USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 20
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It was during this year that John McGee, town sergeant, was knocked down and robbed.
The assessments for this county for this year were increased by the assessors to the extent of $90,000.00.
The court docket for the September Term of 1883 showed 71 State cases, 34 common law cases, and 146 chancery cases.
W. B. Ryder was made general superintendent of the Hunting- ton Division of the C. & O. Railway in 1883, succeeding W. P. Harris. Raymond Dunn resigned during this year as foreman of the roundhouse, and was succeeded by C. L. Robinson. Mr. Ryder was exceedingly unpopular. He undertook, as superintendent of the railway, to control the elections of the county, especially that of prosecuting attorney, by reason of the action of Mr. Fowler in compelling the company to place the Big Bend Tunnel in a con- dition of safety to the public, as well as the railroad employees. The arching of this tunnel will remain as a monument forever to the fearlessness of Captain Fowler as a public official. Mr. Ryder's services were soon after dispensed with.
John N. Woodson, a colored man, opened a barber shop in Hinton directly after the formation of the county. He accumulated considerable property. Being made to believe by a coal miner that the mountain was full of coal on the opposite side of the river from the railway station, he, some time prior to 1883, purchased that mountain side beyond the county road at the lower ferry landing in Raleigh County, and drove his entry for a coal mine several hundred feet into the mountain, spending all of his property and bankrupting himself at the enterprise. He abandoned his opera- tions in 1883, leaving nothing to show for his enterprise except a
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
long tunnel into the mountain, which remains until this day as a monument to his industry and bad judgment.
J. Maston Hutchinson, one of the most esteemed citizens of Forest Hill District, died on the 16th day of October, 1883, aged sixty-eight years. He was a Methodist in his religious opinions and a Republican in politics, but was revered by all persons and all classes, and left an honored name to his posterity.
The establishment of a bank in Hinton was first discussed in November, 1883, but the enterprise was not established for several years afterwards.
A new frame missionary Baptist Church, 34 x 50 feet, was built this year at Jumping Branch, which cost $1,000.00, R. H. Stewart being its first pastor.
It was on December 8, 1883, that the Republican party in the county was re-organized, and Squire Jack Buckland made his famous speech, in which he proposed to make the "furriners" take a back seat and to relegate them to the rear.
C. W. Bocock was elected mayor of Hinton for 1884; B. L. Hoge, recorder ; Robt. Elliott, T. G. Swatts, J. C. McDonald, J. A. Riffe, W. F. Galloway, councilmen.
Foss Post Office was established in June, 1884, with W. L. Raines as first postmaster.
Hon. C. L. Thompson was endorsed by the Democratic party for State Auditor by the County Democratic Convention, April 12, 1884. Summers County then had ten votes in the Democratic State Convention.
Buck Post Office was established in May, 1884, with Jordan Grimmett as its first postmaster.
C. W. Bocock, a descendant of the celebrated Virginia Bocock family, one of whom had been Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress, located in Hin- ton in 1882 for the practice of the law, forming a co-partnership with Nelson M. Lowry, which continued for a year or two. Later, he was elected mayor of the town, but finally removed to Texas.
John W. Harvey was elected justice of the peace of Jumping Branch District May 13, 1881, Joseph A. Parker being the other justice for the district. James H. Hobbs was elected constable of Greenbrier District at the October election, 1881.
The court house yard was first enclosed in by a fence under contract between the county court and G. C. Hughes, on June 26, 1884. It was a plain, rough-sawed plank and post fence, and cost $1.50 per rod.
194
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
The levy for county purposes in 1884 was fifty cents on the $100.00 valuation.
The State school fund for this year amounted to $3,656.70.
The Teachers' Institute for the county for this year-1884- was conducted by Prof. J. W. Hinkle, of Greenbrier County, a graduate of the Concord Normal School, and a self-made man who had arisen high in his profession and had been several terms county superintendent of free schools of Greenbrier County-a Christian gentleman and a magnificent man. He was afterwards elected prin- cipal of the Hinton High School, and, while conducting that school, died from typhoid fever under forty years of age.
The first colored Methodist Church was begun in 1884.
It was in 1884 that the West Virginia stone for the Washington Monument was secured. This stone came from the quarry at New Richmond, through Drs. Samuel Williams and Gooch, and is now in that great monument, a representative of the State and a monu- ment to Summers County.
S. F. McBride began the publication of the "Hinton Headlight" August 26, 1884, a Republican newspaper.
Col. John G. Crockett was elected as a Democrat to the House of Delegates in 1884; E. H. Peck, clerk of the county court ; B. L. Hoge, clerk of the circuit court ; and W. H. Bande, assessor ; James H. Miller, prosecuting attorney, and M. V. Calloway, sheriff.
M. C. Barker threshed 800 bushels of wheat on his Gatliff Bot- tom this year.
Frank Ellison, the father of Rev. M. Ellison, died December 14, 1880, aged ninety years.
The Hinton post office was robbed December 26, 1879, the robber securing $13.00.
Agitation for a bridge across New River was first begun in 1880, but nothing was accomplished until 1906, when the new iron bridge was completed.
The court house bell was purchased in January, 1880.
Jarrett Ballard was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary ; Clark, five years, and Green Evans four years in the February Term, 1880, for breaking into the storehouse of Colonel Crockett.
John L. Gilbert, a noted Methodist preacher well known in the county, died in February, 1880.
To illustrate the general character of the late L. M. Dunn, we give the story of Mary Eliza Boon, who was the daughter of a poor woman of the county. She, while only a small child, was
195
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
carried into captivity in 1874, and her return to her mother was by the efforts and at the expense of Mr. Dunn. Her mother's name was Minerva Staten, and married a Boon. A man by the name of Newell stole the child and carried her to Kentucky. Squire Dunn, learning of the circumstances, put out inquiries and had detectives put to. work. After several years the child was located, but the woman was too poor to take any action. Mr. Dunn sent and had the man Newell arrested, who denied strenuously the authenticity of the claim; but, from what the child could detail, there was no doubt, and, in order to prevent imprisonment, Newell finally con- fessed, and the child returned to its mother after an absence of six years. Newell was an adventurer who was temporarily in the Boon neighborhood.
The fare on the C. & O. Railway was reduced from five cents per mile to 312 cents on March 1, 1880.
The receipts from the Hinton post office amounted to $2,197.00 from March 1, 1879, to the close of 1880, after being established as a money order office, which was on the former date. Six years before it paid $3.00 a quarter.
The keeping of the paupers was sold to R. C. Lilly for 1880 at $446.00.
Captain William McClandish, the first foreman at the round- house, a prominent and gentlemanly citizen and one of the first settlers in Hinton after the railroad was built, died in 1880. He was the father of the locomotive engineer, Eugene McClandish, the largest resident of Hinton at this date, weighing 350 pounds, and was a jolly, sensible gentleman, and also the father of Mrs. T. G. Swatts.
In Forest Hill District in 1880 there was a population of 1,300, 132 farms, 247 horses, 25 mules, 1,511 sheep, 757 hogs, 7,048 pounds of tobacco.
In Jumping Branch District, 1,496 inhabitants, 320 horses, 38 mules, 123 cattle, 1,192 sheep, 1,876 hogs.
In Pipestem District, 1,307 inhabitants; Talcott, 1,394 inhabi- tants; Greenbrier, 2,048. The population of Hinton in 1800 was 1,183.
The Democratic Convention was held in Hinton on Angust 4, 1880, for the Third Congressional District. The candidates were Chas. E. Hogg, now the Dean of the Law School at the University of West Virginia; Eustace Gibson, of Huntington, and John E.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Kenna. The latter was nominated and Captain Gibson nominated for Presidential elector.
The population of the county in 1880 was 9,192. .
The county levy for 1880 was $1.00 on the $100.00 valuation.
F. D. Lee was rector of the Episcopal Church in 1880.
There was a Hancock and English Club organized at Green Sul- phur in September, 1880, by Dr. Samuel Williams, with Captain A. A. Miller, president ; James H. Miller, secretary ; John K. With- row, treasurer, and W. J. Kink, vice-president. Two Hancock and English flags were raised, one presented by Hon. C. L. Thompson, of Hinton, and the other by the Democratic ladies of Green Sulphur. The latter was sent to the breeze on the tallest pole ever hoisted in the county.
Hon. George C. Sturgiss, Republican candidate for Governor, addressed the citizens at the court house on the 15th of August, 1880. He is now a member of Congress from the Second West Virginia District, elected in 1905.
Judge Homer A. Holt was re-elected judge of the circuit court in 1880 without opposition, the salary then paid being $1,800.00 per year.
Henry Still, a prominent and aged farmer of Griffith's Creek, attempted to commit suicide by cutting his throat in 1880.
William Allen committed suicide by hanging himself by the neck near Pack's Ferry on the mountain, by reason of temporary insanity, all of the family being absent.
The C. & O. valuation in 1882 was fixed at $342,625.63, as fol- lows: In Green Sulphur District, $104,118.20; Greenbrier, $129,120, and Talcott, $109,380.43.
The justices elected in 1884 were, for Greenbrier District, L. M. Dunn, John Buckland, both Republicans; for Jumping Branch, T. E. Ball and James M. Pack, both Democrats. For Talcott, Charles H. Graham, Republican, and M. A. Manning, Democrat ; for Green Sulphur, M. Gwinn, Democrat, and J. A. Graham, Republican : for Pipestem, R. W. Clark and J. C. Peters, Democrats; for Forest Hill, L. G. Lowe, Republican, and L. A. Shanklin, Democrat. For constables, Greenbrier, J. H. Hobbs and J .. E. Foster, Republicans ; Jumping Branch, M. Cochran and John W. Harvey, Democrats ; Talcott, A. P. Wheeler, Republican, and W. R. Taylor, Democrat ; Green Sulphur, J. D. K. Foster and Robert Hix, Democrats ; Pipe- stem, J. H. Dove, Democrat, and Robert A. Wood, Republican ; Forest Hill. J. M. Anderson and J. W. Allen, Democrats.
1
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
The total vote cast in 1884 was 2,132. The vote on the President was as follows :
Cleveland.
Blaine.
Hinton
261
268
Talcott
114
87
Griffith's Creek
23
59
Green Sulphur
103
54
Brooks
26
29
New Richmond
44
100
Jumping Branch
165
59
Ellison's
35
38
Pipestem
104
35
Salt Works
54
48
Forest Hill
57
46
Keatley's
42
48
Total
1,058
872
Cleveland's majority, 186.
In 1896 a new cable was placed across the river at the ferry by Captain T. C. Maddy at Talcott. Wilson Wheeler and another young man by the name of Wheeler, Henry Hedrick and Pat Rollyson were being ferried across the river by T. C. Maddy, using the new cable, to which they had not been accustomed. The boat was permitted to get square across the current, and was capsized and turned over, and each of the party thrown overboard. The river was high, and the two Wheelers were drowned. Their bodies were afterwards recovered down at Bacon's Hill, two miles below. The other parties were finally rescued, but had a narrow escape from death.
CHAPTER XI.
CHANGES.
It is wonderful to conceive and reflect upon the changes made within a developing country within the span of one ordinary hu- man life, or even within the life of this municipality, now thirty- six years of age. A retrospective glance over so short a period will astonish and interest, as well as instruct us, when we have not given the matter special consideration. The female members of almost every household were taught to sew, spin, knit, and many to weave clothing from wool, hemp, flax or cotton, and others even working in the fields. Shoemaker shops were in every section; every well-regulated farm had its loom-house, the barn and crib. The bed-clothing was made at home. They dyed their own woolen goods ; jeans was woven for the men; the farmer raised his own hogs and cured his own bacon. All of this section made its own beef, poultry, butter and cheese; raised its own fruit, milk and honey and vegetables. Green groceries were never thought of being bought; they never sold their fruit and vegetables to their neighbors, but divided them with those who had not a supply of . their own. Every fall the farmer would send his team to the salt works. No such thing as fertilizer was known. In the fall the winter's wood was secured ; a supply of apples, dried fruits, cider. apple butter and honey were secured for the winter months. They made their own soap from the kitchen greases. They made their own hominy from the whole grain steeped in alkali. They made cracked hominy with the mortar and pestle. They raised their own hemp, spun their own twine and made their own ropes. They raised their own sheep, from which they took the wool, carded the same, wove it, and dyed it with such colors as they saw proper from their own dyes. Tomatoes were a rarity, and known as "love apples," and were chiefly grown as curiosities. Canned fruit, canned and preserved meats and fish were unknown; neither were the substitutes for butter, the cow still having a monopoly. Horse- shoes and horse-shoe nails were made at the shop. Patent plows,
NATIONAL BANK OF SUMMERS, IN 1905, Cor. Temple Street and Third Avenue.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AITOR, LIN X AND TILDEN FOMENTAR
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
as well as steam, were unheard of. Patent mowers, reapers, thresh- ers, planters, corn-shellers, and many other farming implements, were unheard of. Travel throughout these regions was by horse- back or by stage. There were no railroads, and no telephones; modern buggies, bicycles, automobiles, or modern carriages and buggies, were things unknown. There were no illustrated daily papers, and no other kind of daily papers in this region; neither were there weeklies. Percussion cap guns, as well as the flint-lock, were still in use; breech-loaders, Gatlings and the modern revolver were things of the imagination. The shot-pouch was made from the skin of some small animal; bullet moulds, powder horns, leather belt and butcher knife, were still in use as small arms. Lard oil was not known. No diamond drills were heard of. Geol- ogy and chemistry have made fast progress. They were unheard of in the curriculum of those who secured any part of an educa- tion. Grammars were not in use in the schools; neither were al- gebra, geometry or scientific mathematics. The steam engines were still fired with wood. There was no pulp or paper twine, paper bags, paper collars, paper car-wheels, wall-paper, and very little paper of any character. The first paper mill erected west of the Alleghenies and south of Mason and Dixon's Line was located in "Possum Hollow," in the New River Valley of Virginia. There were no circular saws, no steam-made brick, no wire fencing, no gimlet-pointed screws or coal-digging machines. There were no postage stamps, postal cards, money orders or envelopes, and blot- ting paper was unheard of. The letters fifty years ago were folded, tucked in and stuck fast with sealing-wax. Ink was dried with ashes or sand. Writing was done with the goose-quill pen. Gold pens were unheard of in this then new country. There were no fountain pens, no indelible pencils, no typewriters. Postage was . twenty-five cents for a common letter, paid by the receiver. Gen- tlemen who smoked carried sun-glasses in their vest pockets, by which they concentrated the light from the sun, thereby firing their smoking machines. When there was no sun, they used the flint and steel; a jack-knife and gun flint and a piece of punk, which was rotten wood, dried. Sanitation was unheard of. The light in the household by night was produced by the home-made tallow- dips, with candlesticks and snuffers. Gas lights were unheard of, the first used even in New York for lighting purposes being in 1827. Cook stoves and ice machines were unknown. Patent churns and washing-machines were undreamed of. No beet sugar or sorghum molasses. Wood was the entire fuel. Iron was melted
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
with charcoal; coke was unheard of. The taste of lager beer was unknown; wooden shoemaker's pegs, even, were a novelty. Great changes have been made in the dress of both ladies and gentle- men, and especially as to the former. Pantaloons were then made with a square flap in front, instead of the up-and-down seam. Pins and needles were a rarity.
All has changed from the crudity of fifty years ago in this then isolated but happy region within the mountains.
The first election of a legislative body on the American conti- nent was held in Virginia in 1619, which was the election of the House of Burgesses, the lower House of the Assembly. The office of justice of the peace was created in 1661.
In 1810 the marshal who took the census, which was 203 years after the Jamestown settlement, reported that, with few exceptions, every household employed a weaving loom, and almost without ex- ception every family tanned its own leather. The materials for clothing were raised and manufactured by the inhabitants. The quantity was estimated to be twenty-six yards for each person. The weaving was done by the females, there being about three fe- male weavers for every loom. The establishment of stills was an invention of those days. They manufactured fifty or sixty gallons of whisky a day, and sold it for fifty cents a gallon. Barter was a common method of trading, the merchant taking everything he could find a market for in trade.
LAND ASSESSMENTS.
There have been five land assessments for the county, usually these assessments being made each ten years, but not always, this being regulated by statute. Honorable S. W. Willy, the present postmaster of the city of Hinton, being the first, and made his re- assessment in the year 1875. The total valuation at that time, as made by him, was increased by $94,338.76. It was at that time all made as farm land, there being then no town lots within the borders of the county.
The second reassessment of real estate of the county was made by James M. Allen, a son of Nathaniel Allen, in the year 1880, and the total valuation, as made by him at that date, was $817,240.
The third reassessment was made in the year 1890, by Charles L. Peck, and the total valuation, as made by him, was $846,395.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
The fourth reassessment was made by B. L. Kessler, in the year 1900, and the total valuation, as made by him, was $1,225,190.
The fifth and last reassessment was made in the year 1905, by Jonathan Lee Barker, with James B. Lavender as his assistant, and the total valuation, as made by them, was $2,329,545. This assessment was made under the new tax system provided by the Act of the Legislature at the session of 1905, known as the "Dawson Reform Tax Laws," named after the present Governor, Hon. Wm. O. Dawson, who is given the credit of being the father of the present tax system of this State. Great opposition has de- veloped to the new system, and it remains yet to be seen whether or not it operates satisfactory for the purpose intended-that is, to create a uniform system of taxation, and provide for the equal distribution of the burdens thereof by all persons. By this sys- tem all property is required to be assessed at its true and actual value. Numerous amendments have been made already to organ- ize tax reform legislation. The large and powerful corporations, and especially those interested in coal lands and leases, are gen- erally opposed to the new system. In the campaign of 1904 a very vigorous fight was made against Governor Dawson, in his race for Governor, by reason of his strong advocacy of this new tax law. He ran largely behind his ticket in this State, something like 20,000 short of the vote cast for President Roosevelt.
The valuation in 1871, at the formation of the county, was $527,989.40, and remained at that until the reassessment by Mr. Willy, in 1875.
CHAPTER XII.
IN WAR TIMES.
The only war from which this territory has in any way been directly affected, or participated in, was that of the Civil War, from '61 to '65. It was not the scene of any great conflicts. It was inaccessible, there being no great highways or railroads through its confines; but, by reason of its inaccessibility and broken character, it was the joy of the bushwhacker, home guards and guerrillas.
The two Thurmond companies were the principal Confederate retainers, those of Captain William Thurmond and Captain Phil. Thurmond, both residents of Fayette County, and who had organized, at the breaking out of the war, these companies. A number of the citizens of this county were members of these or- ganizations, known as Thurmonds' Rangers.
Lorenzo D. Garten was the captain of a company of Federal retainers, known better as "Home Guards." They were never rec- ognized as Union troops, but were what was known as State troops. Thurmonds' companies were regularly attached to the regular armies of the Confederacy. There were no battles of any consequence fought in this county. Floyd's army of Confederates passed through Green Sulphur District in 1863, camping at Green Sulphur Springs. General Hayes' Brigade also passed through the county, passing down New River, out the Red Sulphur and Kana- wha turnpike, through Jumping Branch to Raleigh Court House; with which Major William McKinley, afterwards President of the United States, was attached, both he and General Hayes succeed- ing to this high office.
William Woodrum was killed in the fall of 1864, at the east end of the Big Ben Tunnel. He was not at that time a member of any army, as we are informed.
A part of Thurmond's company had been detailed to cut off and capture a party of Union sympathizers under Captain L. D. Garten, who had returned from Ohio to organize and carry some
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Union sympathizers through the lines. Thurmond's company hav- ing been informed of the intention of Captain Garten and his pro- ceedings, supposedly, and his brother Henderson Garten, who was a member of Thurmond's company, a portion of both Phil. and William Thurmond's companies, of about seventy-five men, were detailed to intercept Captain Garten's proceedings. They proceeded to the mouth of Hungart's Creek, Garten's people having no in- formation of their presence, and prepared an ambuscade in the darkness. Garten and ten men, being Elias Wheeler, Ewell Garten, Goodall Garten, Lewis Meadows, Jackson Grimmett, Clark Grim- mett, Alexander Meadows, Hugh Boone, and, possibly, Davis Bragg, under the command of Captain Garten, proceeded down Hungart's Creek, and, before they knew of the proximity of the rebels, were almost surrounded.
William Woodrum, who was a brother of Major Richard Wood- rum, of Wolf Creek, having joined Thurmond's men en route, got into the melee, and in close quarters with Captain Garten, at which time firing commenced, and Mr. Woodrum was killed, having died in his tracks. Garten's men were scattered, but all made their escape.
Later on, the same fall, Captain Garten and a small party of his followers were undertaking to pass down Laurel Creek and cross New River at Richmond Falls, thence to pass out through Raleigh, down the Kanawha and into the Ohio. On arriving at Samuel Richmond's, where the boys were shucking corn, they were attacked by a party of Witcher's Cavalry, who had gone out with Thurmond's men on a scout, Thurmonds' companies being infantry soldiers. No one was killed or wounded. The Confederate cav- alry was compelled to swim its horses across New River, using canoes and swimming the horses at Richmond's Falls. Thur- mond's men proceeded on this raid along as far as Weston, in Lewis County, in what was known as the "Weston raid."
In the fall of 1864. Thurmond's men were coming down Green- brier River, some in a large canoe and some on the banks, with the view to coming to the mouth of Greenbrier and going up New River. They were attacked by Captain Garten's company, near a large rock just below Powley's Creek. No one, however, was wounded or killed, but both companies took to their heels and ran off. Joseph Hinton, president of the county court at this time. was in this skirmish, as also was Squire Bob Saunders, of Forest Hill. These are the only two names we have been able to ascer- tain.
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