USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 3
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
formerly of Pineville, W. Va., and publisher of the Wyoming Moun- taineer newspaper. But the trappers were too late; the Indians were ahead and had sacked the settlements, killing a number of people and taking others prisoners, after which they retreated to the Ohio country, pursued by Capt. Audley Paul, with a company of twenty men. They followed the Indians over Dunlap's Creek, down Indian Creek to its mouth, to New River, and on to the mouth of Piney, in Raleigh County, but failed to overtake them, so they proceeded to retrace their steps; and when they had proceeded on the return trip to the mouth of Indian Creek, a point opposite Culbertson's Bottom, opposite an island, on the night of October 12th, Capt. Paul at midnight discovered the Indians on the island at the mouth of the creek where C. A. Baber now lives. Paul's men fired on them, and killed three and wounded several others, one of whom jumped into the river to prevent Paul's men from taking his scalp. The remainder fled down the river. This was the squad which had attacked the Roanoke settlements and were being pursued by Capt. Wm. Ingles and Capt. Henry Harman from the upper New River country.
The fort at Lewisburg, known as Fort Union, was built in 1770.
The Cooks settled on Indian Creek in 1769 or 1770, and John was killed by Indians at Cook's Fort on this creek. some three miles from its mouth.
The Grahams, Kellers, Hinchmans and Van Bibbers and others came on to the grounds about the same time.
There is recorded another Indian killing at Culbertson's Bottom in 1774, and I take from Judge Johnston's "Middle New River Settlements" the account of the affair, the principal events of which were without the borders of our county.
Philip Lybrook and a man by the name of McGriff had built their colonies in a little bottom just below the mouth of Sinking Creek, on the farm lately known as that of Craft or Hall, and were engaged in the cultivation of a small crop of corn on the bottom lands. Mr. Lybrook had built a small mill on a branch. It was the custom in that day when people were few in the country, for young people to assemble or get together on Sunday, and it so happened that on the 7th day of August, 1774, that some of the children of Mrs. Elizabeth Snidow, with a woman by the name of Scott, went on a visit from the fort to Lybrooks and McGriffs. Lybrook was busy about his mill; McGriff was in the house, and the young people and the smaller children were at the river. Two of the young men, Snidow and Lybrook, were out in
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
the river some distance bathing, and three or four of the little boys were in the river near the bank, and a young woman, a daughter of Lybrook, was out in the river in a canoe with some of the smaller children therein, when an Indian was discovered on a high bank on the brink of the river. An alarm was given. The two young men in the river made for the opposite shore. The Indians, in the meantime, began to shoot at them. Being expert swimmers, they turned and swam on their backs, their faces being turned to the Indians, which enabled them to watch their movements. The four small boys playing in the edge of the river were, viz., Theop- hilus Snidow, Jacob Snidow, Thomas McGriff and John Lybrook. There were some deep gullies washed down through the banks of the river, by way of which wild animals had made their way to the river to get water. When the little boys discovered the Indians, they attempted to escape by way of these breaks in the banks, and, as they did so, the Indians would head them off. Finally one Indian stooped down and placed one hand on his knee as a rest for his gun, and attempted to shoot one of the young men in the river, and at this moment John Lybrook, a boy of eleven years, ran under the muzzle of the gun, and made for the house. So soon as the Indian fired he pursued John, and, coming to one of the gullies which had washed out about twelve feet wide, the Indian close after him, John leaped the gully, and the Indian, finding that he could not, threw his lariat at him, striking him on the back of the head, at the same time tumbling into the gully. By this time the two young men in the river had reached the opposite bank and were hidden behind the trees; and, finding that John had safely crossed the gully, they cried out to him, "Run, John, run !" and John ran and safely reached the house.
While this was transpiring, Miss Lybrook, who was standing in the rear end of the canoe, was pushing the same to the shore, when an Indian, who was hidden in the weeds on the bank of the river, came to the water's edge, and reached out as the canoe reached the bank and pulled the front end of it to the bank, and, stepping therein, with his war club began striking the little children over their heads and taking their scalps. The rear end of the canoe being down stream and having floated near to the bank, Miss Lybrook sprang out and started for the house, the Indian pursuing her. Her cries brought to her assistance a large dog, which seized the Indian and finally threw him, but the Indian succeeded in getting to his feet and striking the dog with his club, but in the meantime the young lady made her escape. While a part of the
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Indians were on the bank of the river shooting at the young men in the river, capturing the boys and killing the children, a part of them had gone to the house. One shot Mr. Lybrook, breaking his arm; and Mr. McGriff shot and mortally wounded one of the Indians, whose remains were years afterwards found under a cliff of rocks not far from the scene of the tragedy. Three of the little boys, Theophilus Snidow, Thomas McGrif and Jacob Snidow, were cap- tured by the Indians and carried away by them, and, after traveling with them a day or two, they formed a plan of escape, and that was to slip away at night. They reached Pipestem Knob, now in Summers County, and there camped for the night. During the night, and after all things were quiet, two of the boys, Thomas McGriff and Jacob Snidow, slipped away from the camp, not being able to rouse the third boy without waking the Indians, and thus they were compelled to go away without him. After they had gone a few hundred yards from the camp, knowing they would be pursued, they crawled into a hollow log. In a few minutes after, the Indians discovering their absence, raised an alarm and went in search of the runaways, and even stood on the log in which the boys were hid, and in broken English called, "Come back. Get lost." Not being able to find the boys, they gave up the hunt and returned to camp. So soon as everything was quiet, the boys came out of their hiding-place, struck through the woods, and came to Crump's Bottoms on New River, where they were afterwards found by some of the scouts from the settlement, and who were in pursuit of the Indians.
In this attack Philip Lybrook was wounded, three of his chil- dren and a young woman by the name of Scott, two of the children, small girls, of Mrs. Snidow's, were killed, and three boys captured. The two young men who were in the river when the attack began, and who had reached the farther bank, ran across the ridge to the Gunpowder Spring, Harman's Fort, and halloed across the river at the people in the fort to bring a canoe and take them over, but the people, being afraid they were Indians, refused to go. After waiting for some time, the young men being afraid of pursuit by the Indians, plunged into the river, and a young woman, seeing this, insisted that they were white men, and ran to the river, jumped into a canoe, and pushed into the river to meet the swimmers. She was just in time to save one of them from sinking the third time, and who, no doubt, had taken the cramp by reason of the exertion and overheating in his run over the ridges. She carried them safely to the fort. There were six Indians in this raid. They were pur-
-
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
sued by Capt. Clendennin, but never overtaken. Mrs. Rebecca Pack, now of Burden, Kansas, and the widow of Anderson Pack of this county, is a descendant of these Snidows, and there are numerous other descendants in Giles and other counties. Theoph- ilus Snidow, the other captive, was carried down New River, across the Ohio, and, after he had grown to manhood, returned to his people. This Mrs. Snidow was a widow, her husband having died suddenly while emigrating to the Upper New River country.
The Clover Bottoms, on Bluestone River in Mercer County, near the Summers line, was granted by Lord Dunsmore on the 5th day of April, 1774, to Mitchell Clay, assignee of John Draper. There are many of his descendants now in Wyoming and Raleigh, and recently two of the Clay families of Wyoming purchased the Maddy lands on Lick Creek and removed into that community near Green Sulphur Springs. This tract was then and is still known as Clover Bottoms, and was owned for many years by Benjamin Peck, the father of Messrs. C. L. Peck, Pembroke P. Peck and E. H. Peck, of this county, and was inherited by them. The grantee was required to take possession within three years from its date. Mitchell Clay was a native of Franklin County, Virginia, and he gave John Draper a negro woman and her children for the land, which is very fertile and valuable. The land warrant or script to Draper for this land was for services by him in the French and Indian War. Mitchell Clay settled in this bottom in 1775. This was the second white settler in Mercer County territory and the first in its present territory. The settlement on Culbertson's Bot- toms (now Crump's) having been made by Andrew Culbertson twenty-seven years before, so the first settlement in Mercer County by white men was in territory now a part of Summers.
Clay was not molested by the Indians on "Clover Bottoms" for eight years, but was finally attacked by them and a part of his family killed.
SOME OLD LAWS.
If a person unlawfully kill a hog or steal one not his own, he should pay a fine of 1,000 pounds of tobacco; and, if unable to do so, he was required to work one year for the informer and one year for the owner of the property. No person could get married except by a minister of England, and then on a license from the governor. Any minister doing so was fined 10,000 pounds of tobacco.
All persons keeping tippling houses without a license were
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
fined 2,000 pounds of tobacco, one-half to go to the informer and the other to the county.
The court in every county shall cause to be set up a pillory, a pair of stocks, a whipping post and a ducking stool in a conve- nient place, and, if not done, the court was fined 5,000 pounds of tobacco.
In actions for slander occasioned by the wife, after judgment for damages, the woman shall be punished by ducking, and an additional ducking for every 500 pounds of tobacco fine imposed against her husband if he refused to pay.
The Lord's Day was to be kept holy, and no journey made on that day unless necessary, and everybody who were inhabitants were required to attend church at some parish church or chapel, and then abide orderly during preaching, or be fined fifty pounds of tobacco. Every Quaker who congregated in unlawful places was liable to a fine of 200 pounds of tobacco for every such meeting.
All preachers of the Church of England officiating and six of his family were exempt from taxes.
If any Quakers over sixteen years of age assemble, five in number, for the pretense of joining in a religious worship, were liable to a fine of 200 pounds of tobacco for each offense.
Any master of a ship who shall bring into the colony any Quaker to reside hereafter, 1st July, 1663, shall be fined 5,000 pounds of tobacco, and every person inhabiting the country who shall en- tertain in or near his house a Quaker to teach or preach, shall be fined 5,000 pounds of tobacco.
If any person be found laboring, drinking, gaming or working on the 27th day of August, upon presentment by the church warden, shall be fined 100 pounds of tobacco, one-half to the informer and one-half to the parish.
None but freeholders or housekeepers shall have any voice in the election of burgesses, and every county not sending two bur- gesses to the General Assembly shall be fined 10,000 pounds of tobacco, for the use of the public.
Every member of the House of Burgesses shall be allowed 150 pounds of tobacco for each day, beginning two days before each Assembly, and continuing for two days after; and for traveling expenses, those that come by land, ten pounds of tobacco for each day for each horse used and for water transportation proportion- ately.
1679. For hog stealing, first offense, according to former laws; for the second offense the offender shall stand two hours in the
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
pillory and lose his ears; and for the third offense he shall be tried by the laws of England for a felony.
1680. No licensed attorney shall demand or receive for bring- ing any cause to judgment in the general court more than fifty pounds of tobacco and cask; and in the county court, 150 pounds of tobacco and cask, which fees are allowed without any prejudgment.
If any attorney shall refuse to plead any cause in respective courts aforesaid, for the aforesaid fees, he shall forfeit as much as his fees should have been.
Every person who failed to have his child baptized by a lawful minister was liable to a fine of 2,000 pounds of tobacco, one-half to go to the parish and the other to the informer.
These laws and many similar ones once applied to our terri- tory, but before it was settled by the white man.
In 1621 "sixty young and handsome maidens" were sent to Virginia, each with a recommendation and testimonial. They were to be purchased by an equal number of the boys who were sent to become apprentices. It was stipulated that these maidens should be married with their own consent, and to such free men only as could support them. It was also stipulated that they were to be well used, and they were forbidden from marrying servants. The land owners granted to those who subscribed to the costs of shipping the maidens and boys a rateable proportion of land, all to be laid off together and form a town to be called Maidtown. The price of the wives was fixed at 100 pounds of tobacco, and after- wards advanced to 150 pounds, and proportionately more if any of them should happen to die in the passage to Virginia. A debtor for a wife was of higher dignity than other debtors, and would be paid first. As an inducement to marriage, married men were pre- ferred in the selection of officers for the colony. Contentment followed this introduction of wives into Virginia, and soon there- after whole families, including wives, daughters and sons, came, and the necessity for shipping maids no longer existed, and the seeker for a wife no longer lugged his tobacco crop to the matri- monial market, but, instead, resorted to the customs of his fore- fathers, and which followed with our forefathers across the moun- tains, who planned a siege of the old-fashioned courtship in the old-fashioned manner to win his partner for life.
In the pioneer days of this region, when any of the forefathers married, the marriage ceremony was followed by the wedding dinner and then dancing, which consisted of the four-handed reel, square sets and jigs. The commencement was always a "square
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
four," followed by what was called "jigging it off"; that is, two or four would single out for a jig, followed by the remaining couples. Among the old-time tunes were "Little Breeches," "Will You Come Out To-night?" "The Devil's Dream," "Mississippi Sawyer," Arkansas Traveler" and "Clear the Track." These after- marriage dances always brought out big crowds. As soon as the wedding was over, a house was built for the newly married couple on the lands of either the bride's or bridegroom's parents, and when it was ready for occupancy, the friends and neighbors who as- sisted in its building were invited to what was called the "house warming," consisting of a dinner and dances.
The seat of government for all this region was Jamestown in 1607 until 1698, after which it was removed to Williamsburg. When the town of Jamestown was settled, the only other places in the United States settled by white people were St. Augustine, Florida, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, settled in 1582. St. Augustine was founded in 1655.
We are within the territory where the white man first exercised the right of suffrage in the new world, and where a trial by jury was first granted.
The first free school on this continent was started within the same territory, and our territory is within the domain which has produced more illustrious men of America than any other within the nation.
At one time and at the opening of the seventeenth century, our territory was in the country governed under conditions existing to a large extent in ancient Europe. Women were dragged about in public or ducked in ponds or rivers because they scolded; men were imprisoned for debts which they could not pay, or condemned to death for their refusal or neglect to profess a religion in which they did not believe. Hell's fire was constantly kept in the mind's view of young and old, while the pure love of God and of man were trampled into the mire by superstitious teachers and preach- ers. Insane men were believed to be possessed of devils, and were chained to the floor in the garrets. Stocks for punishment were in evidence wherever courts of law were held, and men were nailed to these instruments of torture within the public gaze to add to their punishment by becoming the laughing stock of the people. Men's ears were cropped from their heads, thereby fastening upon them marks of disgrace which they carried with them to their graves. Such punishments were inflicted for alleged offenses which at the present day are so trivial that no provision of law is deemed necessary for their prevention.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
FIRST DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
The first Declaration of Independence proclaimed in America was on the 20th of January, 1775, by the representatives of Fin- castle County, of which Summers territory, a part, if not all, is a part. It was eighteen months prior to the famous Declaration of July 4, 1776, and it is full of the independence then breathed throughout the country, and we give the declaration of the Fincastle men in full. While it breathes the spirit of independence, it is respectful, without supplication in its terms.
"In obedience to the resolves of the Continental Congress, a meeting of the freeholders of Fincastle County in Virginia was heid on the 20th day of January, 1775, and who, after approving the association formed by that august body in behalf of all the colonies, and subscribing thereto, proceeds to the election of a committee to see the same carried punctually into execution, when the following men were nominated :
"Rev. Chiarles Cummings, Col. Wm. Preston, Col. Wm. Chris- tian, Steven Trigg, Major Arthur Campbell, Major Wm. Ingles, Captain Walter Crockett, Capt. John Montgomery, Capt. James McGavoch, Capt. William Campbell, Capt. Thomas Madison, Capt. Evan Shelby and Lieutenant William Edmondson. Colonel Wil- liam Christian was made chairman, and David Campbell, clerk.
"Their declaration is as follows :
"To the Honorable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Junior, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison and Edmund Pendleton, Esquires, the delegates from this colony who attended the Continental Congress had at Philadelphia. Gentlemen: Had it not been for our remote situ- ation and the Indian War which we were engaged in to chastise these cruel and savage people for the many murders and depreda- tions they have committed amongst us, now happily terminated under the auspices of our present worthy Governor, His Excellency, The Right Honorable Earl Dunmore, we should before this time have made known to you our thankfulness for the very important services you have rendered to our country in conjunction with the worthy delegates from other provinces. Your noble efforts for reconciling the mother country and colonies on rational and con- stitutional principles and your pacific, steady and uniform conduct in that arduous work immortalize you in the annals of your country. We heartily concur in your resolutions, and shall in every instance strictly and invariably adhere thereto.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
"We assure you, gentlemen, and all our countrymen, that we are a people whose hearts overflow with love and duty to our lawful sovereign, George the Third, whose illustrious house for several successive reigns has been the guardian of the civil and religious rights and liberties of British subjects as settled at the glorious Revolution ; that we are willing to risk our lives in the service of His Majesty for the support of the Protestant religion and the rights and liberties of his subjects as they have been estab- lished by the compact law and ancient charters. We are heartily disturbed at the differences which now subsist between the parent state and the colonies, and most urgently wish to see harmony restored on an equitable basis and by the most lenient measures that can be devised by the heart of man. Many of us and our fore- fathers left our native land, considering it as a kingdom subjected to inordinate power. We crossed the Atlantic and explored this then wilderness, and surrounded by mountains almost inaccessible to any but those various savages who have insistently been com- mitting depredations on us since our first settling in the country. These fatigues and dangers were patiently endured, supported by the pleasing hope of enjoying these rights and liberties which had been granted to Virginians and denied us in our native country, and of transmitting them inviolate to our posterity ; but even to this remote region the hand of enmity and unconstitutional power hath preceded us to strip us of that liberty and property with which God, nature and the rights of humanity have visited us. We are ready and willing to contribute all in our power for His Majesty's government if applied considerately and when grants are made by our own representatives, but can not think of submitting our liberty or property to the power of a venal British Government or the will of a greedy ministry. We by no means desire to shake off our duty or allegiance to our lawful sovereign, but, on the contrary, shall ever glory in being the loyal subjects of the Protestant prince descended from such illustrious progenitors, so long as we can enjoy the free exercise of our religion as Protestants and our lib- erties and properties as British subjects ; but no pacific measures shall be proposed or adopted by Great Britain, and our enemies will attempt to dragoon us out of these inestimable privileges which we are entitled to as subjects and to reduce us to a state of slavery ; we declare that we are deliberately determined never to surrender them to any power upon earth but at the expense of our lives.
"These are real, though unpolished, sentiments of liberty. and in them we are resolved to live or die.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
"We are, gentlemen, with the most perfect esteem and regard, your most obedient servants." (See American Archives, 1st Vol., page 166, 4th Series. Johnston's New River Settlements).
The territory of Summers County, then Fincastle County, was represented in the convention which formed and adopted the first Republican Constitution ever adopted in America, which assembled in Williamsburg, Va., in 1775. Arthur Campbell and William Rus- sell were the representatives. The delegate from Fincastle County in 1776, when it was abolished, was Col. Wm. Christian.
There were then sparse settlements in our territory, then in- cluded in Fincastle County ; among them the Grahams, Kellers, Ferrells, Slaters, Culbertsons, Cooks, Farleys and Gwinns located in this section. In October, 1776, the county of Fincastle. like Poland, was parceled out into three counties, and it ceased to exist, and out of its territory Washington, Kentucky and Mont- gomery Counties were created, and a portion of the territory of this county came within the jurisdiction of Montgomery.
The representatives from Fincastle County who met at the Wil- liamsburg Convention, which adopted the first Republican Con- stitution, were Arthur Campbell and William Russell.
Fincastle County was named for one of the castles of the Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, "Finn Castle," and the distaste among the colonies for Dunmore had become so great and just that the name was eliminated from the political divisions. Dunmore County was, also, for a like cause, abolished, and the name changed to Shenandoah.
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