USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 5
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
turned over a bee gum, and the Indians, being afraid of the bees, ran off without the scalp, taking the boy along. The Indians went on to where Green Sulphur Springs is now located, and where there was then a buffalo lick. They watched the lick until they killed a young buffalo, then they tied the boy in the pines on the opposite side of the creek, where they left him for two days and nights. They then returned, having their shot pouches filled with lead and bullets, which they somewhere secured during their absence. Securing their captive, they proceeded to the Kanawha River at the Ben Morris place. In the meantime the whites in the fort on the Greenbrier in the Griffith neighborhood organized a pursuing party composed of ten persons, who proceeded to follow the Indians, overtaking them at the Morris farm, where they had encamped. All the Indians and the white man had left the camp, except two who remained to guard the boy. The pur- suers arranged for two of them to shoot at each of the Indians and two at the boy, he also being taken at a distance for an Indian. Both Indians were shot dead, but neither shot hit the boy, who escaped without a scratch. The legs of a deerskin which were sticking out by his side were hit, and in this miraculous manner he was saved from death. Capt. Ben Morris, who was in command of the pursuers, always claimed it was Providence that was instru- mental in saving the boy's life, as the men who shot at him were ordinarily dead shots. The said Morris told this narrative to Jas. H. Miller, Sr., of Gauley Bridge, and it was he that shot at the boy, and ordinarily and invariably he could hit a dollar in silver at that distance. The Griffith boy returned to his friends. This is the last Indian excursion of which we have any historical or traditional account of the savages in this county. The night the Indians slept under the cliff on Lick Creek the whites camped a half-mile above at the Curtis Alderson place, and returned home next day for reinforcements, not knowing of the close proximity of the Indians.
Keeney's Mountain, over which the Indians passed in their last raid into the Muddy Creek country, is still known by that name, and was named for one of the first settlers within the ter- ritory of this county, by the name of David Keeney, who settled near the foot of the Greenbrier County side in 1787.
The Ohio Company, through Christopher Gist, explored a large part of what is now West Virginia, and in 1752 Gist sent his petition, "Beyond Sea," to His Most Excellent Majesty, the King of Eng-
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
land, praying for a grant of the lands he had explored, and for a new government in the region between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River. The proposed province intended to be or- ganized by Gist was to be called "Vandalia," with Samuel Watson for Governor, and the capital to be at the mouth of the Great Kanawha River at what is now the town of Point Pleasant, in the county of Mason. The Revolutionary War was coming on, and this prospect was shattered thereby. This territory, surveys and explorations evidently included a part, if not all, of Summers County, and would have included Summers County.
In the year 1750 Dr. Thomas Walker, with five companies from Virginia, explored into the Kentucky wilderness; from thence they journeyed northward, crossed the Big Sandy River, and on the 28th day of January, 1750, reached the mouth of the Greenbrier River. Christopher Gist was an eminent surveyor and explorer from the Yadkin in North Carolina, and a friend of Washington's, who was with him when he delivered the famous message to the French commandant, and had his feet and hands frozen on that exploit.
In 1742 John Sally, Chas. St. Clair, John Howard and his son, Joshua Howard, and others, explored into the southern portion of what is now West Virginia. They left their homes at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Augusta County, Virginia, and proceeded across the Allegheny Mountains down the Greenbrier River to its mouth, reached New River, which they descended to Richmond's Falls, at what is now New Richmond, ten miles west of Hinton on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad; thence across through Raleigh County to the Coal River, and down same to the Great Kanawha, arriving there on May 6, 1742. We are not able to ascertain whether the old Greenbrier land grant of 100,000 acres, granted about 1751, included any part of Summers County or not. but it appears not.
The first settlement in the state of West Virginia was in 1727, by Morgan. a Welshman, at Morgan in Berkeley County. The Conoys, a tribe or organization of the Delaware Nation, were early on New River. A band of Mohicans were at Kanawha Falls in 1670. The first white man at Kanawha Falls was on the 17th day of September, 1671, and was an expedition sent out by Gov- ernor Berkeley of Virginia, who was endeavoring to obtain infor- mation regarding the vast trans montane region, and in 1670 issued his commission to Major General Wood, "For ye finding out the ebbing and flowing of the waters on ye other side of ye mountains."
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
General Wood would not personally go on this expedition, but sent out a party, consisting of Thomas Batts, Thomas Wood, Robert Fallam, Jack Neasam, the latter being a servant of General Wood; and Perchute, a chief of the Appomattox Indians, as guide. They left Appomattox town, now Petersburg (the Cockade City of Vir- ginia), on the first day of September, 1671. On the seventh day they were at Blue Ridge; on the 13th on "Swope's Knob," near Union in Monroe County, and the next day on the high cliffs which crown New River, which flows thirty-five miles through the county ; and on the evening of the 16th they reached Kanawha Falls, where they had the sight of a stream like the Thames of Chelsea, but had a fall that made a great noise, as reported on their return. This was 233 years ago.
The next West Virginia exploration was forty-five years after- wards, of which we have no information that it reached this section of the country, and was sent out by Governor Spottswood. For many years the first settlers were confined to the east of the Allegheny Mountains.
Governor Spottswood had a descendant in the person of John B. Spottswood, who was the editor of a Democratic newspaper at Kenton, Newton County, Indiana, until within the last ten years. Mr. Spottswood, through his mother, Eliza Schermerhorn, inher- ited what has been known as the Schermerhorn tract of land, on the headwaters of Lick Creek, Flag Fork, Slater's Creek, Mill Creek and Meadow River, being originally a patent or grant from the Commonwealth of Virginia of 28,000 acres. This large survey was reduced from generation to generation, until there remained only about 3,000 acres, it having been forfeited for the non-pay- ment of taxes and but little attention paid to it, Mr. Spottswood having acquired ownership by inheritance from his mother, who was a Spottswood. The land not being considered of value, about 1881 or 1882 Spottswood sold his entire interest to a Mr. F. E. Crosby, who cut the timber therefrom, and then sold it to M. and H. Gwinn, who are the present owners. Mr. Spottswood was a direct descendant of Governor Spottswood, the colonial governor and a very honorable gentleman. This was the Banks Patent which descended to a Mrs. Eliza Shermerhorn, whose first husband was a direct descendant of the governor, and John B. was her son and inherited this land. The tract was divided among the heirs of Eliza Schermerhorn, one-half-that in Summers County-going to Spottswood, and the other half to the heirs by her last husband,
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Schermerhorn. The Greenbrier half was acquired by James Jar- rett and Joseph Stevens at a tax sale.
The territory of Summers County was once claimed under the jurisdiction of the French Dominions, the French claiming all of the territory west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the English were not, for many years aggressive in posting settlements beyond the Alleghenies after the destruction of the Greenbrier settlements by the Indians, as it was deemed the part of wisdom not to imitate them and force them into combinations with the alert and active French. Thus discouraged, and without the protection of the strong arm of British law and British arms, the settlements beyond these mountains were not encouraged, and only the restless and hardy adventurer advanced for several years, but about from 1775 to 1780 the settlers began to come into these regions in greater numbers. There was a fort on the first farm below the town of Alderson on Greenbrier River, which was captured by the Indians about the year 1763, or earlier. The people of this fort were all killed or captured, except one small girl, who escaped, but so young she could not tell who her people were. She married a gentleman in Greenbrier County. This fort was located where the dwelling house on said farm was located, and was occupied for many years by James Hill. Seventy years ago some of the bounds of the fort were clearly indicated, and the shape of the fort by the marks or creases or depressions in the ground. This place was visited by David Graham about seventy years ago, and he could plainly see the shape and position of the fort, as the ground had probably never been plowed, there being a grave at the site, nicely preserved. This fort was built by digging a trench along the bounds where it was to be located, and then split trees, or puncheons were set on ends, which made the creases in the ground. I insert a diagram of this fort, as shown on the ground in the days of Mr. Graham.
The fort at Lewisburg was built in 1770, known as Fort Union. Donnally's Fort was about eight miles from Fort Union. Barger's Fort was on Tom's Creek in the now county of Montgomery. Col. Andrew Donnally built Donnally's Fort, and Col. John Stuart built Fort Spring, and Capt. Jarrett, whose descendants now live in Greenbrier-Hon. Hickman Jarrett being one of them, now living at Blue Sulphur Springs-built the fort on Wolf Creek known as the Wolf Creek, or Jarrett's Fort. Jarrett's Fort is reported to have been on the Greenbrier side of Greenbrier River, and was therefore in Summers County at Newman's Ferry.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
These loop corners are where the men stood to fire along the side of the fort when the In- dians were trying to cut down the fort or scale it. Four men with others to load the guns could guard all sides of the fort. I remember seeing those loop holes. D. GRAHAM.
Hinton, West Virginia, November 13, 1905. Mr. James H. Miller.
Dear Sir :- Your letter of November 11th to hand and contents noted. There was a fort on the first farm below Alderson on the Greenbrier River. I have heard my father say it was captured by the Indians, likely about 1763, or earlier. The people of the fort were ali killed or captured, except one small girl, who escaped, but so young she couldn't tell who her people were. She married a gentleman in Greenbrier County. This house was located where the dwelling house of said farm was located. It was occupied for a long time by Mr. James Hill. I recollect of being at Mr. Hill's about seventy years ago, and was shown some of the bounds of the old fort. I don't suppose that the old fort site had at that time ever been plowed, as there was a nice grove there at that time. There were indications of the shape of the fort by the creases and depressions in the ground. Forts in early days were built by dig- ging a trench along the bounds where the fort was to be located, and then set up split puncheons, and this is why these creases were made. I will give a cut of the shape of said fort. The Indians killed an old lady by the name of Butler. She was killed on the Mathews farm just across Greenbrier from Talcott, West Virginia, likely about 1778 or 1779. Two Indians were passing there. That was all the mischief they did. Thomas Griffith was killed at the mouth of Griffith's Creek in the year 1780. They captured his son, and they were followed and the son recaptured on Kanawha River.
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Isaac Ballengee, Evi's grandfather, settled at the Evi Ballengee farm about 1780. A man by the name of Brooks settled at Brooks. The Fox folks can tell more than I can about that.
DAVID GRAHAM.
INDIAN ATTACK ON GRAHAM.
In the spring of 1777 an Indian alarm was given in the settle- ment at Lowell on Greenbrier River, where Colonel James Graham had founded a settlement, and his plantation was assaulted one night before daybreak. Graham, being unwell on this night, had lain down on a bench against the door, with his clothes on. The Indians made the assault by trying to force the door open, which they partially succeeded in doing, thus arousing Graham and his men. They placed the heavy bench and a tub of water against the door, and in this way prevented the Indians from gaining an en- trance. A man by the name of McDonald, who was assisting in placing the table against the door, in reaching above the door for a gun, was shot and killed, the ball passing through the door. Thwarted in their efforts in effecting an entrance into the house, the Indians turned the assault on an outhouse standing near the main dwelling. In this outbuilding slept a young negro man and two Graham children. The negro, whose name was Sharp, tried to escape by climbing up the chimney. Chimneys in those days were large and roomy, and a man could easily pass from the fire- place to the top. But when he was discovered, he was hauled down, tomahawked and scalped. There were two children in the loft above, who began to cry, and that directed the attention of the Indians to that quarter. They shot up through the floor, wounded the eldest of the two boys, named John, in the knee, dragged him and his brother down into the yard, John being wounded so badly that he could not stand on his foot, and, thinking that he would be a burdensome prisoner, they tomahawked him and carried off his scalp.
While this was going on in the kitchen, Col. Graham had gone upstairs, and was shooting through a port-hole at the Indians in the yard, and one Indian was thought to have been killed, and others possibly wounded. An Indian skeleton was found on Indian Draft a few years afterwards, near where E. D. Alderson now resides, and his jaw bones were used by Col. Graham for many years as a gun-rack.
When morning came it was found that Col. Graham's ten-
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
year-old boy, their neighbor, McDonald, and their servant, Sharp, were dead, and their seven-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, was miss- ing. Col. Graham, with a number of neighbors, followed, and, after eight years, recovered the possession of his daughter, and for her ransom paid thirty saddles, a lot of beads and other trinkets, in all of the value of $300.00 in silver. The recovery was made at Limestone Creek, where Maysville, Kentucky, now is situated. Col. Graham made several expeditions to secure the possession of his daughter, and liad negotiated for her possession on more than one occasion, but the treachery of the Indians prevented his carry- ing them into effect until this final ransom. After the exchange was made the shoes of the horses of the rescuing party were re- versed, so that, if pursued by the Indians, the horses' tracks would seem to be traveling in an opposite direction.
This young lady was retained by the Indians for eight years, and, upon her return to civilization, the customs she met with seemed new and strange. On one occasion her mother asked her to soak the bread, and afterwards asked her how it was getting on. She replied, "Very well," that she had "taken two loaves and thrown them into the river and put a rock on them." She threat- ened frequently to return to the Indians. She afterwards married Joel Stodgill, in the year 1792, and settled on Han's Creek, in Monroe County, and reared five sons and four daughters. She died March 22, 1858. She was the grandmother of Mr. Andrew P. Pence, of Pence Springs; also of Mrs. Richard McNeer, and the grandmother of Mrs. Rebecca McNeer, the wife of Caperton Mc- Neer, who was a Stodgill, and uncle and aunt of the writer. now residing at Linside, in Monroe County.
The occurrence of this Indian tragedy was at what is now Lowell, where the ancestors of the present Graham family formed a settlement about the year 1770 or 1780, and was the first per- manent settlement in this county of which we have any positive record, except on Crump's Bottom in 1750. They afterwards located at what is now Clayton Post Office, at the foot of Keeney's Knob, which lands are still held by the immediate descendants, Mr. Charles H. Graham, David Graham Ballangee, James Gra- ham's widow, Rebecca, who, after his death, married W. W. Wal- ton, and other descendants.
I am indebted for the account of this Indian capture of Eliza- beth (Graham) Stodhill to Mr. David Graham's book (History of the Graham Family), and from the immediate descendants of Mrs. Stodgill, many of whom are now living in Monroe, Summers and
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Fayette Counties. While the real and proper name of Mrs. Stod- gill is "Stodgill," the name of Sturgeon is very commonly used, and as such they are known. Mrs. Margaret Miller, of Gauley Bridge, in Fayette County, being one of the descendants of this lady and, until recent investigations, was under the impression that her descendants' proper name was "Sturgeon." The settlements of the Gwinns, Kellars, Kincaids and others were made about this time on the Greenbrier River, in the Lowell neighborhood, and with the permission of Mr. David Graham, the historian of the Graham family, I have secured and used much information and data in regard to the early settlement of the Lowell section.
The Indians killed an old lady by the name of Massey on the Mathews farm, just across Greenbrier River from Talcott, West Virginia, about 1778 or 1779. Two Indians were passing there, and they did no other mischief except to kill this lady. Isaac Bal- langee, the grandfather of LaFayette Ballangee, now eighty years old, residing near the mouth of Greenbrier River, settled at the mouth of Greenbrier, on the old Evi Ballangee place, in 1780, and a man by the name of Brooks at the same time settled at Brooks' Post Office, four miles west of Hinton, in the Fox neighborhood, and it was after him that Brooks' Creek, Brooks' Falls, on New River, and Post Office, were named. Ballangee first settled on the island to more easily protect themselves from the savage men and beasts of the wilderness.
The New River country was visited by Chief Justice John Mar- shall, the great chief justice of the United States, with other com- missioners, who explored that stream in 1812. The report of these commissioners is a most interesting document. An exploration was also made by Loami Baldwin and party in 1817, in a boat fifty feet long, from the mouth of Howard's Creek in Greenbrier County, and down the Greenbrier River to its mouth at Foss, a mile east of Summers' court house; thence they turned up New River and proceeded to the mouth of Indian Creek; thence they returned down the river to the present site of Hinton, and thence on down New River to its mouth.
These are said by Prof. Virgil A. Lewis to be the mnost inter- esting narratives of our state.
Chief Justice Marshall on this exploration climbed to the top of what is commonly known as "Hawk's Nest," some six miles from the mouth of Gaully, a great cliff in the New River gorge or canyon, and from this visit it took the name of Marshall's Pillar, a wonderful natural curiosity, and is viewed and visited by many tour-
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
ists at this day. The accounts of these explorations are now on file in the department of Archives and History, at Charleston, of which Prof. Lewis is state historian and archivist. He is a direct descendant of Gen. Charles Lewis, of Point Pleasant fame, and whose ancestors first surveyed the Greenbrier country and named the Greenbrier River. He was for a term the State Superintendent of Schools of West Virginia, resides at Raymond City, in Mason County, and is the celebrated historian of the state, and has done more to preserve the ancient history of the state to posterity than any and all other persons.
Chief Justice Marshall and other commissioners were sent out to explore this New River in 1812. Laomi Baldwin and party came on a similar voyage in 1817. They again visited and passed by the site of Hinton, and explored a great part of our country.
CHAPTER IV.
IN THE EARLY DAYS.
John Hite was the name of the first man to plant the stand- ard of civilization west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
John Lewis, an expert surveyor, first made a survey of the Greenbrier region, surveying the Greenbrier Land Company's grants in the years 1749 and 1750, and it was he, while making this survey, who named the Greenbrier River and proclaimed it the most beautiful river in America, calling it the "Lady of the Mountains," giving it the name of Greenbrier by reason of the great numbers of green briers, a thorny vine-appearing growth, perfectly green, which spontaneously grew along the banks of that river, and which grows there the same this day. The land was so cheap in those days that Governor Gooch, of Virginia, was so well pleased that he issued a grant to Benj. Borden, or Burden, for four hundred thousand acres of land in consideration of Borden having deliv- ered to him a white buffalo calf.
This man Burden was a native of England who settled in the valley of Virginia. He was the possessor of a great estate in lands, a man of great experience and of great character. His word or his scrip went as good as those of the nation's banks, and it was from this character which he bore over great regions of the country that brought about the saying, "As good as Ben. Burden's bill." The ancient Peck family were allied by marriage with this character- istic Englishman, and the name Benj. Burden Peck is a common name in the Peck family of this day.
Monroe County, as heretofore stated, was formed from Green- brier on the 14th day of January, 1799. The first term of court for that county was held at the house and in the barn of George King, and then by adjournment therefrom to his barn after the noon hour, for convenience, as stated by the records.
On the second day of the term James Graham was recommended to the governor as a person well qualified for colonel; William Graham and Mat Farley for captains: William Maddy. David
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HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Graham and Tollison Shumate for lieutenants, and James Gwinn and John Harvey for ensigns; Joseph Alderson for second lieuten- ant. The James Graham mentioned was the same Colonel Graham who made the settlement at Lowell, where the old ferry across Greenbrier River is known to this day as Graham's Ferry. James Graham was at this term also recommended as a suitable person for coroner. There are descendants of all these people living in this region at this day, no doubt. They are persons of the same name, and there is no question but what they are direct descend- ants of these old settlers.
Thomas Lowe, Robert Dunbar, John Cottle, George Foster and Enos Halstead are mentioned in the first records of this court, and are names familiar to Summers County citizens at the present gen- eration. Jacob Persinger and John Peck were members of the first grand jury of that county. Greenbrier County, as before stated, was formed in October, 1777, and extended from the top of the Allegheny Mountains to the Ohio River. Col. James Gra- ham, who is frequently mentioned in this story, was in Donnally's Fort, eight miles from Lewisburg, when that place was last at- tacked by the Indians in 1778, and assisted in its defense against these marauders.
Rev. John McElheny was the second Presbyterian minister of whom we have any record in the Greenbrier region. He came to Lewisburg in 1798, and was in the active ministry until 1871, Lick Creek being within his territory, visiting that region at John Mil- ler's, Sr., and his brother, Robert's, once a month, Robert Miller having settled about a mile and a half below John on Lick Creek.
John Alderson was the founder of the Baptist Church at Alder- son, near the Summers County line, about the year 1775. These pioneers ministered to the spiritual wants of our grandparents, their parishioners, and Rev. McElheney, who was well-known and remembered by my father, was not averse to some of the internal physical comforts of the body, as well as ministering to the spir- itual welfare of his parishioners. The last exercise before break- fast on each morning was for the two old gentlemen, John Miller and the reverend, to take their morning toddy of sugar, warm water and apple brandy. Mr. McElheny afterwards became a Doctor of Divinity and was a patriarch of the Presbyterian Church, and was a very saintly, pious and devout man.
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