USA > West Virginia > Summers County > History of Summers County from the earliest settlement to the present time > Part 53
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
On the day appointed Richmond was on the grounds bright and early with his friends, and Hinton was there with his friends. They had each other searched for dangerous weapons, and, none being found, they stripped for the fray. Richmond was more ju- dicious than Hinton, having put on a rotten shirt, so that when Hinton grappled it his holds would break, Hinton having put on a shirt of strong make, and they went at it. It was about an equal show-down, sometimes one being down and the other on top, and so back and forth, until finally Richmond got Hinton down and got on top of him and had him in very bad shape, until Hinton managed to get Richmond's finger in his mouth. John Hinton said to Evan. "Come out from under there, Evan," and the friends of Richmond were encouraging him likewise to hold him down while he had him; Hinton having the finger of Richmond in his mouth, biting it with all his power, the pain became so severe
536
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
that Richmond could stand it no longer, and cried "Enough !" Leftwich Barker, a brother-in-law of Hinton's, told Richmond he would have to "holler" louder; that that wouldn't do; so Rich- mond yelled "Enough!" The parties then separated and the fight ended.
While Hinton was the victor, his punishment was possibly more severe than Richmond's. He became violently sick and suffered very severely. After the fight was over the young men shook hands, and there was no more of it from that day until the death of each, they being neighbors and friends until their deaths, both living to be very aged men. This fight was celebrated throughout the country, and is frequently referred to by the older citizens, Evan Hinton and William Richmond having both de- tailed the facts to the writer years ago. Richmond was afterwards a Union soldier and Hinton a Confederate soldier. Richmond was known throughout the country as "Devil Bill" Richmond. He was afterwards a member of the Legislature from Raleigh County, justice of the peace, and high in the councils of the Republican party ;. while Evan Hinton became the sheriff and the "Father of Summers County."
Richmond was arrested at one time by the Confederate bush- whackers or scouts, and was taken on horseback behind one of the soldiers. In traveling through the mountains after night, he, desiring to make his escape, being astride the horse, holding on to the man in front, who held the bridle, took out his knife and deliberately cut the man's throat from the rear, slid off his horse and escaped. The man whose throat was cut. however, fortu- nately did not die from the wounds.
To show the fighting proclivity of the young men in those days, we give another instance of Evan Hinton and his father. They were driving hogs through the country and met with an- other party, and when they came in sight "Jack" Hinton, Evan's father, told Evan that they would have to thrash those people; so when they got together, Evan, after a hard-fought battle, cap- tured his man, after considerable worry and distress, and on hap- pening to think of his father, he looked back to see if he needed any assistance; but the old gentleman had already thrashed his opponent, and was sitting on the bank of the road watching Evan complete his job. This story is not given in detail, and is quite an interesting yarn ; but it has been so long since its recitation to the writer that he has forgotten it, and is unable to give it in its interesting details.
537
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
M'GINNIS.
James H. McGinnis, of Raleigh County, was for thirty years identified with Summers County as a practicing attorney. He was one of the very few lawyers who could consistently and consci- entiously practice his profession in this section of the State after the war. While he was a Union man, he was not one of that character who practiced or believed in oppressing his unfortunate neighbor who cast his lot with the fallen Confederacy, and he will always be remembered by the old Confederate soldiers and by their descendants for his conservatism, and for his aid in relieving them from the shackles of disfranchisement and test-oathism prac- ticed for some years on powerless and defenseless citizens. While the elective franchise was by the Government cast upon igno- rant black men, educated, intelligent and patriotic white men were denied the rights of citizenship-citizens, but decitizenized.
Mr. McGinnis was born of poor parents of Irish ancestry. He had but little opportunities-none of wealth or station, or the pres- tige of an influential class. His educational opportunities were limited. For many years after he became celebrated as an advo- cate and the most celebrated wit of his time and State, he wore the homespun garments of the backwoods, and without shame for the necessity. He enjoyed life; took things as they came, whether in prosperity or adversity, and his greatest ambition was not to lay up riches. He practiced his profession in all the counties around, including Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Mercer, McDow- ell, Kanawha, Fayette and Boone, and in the United States and Supreme Court of Appeals. We doubt if there was another law- yer ever lived within the confines of the State who had so wide a range of practice as he enjoyed in his young and middle life. There were no means of transportation in those days except horse- back. Years ago he located in Raleigh County, at Beckley, and there continued to reside until his death. He was prosecuting at- torney of his county. In 1888 he was, without desire, effort, or even his knowledge, nominated as the Republican candidate for Congress in the Third West Virginia District against Hon. John Duffy Alderson, of Nicholas County. The returns showed his elec- tion by about 200 votes. The election was contested. Mr. \1- derson was given the certificate of election by a Democratic Gov- ernor, Hon. E. Willis Wilson, and the contest was never tried. The term of two years expired before the case was reached on the
538
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
calendar. He was a candidate for judge of the circuit court at one time when the district was Democratic, and was defeated. At another time his friends ran him for the same office, and the nomi- nation was his, had he seen proper to resort to certain manipula- tions ; but he declined, and the nomination and the office went to his opponent. He was an accomplished criminal lawyer, as well as in the general practice, and his equal as a "pleader" is seldom found in any land. He attended the courts regularly in Summers at each term for many years, and was engaged in many of the earlier fa- mous cases tried therein. He defended Lee Young for killing his father, John L. Young; Jordan Keatley and his father, for the burning of the tobacco barn of Henry Peters and C. W. Walker; the Willis-Dickinson case (indictment for buggery) ; the Evan Hinton cases; the court house location litigation, and many other celebrated causes. At one time he practiced in our county as a partner of Hon. Elbert 'Fowler, as McGinnis & Fowler. He was the best generally known practitioner from without the county. His brilliancy and witticisms were known far and wide. While a Republican in politics, it was without arrogance or narrowness. It was from principle, and not the politics of the demagogue or the office-hunter. In 1904 a strong effort was made to induce him to permit the use of his name as a Republican candidate for judge of the Ninth Circuit, but he declined by reason of his dis- taste for political strife and his advancing years, and supported with all his vigor the Democratic candidate, and aided very ma- terially in securing his election. He wrote as many as 500 letters under his own hand to his old friends and clients requesting the support of his choice.
His funeral was preached in the Methodist Church at Beckley, and a great concourse of people out of respect attended the ser- vices. He was a Mason, and was buried by that fraternal order. In his early days he taught school, and there are people now living in Raleigh County who owe to his teaching all the education they have.
His son, William Hereford McGinnis, married a daughter of Rev. William Holroyd, of Athens, and the vote of Summers County was cast for him by 250 majority in the election of 1902, at which he was elected to the State Senate for a term of four years. He has also been the prosecuting attorney of Raleigh County and is one of its most prominent lawyers and Democrats, he and his father differing in their political faith. He represented his district four years in the State Senate, and has served his county
539
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
four years as prosecuting attorney, and is now one of the leading lawyers in the State and practicing in our county.
A kinsman, Hon. T. J. McGinnis, is judge of the criminal court of Raleigh County.
His son, John Douglas McGinnis, is also a practicing attorney at Beckley, and his son-in-law, Mr. T. K. Scott, is the postmaster of that town.
WOODSON HARVEY.
The first man convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary from this county was Woodson Harvey. He was indicted, tried and convicted for the murder of Til Thrasher in 1875. At the time of this killing for which he was sent to the penitentiary, James Keatley was selling whisky at the mouth of Indian Creek, near where C. A. Barber now lives. There was a Baptist Associa- tion or meeting of some kind in that country, at Barton's Ridge, and Thrasher and Harvey had been to Keatley's grog shop and secured a supply of whisky, and went to this Baptist meeting. After they left the meeting they passed up Lick Creek, and when on the mountain side got into a quarrel and fight, and Harvey shot and killed Thrasher. Thrasher fell over against a large rock which remains by the roadside to this day, and the blood from the wounds ran out over onto this rock and remains there to this day to be seen. The killing occurred not far from the residence of Henry Gore, who married Adaline Keatley. After his death she married William A. French. Thrasher married Henry Gore's daughter, and after his death she sued her uncle. James Keatley, for damages for selling Thrasher the liquor. Keatley had secured his license from the county court of Monroe County just before the formation of Summers County. Adaline Gore was a sister of James Keatley. Keatley hunted up Thrasher's widow, secured a settlement or some kind of a statement from her by which the suit was dismissed, and nothing was ever recovered; and from that day to this Adaline Gore (now French) never again spoke to her brother. Harvey was tried in the Summers Circuit Court, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary for two years. He served his term, and returned to this region of the State, and is now living somewhere in the mining district, and was an active agitator of the strike of 1902. No liquor license has ever been granted at that place but once since the formation of the county. which was immediately on its formation for one year to said Keat- ley. The old grog shop is a relic of the past.
540
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
MANDERVILLE.
This is a family living near Indian Mills, at Manderville Post- office. The only settler of that name in the county was Joseph Manderville, who removed to the county from the Clear Fork, in Wyoming County, settling in the upper Forest Hill country. He was a soldier of the war of 1812, and his widow, Mrs. Cleo Manderville, received a pension for many years from the National Government, until her death. She died at a very advanced age in 1906. There were two sons, John W., who is now postmaster at Manderville, and engaged in farming, and Joseph, who died several years ago. He was at one time a justice of the peace.
This family is directly descended from the celebrated Lord Chief Justice of England. He was the Chief Justice in England, and is frequently quoted as an authority in the law books; but was not of the cleanest reputation. He was, however, a great lawyer. A large patent of 10,000 acres of land was granted by the Govern- ment to an ancestor of John Manderville, situated on Clear Creek Fork and the waters of the Guyandotte River, which descended to the Manderville ancestry, and which is now very valuable ; but until recent years to own it was to be land poor, as it brought no income, was far from transportation and market, but was cov- ered with immense forests of the most valuable timber and is now underlaid with the now famous Pocahontas coal, and is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Mandervilles were not situated to hold it intact and pay taxes, and parted with parcel at a time until it had all been disposed of, while its great value was appreciated and it had no market for its real value. John W. is the only man of the name in the county. He has a number of relations among the Blankenships and others in Wyoming County.
GEROW.
Henry S. Gerow was a native of New York State, having mar- ried Miss Sarah A. A. Owen, also of that State. He emigrated to Hinton in the year 1880, where he made his home until his death, on the 1st day of October. 1885. He was born in September. 1835. He is the only Quaker, so far as we have information, ever residing in the county, and was a most excellent and Christian gentleman. His wife was a relative of the Newkirks. and inherited one of the old land surveys in Pipe-
541
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
stem District-2,500 acres-jointly with her relatives, John R. and William H. Newkirk, who were sons of Steven Newkirk. Mrs. Gerow and her husband came to this country for the purpose of securing the title and possession to her inheritance, which in- volved one of the longest and largest suits in equity ever prose- cuted in the courts of this county. There were a great number - of defendants, and a full account of this litigation is given else- where. Mrs. Gerow recovered about 800 acres of this old survey, which is situated on the waters of Tom's Run, on New River, and which property she still retains. She and her husband have made their residence and were among the most enterprising citi- zens who helped to found the Mountain City. An instance of their patriotism is cited at the time the railroad company was threatening to remove its division, round house and offices from this city for want of room for yard purposes, and it became neces- sary for the citizens to make some provision in order to retain the railway enterprise. Mrs. Gerow contributed one hundred dollars for that purpose. She is a lady of education, refinement and fine business ability, and is one of the considerable property-owners in the city at this date. The Owens and Gerows were of Scotch and English descent.
Mrs. Cerow's great-grandfather was Ebenezer Owen, of New York State, and he purchased the old patent in Pipestem in 1800. About 1795 he visited this region of country and made a survey of his property, and while undertaking to ford New River at the War Ford, he was overthrown into the water and lost his instru- ments. He also purchased large estates in realty in Kanawha County. Her grandfather's name was Abram Owen. Her father's name was Ebenezer Owen. H. S. Gerow was born in Plattekill, N. Y. The only other member of Mrs. Gerow's family was her brother, John, who died in Butte, Montana, within the last few years, unmarried. Abram Owen, the grandfather of Mrs. Gerow, was a soldier in the Mexican War.
On another page an account of the famous suit of Gerow vs. Newkirk and others is given.
JOSEPH HINTON.
Joseph Hinton was one of the three sons of Avis Hinton, hav- ing married a Miss Carper. He has been one of the most promi- nent citizens of the county. He was first a deputy under Evan Hinton as sheriff of Summers County, after which he engaged
542
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
in the mercantile business in partnership with his brother, Silas, under the firm name of S. Hinton & Brother, which business was continued at the Upper Hinton Ferry for thirty-two years. He was one of the first commissioners of the county court, being the president of the court, along with John C. McNeer and B. F. Shu- mate, the first commissioners under the present system. He was again elected to that position in 1900, most of the time being president of the court, and refusing to become a candidate for re-election in 1904. He was a Confederate soldier during the Civil War, being a member of Captain Thurmond's Company. He was one of the party who came from Alderson to Hinton in a large canoe used for the transportation of men and supplies on the Greenbrier River during the war. While making one of these excursions down the river the party was shot at by bushwhackers in the mountain. The fire was returned, but no one shot, the party in the canoe lying down to prevent being killed or wounded.
Mr. Hinton is one of the largest property-owners in the county, being one of the beneficiaries under the will of his mother, the late Avis Hinton. He is now sixty years of age, being only nineteen years of age when he joined the Confederate Army. He has trav- eled quite extensively, having visited the Holy Land and other points of interest in Asia and Europe. He is identified with nu- merous business enterprises, being a director in the First National Bank of Hinton, and identified with other large business enter- prises. His father, John Hinton-he being a half-brother of the late Evan Hinton-had for many years before the war endeavored to secure a new county, with the court house to be located at the mouth of Greenbrier River. John Hinton died in 1858. Wm. Hin- ton, Jr., his brother, was a brave Confederate soldier. They are Missionary Baptists and Democrats.
ELLISON.
Ellison is one of the oldest family names in the county. Elli- son Postoffice, in Jumping Branch District, established several years ago, was named in honor of this family. Jonathan F. Elli- son then lived at that place, and was the first postmaster. He was a Republican, and at one time the nominee of that party for as- sessor. His descendants live in the community to this day.
James Ellison was the father of Matthew Ellison, the veteran preacher and pioneer Baptist minister, a man of great natural ability and an authority on immersion baptism, having written
543
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
one or two books on the subject. He died at a very advanced age, at Alderson. His father, James, was captured by the Indians on Crump's Bottomn, after being shot in the shoulder. They chewed dogwood bark and spit in the wound, and carried him on the trail to Ellison's Ridge, in Jumping Branch District. He lagged be- hind when darkness overtook them, when he ran over a bank and hid under a cliff, being pursued and passed in his hiding place, they passing on below. His hands being tied with thongs of raw- hide, he rubbed them against the stones until they were freed, and the thongs cut loose by the rubbing, and thus he made his escape, and made his way back to the settlement.
This capture was on the last raid of the Indians on the trails by the Lower Bluestone and west of New River, in this region of the county.
There is a field on Crump's Bottom now owned by Mr. G. W. Harmon, known as "Fort Field," because it was in this field there was in aboriginal times a fort constructed and maintained for the protection of the first settlers. It was in this rude fort that James Ellison was captured. The Farleys came early into that section, and were Indian fighters to the extent of breaking up further raids through that section. It is below this bottom on New River that the fine bottoms of Matthew Calloway Barker are located, originally granted to Galiff, and first settled by a man by the name of Collins. It is on this same bottom, some three years ago, that an ancient burial ground was discovered by an overflow of the banks of New River. The bones of a great number of human beings were found, and many curious and ancient implements and weapons uncovered, over which the footsteps of civilized man had trodden for generations.
Lewis A. Ellison, a brave ex-Confederate soldier, resides on his farm near Forest Hill. He is one of the most substantial men of the county, and is now treasurer of the Mike Foster Monument Association, an organization having for its object the erection of a soldier monument to the brave Mike Foster, who died from the many wounds received in battle, soon after the war, and was buried at Forest Hill.
William Ellison, another thrifty farmer, resides at Pipestem, and is engaged in the mercantile business at the old B. P. Shu- mate stand. There are a number of other descendants of James Ellison still living in the county, including Frank and D. Ellison. sons of Jonathan F .: but we are unable to secure a detailed his- tory of the Ellison family.
544
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
Samuel J. Akers, the land surveyor and notary, married a daughter of J. F. Ellison.
Wm. Henderson Ellison now lives in Hinton. He is a son of Wm. T. Ellison. His grandfather's name was Asa. His great- grandfather's name was Tuggle Ellison, from Franklin County, Virginia. There were five brothers who came from beyond the sea togther. Wm. Ellison settled in Florida; Larkin Ellison, a brother of Asa, settled in Oregon; James Ellison lived in Pipe- stem, and died in 1888.
HEDRICK.
This is a Talcott District family, the ancestors being of Eng- lish descent, and of the same stock as the Greenbrier Hedricks.
Moses Hedrick, the founder of the Hedrick generation in the county, first settled on Hungart's Creek, then Monroe County ; thence removed to the Pisgah Church neighborhood, where he died on the 4th of April, 1894, aged eighty-seven years. At one time he owned large landed interests in the Hungart's Creek re- gion. His brother, George, married a daughter of John Nolan, who left one child living, the wife of W. D. Sherwood. Moses Hedrick married Miss Jennie Allen, who died November 27, 1893, aged eighty-four. The four sons of Moses Hedrick now living in Summers County are George W., William C. and John, who reside in Talcott District, near Barger Springs. William C. Hedrick, com- monly known as "Squire," the elder brother, is distinguished as being the father of eight boys, all of voting age, and all voting the Democratic ticket. He has always wielded a large and potent influence in the county. He was elected a justice of the peace, which office he held for four years. He was appointed for a second term in 1905, but resigned. He was also deputy sheriff of the county from 1896 to 1900, under James H. George, high sheriff of the county. He is a man of character, and resides with his wife, a daughter of Nathaniel Allen, on his farm near Barger Springs. Geo. W. Hedrick was elected in 1892 a commissioner of the county court, and held the office for the full term of six years. In 1904 he ran with L. M. Neely, Jr., for assessor of Summers County, which position, as assistant to Mr. Neely, he has faithfully filled for three years, and he is now a candidate for election to the of- fice of assessor of the internal revenue in the county, with Mr. Neely as his assistant. Matthew C. Hedrick, another brother and son of Moses, resides in Jumping Branch District, on Little Blue-
WM. C. HEDRICK,
Oldest Living Representative of the Hedrick Family.
THE NEW VOLT PUBLIC LIEVARI
AITOR, LEN OX AN! TILDEN FOUNDAT CN!
545
HISTORY OF SUMMERS COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA.
stone, and was elected to the office of justice of the peace in that district, which position he held for four years, and was also ap- pointed by the county court to the same position. His son, M. C. Hedrick, was deputy sheriff for four years under H. Ewart, high sheriff. The Hedricks are all Democrats in their political affilia- tions, and have held important positions in the councils of the county and district committees. Squire W. C. Hedrick was a brave soldier throughout the Civil War for four years. George W. Hedrick, ex-sheriff of Raleigh County, is a member of the same branch of the family, and is one of the substantial citizens of that county, having been also deputy and held other important posi- tions. In 1906 he was the Democratic candidate for the House of Delegates from that county. "Dock" Hedrick, son of Squire William C., is now the courteous hackman of the Greenbrier Springs Company, along with his brother Henry. John B. is another son of Moses, who resides at Talcott, and has two sons. Matthew and Mike, who are employed by the C. & O. Railway Co.
The Hedrick family is one of the pioneer and substantial fami- lies of the county, that go to make up her good citizenship. N. B. Hedrick, another son of Squire William C., was elected justice of the peace in 1906, having held one term prior under appoint- ment. The Hedricks are loyal party men, but are not seekers after political office. When elected, it is at the demand of their neighbors.
HINES.
Charles R. Hines, the founder of the family name in this county, was a native of Monroe County, having removed from that county in 1806. He married Sarah R. Beard, a daughter of Jesse Beard, one of the Pocahontas stock of that name, who owned the Beard plantation, which was a large and valuable tract of land on which the famous Pence's Spring is located. Jesse Beard was a native of Milborough, Pocahontas County, who died about the close of the Civil War, leaving two sons, Thomas Beard and Wallace Beard, and three daughters-Madora, who married George Keller and now resides at Lowell; Sarah R. married Charles R. Hines, and the other sister married Caleb Johnson, of Illinois. The Beard plantation was divided, and the wife of Charles R. Hines became the owner of 116 acres, which has recently been
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.