealogies of Colonial Families of America, which are published in book form as well as Copyrighted in brief story form, by the Frank Allaben Genealogical Company, New York.
The Washingtons .- As quite a number of the families of this county are in some way connected to the Washingtons. we have gathered the genealogy of this distinguished fainily from the Washingtons, at Charleston, West Virginia :
Two brothers, Lawrence and John Washington, came to America from England in 1659, and settled at Bridges creek. near its confluence with the Potomac river, in Virginia.
John Washington was married in England and brought his wife and two children across the water with him ; but they all died in a short time after their arrival; and in 1660, John Washington was again married to Anne Pope, and four chil- dren were the result of this union ; viz.,
Lawrence, born at Bridges creek, in 1661, married Mildred Warner, daughter of Col. Augustine Warner, of Gloucester.
John, born in 1663, married
Elizabeth, born in 1665, married to Thomas Lanier, son of Lewis Lanier, of Bordeaux, France, in 1687.
Anne, born in 1667, married
Lawrence Washington, the eldest child of John and Anne Pope, who was born in 1661, died at Bridges creek, in 1697. He and his wife, Mildred Warner (above mentioned) had three children : John, Augustine, and Mildred.
John, born at Bridges creek, in 1692, married Cathrine Whitney.
Augustine, born at Bridges creck, in 1694, married Jane Butler and Mary Ball.
Mildred, born in 1694, was first married to a Mr. Gregory. and three daughters, Frances. Mildred, and Elizabeth Gregory (who becames the wives of Col. Francis Thornton. Col. John Thornton, and Reuben Thornton. respectively, three brothers ). were the result of this union. And after the death of Mr Gregory, Mildred was married to Col. Henry Willis, the founder of Fredericksburg, and one son. Lewis Willis, was born of this union.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
The children of John Washington (son of Lawrence and Mildred Warner) and Cathrine Whitney, were as follows :
Warner, born at Bridges creek, in 1715, married Elizabeth Kent, and Hannah Fairfax. and had eight children .
Henry, married the daughter of Col. Thacker and had one son.
Cathrine, married Fielding Lewis.
Augustine, married and had one son, Willianı Washington.
Lawrence, married
Mildred, married Mr. Thornton.
Frances, married Mr. Thornton.
Augustine Washington, second child of Lawrence and Mildred Warner, who was born in 1694 (as above noted), was first married to Jane Butler, and the two children born of this union that grew to the years of maturity were: Law- rence (born in 1118, and married Anne Fairfax) : and Augus- tine (born in 1220, and married Anne Asylett).
Jane Butler Washington died on November 24, 1728, and on March 6, 1731, Augustine Washington, senior, married Miss Mary Ball, who was born on the banks of the Rappa- hannock river, in 1706, and five children were the result of this union : viz., George, Betty, Samuel, John, and Charles.
George Washington, the "Father of his Country." was born on February 22, 1732, and on January 6, 1759, he was married to Mrs. Martha Dandridge Custis. daughter of John Dandridge, and widow of Daniel Parke Custis.
Betty or Elizabeth, born in 1733, who became the second wife of Col. Fielding Lewis (mentioned above as the husband of Cathrine Washington), was the mother of six children.
Samuel, born in 1734, was married five times. Jane Champ was his first wife, but she died without issue. Mildred Thornton, the second, left two sons, Thornton and Samuel. Lucy Chapman, the third, had no children. Anne. Steptoe Allerton (widow of Willoughby Allerton), the fourth, was the mother of George Steptoe, Lawrence Augustine, and Har- riett Parks Washington. And Victoria Penn, the fifth and last wife, had no children.
John Angustine Washington, born in 1236, was married to Hannah Bushrod. and Richard Blackburn Washington. of
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Charlestown, West Virginia, who is now nearing his ninetieth mile-stone, is his grandson, and is the oldest living Washing- ton (of this race). And to his daughter, Miss Christine Wash- ington, we are indebted for this sketch.
Charles Washington, the youngest member of the family, who was born in 1238, married Mildren Thornton, and on his - estate, Charlestown, West Virginia, was laid out, and from him it took its name.
Samuel Washington founded the estate at "Harewood." and George Washington was a frequent visitor here, and is said to have had charge of "Harewood estate" at one time. All three of the brothers (of George Washington) lived and died in the vicinity of Charlestown, and here their descendants are numerous and prominent to-day.
The Norris family, through Mary Jones, their maternal ancestor, are in some way connected to the Washingtons, but all the information that we have been able to gather con- cerning the relationship of the two families is :
That the Washingtons and the family of General Walter Jones are connected. This General Walter Jones was born on October 1, 1726, and died on October 14, 1861. He was married in 1808 to Lucinda, daughter of Judge Charles and Aun Lee.
Chenoweth Ancestry .- As Mrs. Eva Chenoweth Robia- son, of Harrisville, is now the organizer of the Ritchie County Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the account of her ancestry, which she traces back to Lord Balti- more, will doubtless be of much interest to the readers of this book :
The ancient nanie of Chenoweth was "Trevelezick," but one John Trevelezick gave a piece of land to one of his younger sons, whose name was John, also ; and upon this land he constructed a house and as the word "Chenoweth" means a new house in Cornish, he was ever afterwards called "Chenoweth." The elder house failed, however, and the an- cient lands descended to the younger branch of the family, who stiil hold these lands and retain the name.
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
"Trevelezick," of St. Earth, married Elizabeth, the daugh ter of John Terrall, of St. Earth, and had a son, John.
This John Chenoweth, of Morgan, married the daughter of Thomas Tregose, and had several children, among whon. was a son named "Arthur," who was born in 1620, and was baptized on January nineteenth, at St. Marties, by exeter tran- script.
The family received a visitation of the herald this same year (1620), Sa on Fessor, the Cornish congo heads P. P. S.
"This represents a blank shield with a gold band in which three crows in black are cut." This custom was for a trumpeter to appear in full armor, on horseback, the king's recognition by bestowing a coat-of-arms, or shield as a token from the king to John Chenoweth for valiant services rendered to his country-dated 1620.
Arthur Chenoweth, who was born in 1620, had a son. John, a Welsh nobleman, whose nativity was Wales, in 165 ?.
John Chenoweth, this son, was married to Mary Calvert, the daughter of Lord Baltimore, and embarked to America in 1680, and settled in the Maryland colony. He had two daughters and two sons: One of the daughters married a Cecil and settled in Baltimore county, Maryland; and the other married a Dorsey and settled near Ellicots Mill (Md.). The sons, Arthur and Richard. both found homes in Berkeley county (West) Virginia.
Arthur Chenoweth was born in 1688; and was married to Mary, daughter of Charles Calvert, the third Lord Balti- more, and came to Berkeley county, in 1220. He and his wife (Mary Calvert) had seven sons ; viz., James, John, Abraham. William, Thomas, Arthur and Richard.
John Chenoweth, the second son, was married to Mary Smith, at Japa, near Gundooder, in Hartford county, Mary. land, on November ?1, 1230, and eight children were the result of this union: William, John, Richard, Thomas, Absalom, Elizabeth. Mary and Rachel. John, the head of this family. died in 1:90.
William Chenoweth, the eldest son, who was born, on January 8. 1732. with his sister, Mary, was baptized in the old Parish church at Japa. where his birth is recorded. He
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(William) was married to Elizabeth -
. ", and their family consisted of three children ; viz., John, Jonathan and William. William, the father of this family, died in 1772.
John Chenoweth (son of William and Elizabeth), who was born in 1255, was married on January 4, 1727, to Mary Pugh, who was born on January 29, 1762. He enlisted in the Continental army at Romney, in Hampshire county, in 1317. and served for two years during the Revolution ; being in the noted battles of Brandywine and Germantown. His children were as follows : Robert, John, William, Gabriel, Jehu. Nellic, and Mary.
Robert Chenoweth, the eldest son, born on April 19, 1182, was first married to Miss Rachel Stalnaker, on August 24, 1802, and emigrated to what is now Randolph county, and set- tled on the site that is marked by the pretty little city of Elkins. His wife, Rachel, died on April 20, 1810: and he then married Edith Skidmore.
The children of Robert and Rachel Stalnaker Chenoweth were : Margaret (Mrs. John Coberly), Malinda (Mrs. Wash Taylor), and Mary (Mrs. William Daniels). The children of Robert and Edith Skidmore Chenoweth, were: Susan ( Mrs. John Stalnaker), Rachel (Mrs. Jeff Godfrey), Leah (Mrs. Elijah Wease), Anne (Mrs. George Gibson). Emma E. (Mrs. Owen J. Murphy ). Edith (Mrs. Adam Repp), Ira S. (married Matilda McCoy ), Sarah (Mrs. William Hopkins), Isaac died in childhood, Robert James (married Elizabeth Jane Knotts), and David W. ( Miss Caroline Mollohan).
Robert James Chenoweth, who was born where the city of Elkins now stands, on October 29, 1829, was married in 1853, to Miss Elizabeth Jane Knotts, who was born in Jack- son county, on November 11, 1838, and they were the parents of Mrs. Eva Robinson, she being the twelfth child of a family of eighteen children. Mr. Chenoweth died at his home in Cal- houn county, on May 16, 1906, and his wife still survives.
Note .- This is taken from a copy of the original visita- tion of Cornwall, which is in the British Museum in London. which was obtained through AAlex. Crawford Chenoweth, of the Manhattan Harbor Improvement Company, his wife and son having seen the original.
CHAPTER LV
Natural Resources
EST VIRGINIA now holds a second rank in the production of the higher grade of oil and gas, and Ritchie county is one of the leading oif-producing sections of the state.
As lias already been noted (in the Ritchie Mine chapter), this great industry had its beginning in our Commonwealth, in 1844, when George S. Lemon. discovered it while putting down a well for salt-water, near the mouth of Flint run, in Wirt county, and introduced it into the Marietta market as medicine. Then came the famous Burning Springs-field, in 1860. and from this time it has gradually grown into one of the richest resources of the state.
The history of this industry in the county, dates back to the "wild cat wells" between the years 1865 and '70, when one of these wells, which gave a promising showing of oil, was drilled in on Big run, near Cairo.
In these early days, the oil interest centered in the Vol- cano field, in the heavy lubricating oil, which sold as high as twenty dollars a barrel. But after the conflagration, on August 4, 1879, which destroyed most of the town, the devel- opment was carried southward past Petroleum to the Cali- fornia House, and on to Burning Springs.
Ten years after the Volcano field commenced its decline. Cairo began to show signs of becoming a center for this devel- opment, and about 1890 prospecting was begun ; and soon cx- aggerated stories were in circulation as to the importance of the results, and tests extended to Cornwallis, Pennsboro and Harrisville.
On August 11, 1890, A. L. Gracey, now of Marietta, Olio, leased a tract of land near Cairo, and the A. M. Douglass well,
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NATURAL RESOURCES
which is still a producer after the lapse of twenty years, was the result of this test. Then came well number two on the Hatfield farm ; the "Big John," on the Mckinney estate, and one on the Dr. Martin, the J. H. Davidson, and the Daniel Weaver farms.
In 1885, the Bukey run region was a great forest full of wild game and extensive lumber interests, and a town was located there, which, like the timber and the wild game, has long since disappeared.
In 1879, the first oil pipe-line in West Virginia was laid from Volcano to Parkersburg, with a relay station at Mur- phytown ; and in the '90's came the oil developments near Cornwallis, which soon extended up Bear run to Goose creek, where Hugh Mearns brought in the first well on Wolfe run.
The oil developments now extend throughout the count- ty, and a valuable gas well is found here and there. Among the more prominent fields are Bond's creek, Whiskey rin, Fiannagan, Prunty. Ireland, Cairo, Oil Ridge, Plum and Elin runs. And the South Penn, the Carter, the Mountain State, and the Hope Gas Company are among the principal operators in the territory.
Coal is found in different sections of the county, and large tracts of land, especially in Union district, are under option for this mineral.
The Washington coal is distributed all over the county, and among the few mines that are still operated is the J. H. Hymen, near Smithville, and the William Collins, four miles northeast of Pennsboro. And the mine that was once oper-
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
ated on the late James S. Hardman farm, near Hardman chapel, was of this coal.
Old strip mines are found in the creek valley on Two- lick run. a little east of Washburn, where the coal is on a nine hundred feet contour line. It has also been opened in a similar manner a little more than a mile west of Lawford, and here a number of abandoned hill-side openings are to be seen. This coal is also found about the town of Highland (on the 820 foot contour), southeast of Cornwallis, near Harrisville. and to the east of Rock Camp; but its heaviest blossom is one mile west of Pennsboro, near the 800 foot contour. It is usually found in the creek valleys and on hill-side roads wherever the proper level is reached, and it is a miost persisten! stratum, over the county.
South of Berea, one one-fourth miles, a small blossom is seen one hundred sixty fect higher than the Washington coal. which may represent the Dunkard coal horizon. And on the hill to the west of Silver Run Station, on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, a blossom of coal is to be found which may rep- resent the Little Washington coal.
The Pittsburg coal has been noticed in a few oil wells in the county, among which are the Collins, northeast cf Pennsboro, at the mouth of Turtle run, and in the Prunty and Flannagan fields, on the South fork.
Two coal seamis have been extensively mined, near Vol- cano, and their relation to each other is shown by the oil records. In these wells, two coals are found sixty-three ieet apart, and from two to three feet thick, with a third coal twenty-five feet lower. The upper coal is four hundred thir- ty-five feet above the top of the Big Lime, and the oil sand is over the Big Lime, therefore it is the Maxton. The salt sand above is an oil sand and the Keener is below.
Just south of Petroleum, at the forks of the road, on top of the hill is a mass of red shales with coal ten feet lower. and nodular limestone one hundred feet lower, but the east dip at this point would make the intervals larger than the above surface measurements.
Three one-half miles southwest of Petroleum. the Ames limestone out-crops on the hill to the west of a church on
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NATURAL RESOURCES
the road to the California House, at a level of 1020 feet A. T., and farther on at a level of 980 feet. And at the "California House" is a massive cliff of sandstone forty or fifty feet in height.
The Waynesburg sandstone occurs in the creeks and river vaileys as a massive stratum of coarse standstone forming vertical cliffs ; and it serves as a valuable quarrystone at a number of points in the county. In the northern part it is seen along Goose creek and its branches, but its base is below water level ; and it forms the cliffs in the Wolf Pen oil field and is well exposed along the Northwestern turnpike from Pike to beyond League.
The North fork of Hughes river is bordered with high cliffs of this sandstone, which has been quarried on a large scale in the past. To the northeast of Cornwallis it is near the river level and forms a narrow gorge through which the railroad passes, with tunnels through the sandstone spurs where the river makes its bends. .
It has been quarried around Harrisville, where its base is below water level, and where it reaches a thickness of eighty feet, with its top eighteen feet below the Washington coal. Addis and Elm runs have walls of this sandstone, and ncar Washburn similar cliffs appear with the base below the creek level. The South fork, like the North, is bordered by bold cliffs of it, and the wild and rugged scenery of the Mac- farlan region is due to its massive presence. Near Frederick's mill, a quarry has been opened in the upper part of the stratum showing a twenty-foot face, which has been worked back ten feet for a distance of thirty or forty feet along the road-side on the north side of the river.
The Dunkard series of standstone is found two miles southeast of Frederick's mill, at Iris, and near Berea, the rocks form perpendicular cliffs along the river.
The various streams over most of the county have cut their valleys into the Monongalia series, but with these ex- ceptions the surface rocks belong in the Dunkard series.
The Marietta sandstone is found at from fifteen to twenty feet above the Washington coal. It is found in most of the streams in the Eastern, and Southern portions of the county,
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HISTORY OF RITCHIE COUNTY
but is not quarried. It forms the bed of Bear run of Goose creek, and is found north and south of Cokeley, at the B. & (). tunnel west of Pennsboro, at Eva, on Leatherbarke, and in the cliffs along Bone and Spruce creeks.
Hughes River and Its Tributaries .- Hughes river flows into the Little Kanawha at the Wirt-Wood county line, eighteen miles above Parkersburg; and near the southwestern corner of the county, it divides into the North and South forks. These two branches and Goose creek, with their various trib- utaries, form the water courses of the county.
The South Fork rises in the south-western part of Dod- dridge county, and flows in a south-westernly direction through the southern portion of this county, a length of fifty- four miles (but thirty-six air-line). Its meanders are sharp and some of them reach a mile in length from the direct course of the river. The valley walls are generally steep and rugged, with small areas of bottom lands here and there.
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