USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 37
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Florence Graham, the daughter of John Graham, the senior and founder of the family originally, to which direct descent is traced, married her cousin, Colonel James Graham, who settled at Lowell in 1774, and a fort was erected where the Lowell Hotel now stands. known as Graham's Fort: and when he built the house at Lowell, which was 24 x 30 feet, he made it peculiarly strong to protect himself and family against the Indians. The sills are of walnut and in a good state of preservation to this day. There are two large stone chimneys. The fireplace is six feet wide, with a wooden arch five feet high. All nails are wrought, made at the blacksmith shop, and all lumber sawed with a "whip-saw" by hand. The stone was transported for the chimneys from a mile up the river in a canoe. It was a fine house for those days.
John Graham, the oldest son of Colonel Graham, was killed by the Indians at the attack on Fort Donnally. William Graham mar- ried Catherine Johnson in 1809, and settled on the Riffe place on
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Greenbrier River, of 400 acres, which was patented to William Graham in 1785. He was appointed a major of the Sixty-sixth Regi- ment of Virginia by the first county court held at the organization of Monroe County, and was elected in 1809 a representative to the General Assembly of Virginia. He was a justice of the peace of that county, and held the office for thirty-seven years, or until his death. He had three children, James, born in 1810, who married Patsy Gwinn, daugher of Joseph Gwinn; William, Jr., married Rebecca, daughter of Lanty Kincaide.
David, the third son, married Mary Stodgill in 1795, and settled at the mouth of Hungart's Creek on what was later known as the Woodson farm, and the hewed log house built by him still stands there. He was a surveyor, and was a lieutenant in a company of the Sixty-sixth Militia Regiment.
Jane, the second daughter of Colonel James Graham, married David Jarrett, and settled on the May's farm near Buffalo Lick (Pence Springs).
Florence, the second daughter of Colonel James Graham, mar- ried Jarrett See.
James Graham, the fourth son, married Lea Jarrett in 1800, a sister of James Jarrett, Sr., and also located on the Riffe Bottoms, at the upper end. His son, Samuel, married Sallie Jarrett, a daugh- ter of David Jarrett, the father of David Jarrett who married Jane Graham. He settled on the James Nowlan or Tolley farm, which was patented by Colonel James Graham, Sr .. in 1785, and his daugh- ter, Susan, married Andrew Jarrett, a brother of the late James and Joseph Jarrett, of Greenbrier. Samuel Graham undertook to ford at Haynes' Ford when the river was flush in March, 1819, near his home, and was drowned. The farm of 400 acres where Samuel Graham lived descended to his son-in-law, Andrew Jarrett, and was by him sold to Madison Haynes in 1840, and later a portion pur- chased by Nowlan.
Lanty, another son, married Elizabeth Stodgill, and Rebecca. the other daughter, as above stated. married Joseph Graham.
Colonel James Grahamn was evidently born in Donegal, Ireland. as was his father, a brother of John Graham, Sr., who settled on the Greenbrier River; whether he came to America is not known. He was uncle of said Colonel James Graham and of David, who set- tled in Bath.
There have been several surveyors in the family, a number of whom were experts, and many of them have held honorable posi-
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tions. They are noted for their intelligence and sagacity in busi- ness and other affairs.
R. Hunter Graham, a son of James Allen Graham, a young lawyer, educated at the common schools and graduated in law at Columbia University of Washington, D. C., is now engaged in the practice of law in Hinton.
JOHN W. GRAHAM.
This is the youngest son of David Graham, who is the oldest member of that faniily now living, and one of the old residents of this section of the country. John W. Graham was born at Clayton July 9, 1860. He was married on the 24th of August, 1892, to Miss Frankie Lowry, a daughter of J. W. Lowry, one of the pioneer settlers of Fayette County. He was raised on the farm, where he spent his early life, first engaging in other business at New Rich- mond, where he established a plant for the manufacture of timber products, which he disposed of in 1893, and removed to Central City, where he resided until early in 1899, at which time he became proprietor of the old Republican newspaper plant at Hinton, and founded the present "Hinton Leader," which he has edited and published since that day until the present. It is an up-to-date, enterprising country newspaper with a large circulation, and is prospering, Mr. Graham being a Republican in his politics. He established the "Daily News," the first daily newspaper ever printed in Summers County, May 5, 1902, and continues the same unto this day. He publishes the same in connection with his "Leader," oper- ating only one plant. The first issue was on May 5, 1902. It is a four-page, five-column paper, and is the pioneer paper of that char- acter in this section. It is independent in its political views.
John W. Graham is a Republican in politics, and has taken a decided stand in political matters, and was one of the leaders in the political troubles which beset the party from 1902 to 1906, of that branch of the party known as the "Old-timers," he declining, with many other of the leading and influential Republicans, to support the entire ticket nominated by his party in 1904. He has been, also, as well as his paper with its influence, a violent opponent to the present State administration, headed by Governor Dawson, being a follower of the Teter wing; nor has he been kindly disposed toward the new and existing tax laws being put in force in the last three or four years, but he is an ardent Republican, and believes in the doctrines of that party, as are all of his family in this county.
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DR. JOSEPH ANDREW FOX.
Dr. Fox is a native of Meigs County, Ohio, but was reared in Jackson County, West Virginia. He is of direct German descent, his father being a German, and the original Dutch spelling of the name was Fuchs. Dr. Fox emigrated to Summers County about fifteen years ago, and engaged in the occupation of barber, by which means he procured the funds to attend the Concord Normal School, and later a medical college, the University of Maryland, graduating from the University of Nashville College of Medicine in 1903. After his graduation he stood a successful examination before the medical examiners of West Virginia, located at Hinton, and entered into active practice in July, 1902. He has worked himself up from the ground floor, starting without means, money or prestige, and is now one of the men of financial means in Summers County, owning large interests in real estate. His brothers, Ed., Jake and William, also located in Hinton and followed the barber business for some time, Jake now being engaged in the butcher business, and Ed. and William still operating the barber shop. Dr. Fox is interested in a number of the leading enterprises of this section, having been the promoter of the Hinton Toll Bridge Com- pany and one of its largest stockholders. He supervised its con- struction, securing franchises, rights of way, etc. He is also interested in the laundry business and other successful enterprises. He was born on the 4th day of January, 1875, and married Miss A. M. Rush in May, 1897. Dr. Fox also is a graduate in pharmacy in the University of the South. His father's name, in German, is Adams Fuchs; his mother's maiden name was Catherine Wink, and she is also a native German. They emigrated from Germany to America soon after their marriage, thirty-eight years ago, and first located in Meigs County, and then across the Ohio River into Jackson County, West Virginia, where they now reside.
J. FRED BRIANT.
There is but one family of this name, although there are others who spell their name Bryant. J. Fred Briant was born in Morris County, New Jersey, and descends from one of the old ancestral families of the State of New Jersey. The family is able to trace its lineage to Elias Briant, who settled in that State at Springfield, a short distance from Elizabeth Port, which was then one of the chief seaports of that country, in 1690. The grandfather of the
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subject of this sketch was named Elias, who had four brothers, the five brothers being soldiers in the American Army during the eight- year war of the Revolution for American independence. These five were the grandfather and four grand uncles, and, strange to say, each of these four brothers of the grandfather spelled their name Bryant, although the original records of the original settler and other documentary evidence show the spelling of the name to be Briant, and there is in the possession of Elias Briant, the brother of J. Fred, a stamp made in 1750 of metal for stamping his name on his work tools, the stamp spelling the name with an "i"-Briant. The original owner of this stamp was a blacksmith, and Elias seems to have been an original family name descended from gen- eration to generation. Elias Briant, the father of J. Fred Briant, was born in 1799. After the Revolution the brothers scattered, settling in different sections of the country, and passing westward, emigrated in that direction, one coming to Virginia, another to Ohio, and the descendants are scattered promiscuously throughout the country. Periodically these descendants meet and hold a re- union of the Briant elan.
J. Fred Briant came to Summers County in August, 1886, lo- cating at Little Bend Tunnel as a telegraph operator, and afterward depot agent at Talcott, and was finally promoted to train dispatcher at Hinton in 1899, which position he occupies at this time. being associated in that office with the Irish citizen, M. A. Boland, who is chief dispatcher, and who worked himself up from the bottom. His father, commonly known as Billy Boland, located at New Rich- mond soon after the building of the railway, where Mike was born. He learned telegraphy, and has been with the C. & O. Railway Company since, working up from one station to another. His father was accidentally killed at the crossing in Avis several years ago. He was an Irishman from Ireland and an honest citizen. He was track-walker for many years for that road. M. A., in addition to his railway engagements, is a director in the Citizen's Bank and one of the business men of the city.
In 1895, Mr. Briant was appointed justice of the peace for Tal- cott District, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Squire James P. Staton, now located at Glenn Jean in Fayette County. where he has been a justice for the last twelve years. In 1896, Mr. Briant was elected to the office of justice of the peace of Tal- cott District, which position he filled intelligently and honorably to himself and constituents for four years. In 1900 he was the nomi- nee of the Democratic party of the county for representative to the
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House of Delegates, and was elected, and held that position for a full term, declining further office. He is an intelligent gentleman, a fiuent speaker, well posted on public affairs of the day and times. When a boy he lost his left hand in attempting to board a train in Philadelphia. In 1887 he was united in marriage to Miss E. A. Wyant, a daughter of Peter B. Wyant, of Talcott District. and she is a descendant of that ancient and honorable family of German descent. They have three children, James R., Leah and Arminta.
JORDAN.
One of the ancient families of the New River settlements was that of Jordan, a Southwest Virginia family.
Thomas Jordan was a native of England and an English soldier who came to America with Burgoyne's army in the War of the Revolution and fought therein for the cause of King George until the capture of that army by General Gage at the Battle of Saratoga. After the capture, he was sent by the Americans as a prisoner of war, along with the other captives, to the fastnesses of Virginia until exchanged. During his captivity he became acquainted with Lucy O'Neal, an Irish girl, to whom he was married, and settled at the junction of the Cow Pasture and Jackson's River, and there lived and raised a large family. One of his sons was Hugh Jordan, who married Sallie Chapman, a daughter of Isaac Chapman, one of the most ancient settlers in the Middle New River Valley. They settled at Providence, in Giles County. Hugh Jordan was a great hunter, and during the hunting seasons annually came to the wil- derness of the Bluestone around about Clover Bottoms, where he had a hunting lodge, and it was at that place that Gordon L. Jordan was born, but he raised his family in Giles County. In those days wolves and other ferocious animals were plentiful in all the region round about where Jordan lived at Clover Bottom, and the wife of Hugh Jordan spent many nights sleeping under the rafters in the loft of the cabin, to keep out of the way of the wolves which were howling around for admittance. Hugh Jordan returned to Providence, and there were sixteen children born to them-four boys and twelve girls. The boys were Gordon 1 .. , Thomas. William WV. and Oscar. Gordan L. Jordan married Elizabeth G. Toney, of Giles County, a daughter of Captain Jonathan Toney, and was raised where the old brick house of the Toneys still stands at Glenn Lynn, on the Norfolk & Western Railway, near the mouth of East River, in Giles County. Gordon L. Jordan was born on the 18th
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day of July, 1812, and died on the 18th day of June, 1886. He was by profession a contractor in stone, brick and plaster work. In 1849 he removed to Pipestem, then Mercer County. There were ten children ; two sons. One died in his youth ; the other, our present county man, John H. Jordan. Miss Mary died in 1886, never having married. Clara Frances married M. D. Tompkins, of Hanover County, Virginia, and was one of the first settlers of Hinton, where he located at the beginning of the building of the town and engaged in the mercantile business, and in which business he is still engaged to this date, and is now constructing the three-story brick business building at the railway crossing in Upper Hinton, through Eli W. Taylor, the architect, being the contractor. Miss Lizzie, his daugh- ter, is one of the teachers in the Hinton High School, one son, Ed., is engaged with the First National Bank of Huntington. Other sons are attending school at Marshall College and Bethany College. Emma L. Jordan married James L. Barker, a son of Calloway Barker, who died on the Barker's Bottom at their home several years ago, in 1882, leaving one daughter, Lula, who married D. R. Barton, and now resides near Pack's Ferry. Lizzie Jordan married Clifton Lane, a son of Charles Lane, of Pipestem District, and a prosperous farmer at Pipestem. Nannie married W. B. Gautier, of Athens, and died in 1889, leaving one son, Claude V. Gautier, now a medical student at the West Virginia University. The other children of G. L. Jordan died from diphtheria while young. Gordon L. Jordan, upon his removal to Pipestem, engaged in the mercan- tile business up until the beginning of the Civil War. Prior to that time he had been a justice of the peace and a member of the County Court of Mercer County. He was a sincere and loyal Southern man ; loyal also to the Union, and violently opposed to secession of the States, and never gave in his adherence to the Southern cause until the firing on Fort Sumter. The feeling against Mr. Jordan in the early part of the war by Union sympathizers and bushwhackers was so vigorous that he emigrated in 1862 to Giles County, where he remained for one year, and then returned home, remaining there until the termination of the war. Soon after his settlement at Pipestem he constructed a large, two-story frame residence, which was the first frame residence ever built in Pipe- stem District. He and his brother also, about the same time, built and donated to the Methodist Church a frame house of worship, which is known to-day as Jordan's Chapel. The framing and tim- bers in these buildings were hewn from trees, the old-fashioned
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nails being used in their construction, and the plank all sawed with the whip or pit-saw.
After the war Gordon L. Jordan followed farming until his death, and that farm remained in the hands of his children until 1902, when the same was sold to Kelsoe & Dickey, of Pennsylvania. Mr. Jordan was one of the first_justices of the peace in the county after its formation, and held the office for four years by election. At the first election held within Summers County after its creation he was elected as a delegate to the House of Delegates, and repre- sented the county as its first representative in that legislative body after its formation. He was an active man in the organization of the new county. He was unable to hold any office after the war until after the abolition of the infamous test oath. In politics he was a Democrat, and a Methodist in his religious beliefs, and one of the principal supporters of that denomination in that section, it being headquarters for all the Methodist ministers round about. The Jordan's Chapel was constructed in 1852. He was a man of fearless character and bravery. When a boy of fifteen, he, with William Mahood, descended into a cave in Giles County sixty feet, and killed a wolf. The wolf had fallen down through a sink hole, or opening in the surface, having been caught in a steel trap. They cut Indian ladders and descended from one bench to another. He held the light while Mahood slew the wolf.
One of the first licenses to keep a house of public entertainment ever granted in the county was to Mr. Jordan. His residence was the half-way point between Union and Raleigh Court House and Princeton, and was the stopping-place for persons going from points west to the latter town. The celebrated and pioneer lawyers, Gen. Chapman, who was a first cousin to Mr. Jordan; Senator Allen T. Caperton, who was a first cousin to Mrs. Jordan; Frank Hereford, John E. Kenna, James W. Davis, Judge Gillespie, Judge Harrison, Judge Ward, Major McGinnis, Gov. Samuel Price. and many other celebrated men made their headquarters there in passing through this region. His wife died on the -- day of April. 1901, at the residence of J. H. Jordan in Hinton, where she lived the last five years of her life. She was born in 1822. Thomas Jordan, the other brother, who emigrated to Pipestem, entered into the mercantile business with his brother, Gordon, where he only remained two or three years. While in that country, he and the brothers purchased title to several hundred acres of timber land, which became valuable in recent years, and was disposed of to Pennsylvania capitalists. He afterwards settled in Tennessee. All of the Jordans in America.
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so far as known, are descended from this British soldier. One of his descendants settled in Indiana, and they are scattered over Ohio and many other parts of the country. The Jordan brothers first sold goods up until the war at the old James Ellison place at Pipestem.
John Hugh Jordan is the only member of that family of Jordans now living in Summers County, and is the only son of Gordon L. Jordan, who grew to maturity. He was educated in the free schools, and graduated with honor at the Normal School at Athens, and then took a post-graduate course at the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, taught school in this county and in Raleigh, and was a teacher in the Hinton public schools at the time they were transformed into a high school, he being the first principal, and it was he who graded the Hinton schools. He was appointed a clerk in 1889 in the office of the State Auditor, Patrick F. Duffy, which position he held for four years. Upon the clection of Governor McCorkle, in 1892, he was appointed Assistant Labor Commissioner. which position he held two years, and then resigned, returning to Hinton and organizing the Bank of Summers in 1895, which was afterwards converted into the present National Bank of Summers. He was elected its first cashier, which position he holds to this day. He is connected with a number of the other principal local business enterprises, among them being the New River Grocery Company, of which he is treasurer, a director and a stockholder, and of which he was the principal promoter. He is a stockholder and director in the Hinton Water. Light & Supply Company; a stockholder of the Greenbrier Springs Company, at which place he has a neat cottage, where his family spends part of the summer. He is a stockholder and director in the Hinton Foundry & Machine Com- pany: a stockholder in the Bank of Wyoming and the Bank of Athens; also a stockholder and officer in the New River Milling Company and other corporations. Mr. Jordan was born on the 11th day of May. 1857.
He married Miss Lilly Brightwell, a daughter of Charles Bright- well, of Prince Edward County, Virginia, by which marriage there are three children, Julian J., who is a student at the Virginia Mili- tary Institute: William W., who is a clerk in the National Bank of Summers, and Miss Lilly, who is a student at the Hinton High School. His first wife died in 1893, and in 1899 he was married the second time to Miss Hattie W. Brightwell, of Roanoke, Vir- ginia. a sister of Captain W. J. Brightwell, of Hinton, and of Walter Brightwell, lately deceased, at Talcott. By this marriage
HON. GORDON L. JORDAN, Founder of the Jordan Family in the County.
JOHN H. JORDAN, . Founder of National Bank of Summers, First Cashier. Financier and Capitalist.
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there are four children, Hugh C., Mary E., John Gordon and Nellie Lee.
Mr. Jordan has not been a candidate for office in Summers County except in one instance, when he was the nominee of his party for superintendent of schools, but by reason of the factional trouble then existing, growing out of the death of the late Hon. Elbert Fowler, and the trial of J. Speed Thompson for his killing, in which he was a witness, he was defeated by a small majority by Jonathan F. Lilly, of Jumping Branch. He has occupied the office of city councilman ; is a man of strong character, loyal to his friends, and is a man of excellent business judgment, enterprising, pushing and energetic. In 1906 he erected in Hinton, on the court house square, a handsome brick residence, which he now occupies. He was one of the promoters and organizers of the Bank of Raleigh, the Bank of Wyoming, the Logan National Bank and the Bank of Athens.
Hugh Jordan, the grandfather of John H. Jordan, was a soldier of the War of 1812, and fought at the Battle of New Orleans under General Andrew Jackson. Thomas Jordan, the ancestor of this family in this country, was one of the most powerful men physically in all the British Army, and his physical prowess was a matter of notoriety throughout the same. He was a resident and a property owner on land afterward covered by the city of London, and it was claimed for generations that he had an estate in those prop- erties by inheritance, but it was abandoned by him, he failing to make any effort to secure the same or to return to that country for that purpose.
Gordon L. Jordan, while a refugee at Pearisburg in 1862, was captured by the Federal soldiers, being the Twenty-second Ohio Regiment, under General Rutherford B. Hayes, then a lieutenant colonel, and of which command William McKinley, also afterwards President of the United States. was a sergeant. His army passed down New River through Summers County, crossing at Pack's Ferry and following the old turnpike road to Raleigh Court House, where it encamped for some time, Major Mckinley occupying the residence of Mr. Davis, the father of the present sheriff of that county, John R. Davis ; Mrs. Davis still resides in the same build- ing, and is a very aged lady ; but the Union armies were not able to secure their capture of Mr. Jordan, and they being attacked in the neighborhood of Pearisburg by Colonel, afterwards General, John McCausland, of Mason County, who drove the Federals out, recaptured Mr. Jordan, who was set at liberty, and afterward re-
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turned to his home in Pipestem. Mr. Jordan, at the time of his capture, was driving a team of horses on the streets of Pearisburg. His wife and son, John, were with him, the latter remembering very distinctly the incidents connected with the capture and release. J. H. Jordan also remembers very distinctly of witnessing the Battle of Pearisburg, seeing and firing the cannons, etc., which was a very exciting occasion to a youth of his years, he then being five years of age.
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